Feels like the bloody game stops every 2 minutes . Any momentum just dies
This was a big factor in the game yesterday. The referee continually intervened for the slightest of reasons and it was very stop and start. He ruined it for that reason. But this is a bigger issue than just the refereeing.
There is a move to "sanitise" the game of football as we know it. It will become a game, a bit like American Football, where stoppages are frequent and the game is slowed right down to a boring spectacle. The introduction of technology, which is supposed to be there to "assist" referees, not do their job for them, will eventually "replace" referees altogether. It has already made linesmen just about redundant and unnecessary, it will be the turn of the referee next.
One reason for this is that the amount of money at stake is so huge that there will be serious legal implications for getting major decisions wrong. And no Football Association will want to be sued for that, and no individual will be able to get sufficient insurance to cover for being personally liable for that. So, best remove the decision-making altogether and rely instead on the technology - which still needs to be reviewed by a human - but at least it puts a barrier in the way.
Oh yes - and the drinks break...what is all that about then? So the players haven't played for 100 days so they need to have a drinks break half-way through the game because they are going to be playing a lot of games in a short space of time, so they are going to be extra thirsty? That's what I've been told it's for. And I've been told it's only for this unusual period between now and the end of the season. I'm afraid this is just hogwash. Before the re-start I heard interviews with the United players who were saying that everyone in the squad had bettered their personal best in terms of fitness results. So, they may not have played for 100 days, but physically they were fitter than at the start of the season (despite having had a magical "full pre-season"). We've had some hot weather of late so I can understand why a referee might want to stop a game to let players take on water in that situation - and the referee has always had that level of discretion. But that's not what's happening - it's being made "formal". Adding in yet another break in play, another interruption to a game which desperately doesn't need any more interruptions, considering that, on average, the ball is in play for less than 60 of the 90 minutes in any case.
The thing is, football is NOT about the fans who pay to go through the turnstiles to watch. We are a total irrelevance to the future of the game. Football is about a global TV audience. And introducing more stoppages will provide time for TV advertising to be broadcast during these breaks. This is just the thin end of the wedge. If you've ever watched sport on American TV you'll have a good idea of how things will eventually be here. We'll be watching the Blades attack, bearing down on the opposition penalty area, beats one man, beats two men, goalkeeper stranded, pulls back his foot to shoot and....
Cut to the Ads.
"KFC" "Pepsi" "Coca-Cola" "Pizza Hut" "Domino's" "Bet 365" etc
Then it comes back on 5 or so minutes later.
Coming back to your original question about starting to hate football, I wouldn't use the word "hate" for anything or anyone. I think hate is a very negative emotion and it eats away at you if you allow yourself to be consumed by hate. So I genuinely don't do that. But I am really concerned about the future of football as we know it. Or as we have known it, to be more precise. It is being turned into a slow, sterile game, it will eventually become a completely non-contact sport as well, and it will be for the consumption of TV audiences - not for fans like us who want to see and enjoy a very different sort of product.
