The theme: To bring out what has never been said, what is unknown, unexplored about the game of football.
The goals: To make football more exciting, more attractive, more equitable. To generate more enthusiasm among current fans, to attract neutral spectators who have so far not been fans, to increase the incentive for everyone to want to watch a game because of the attractiveness and excitement of the game, even if they are not supporters of a team, to attract more real fans and. less violent fans. To this end, betting on football as an absolutely fair, but additional suspense maker should be brought out of the twilight. This, too, can increase fan numbers and enthusiasm.
The claim: It is more exciting when there are more goal scenes, more goals. FIFA also strives for this, but does not find the right means. What is attractive are offensive, successful scenes. These are stopped as long as the defenders are given the better means. Many things are unjust, there is constant indignation, public and private. But there are general solutions, understandable to everyone, which can be introduced in simple ways….
The hurdles:
- Every reader is sure: He already knows Everything about football. There is nothing new he could learn. Full stop.
- Everything that could be given in terms of suggestions to achieve the goals has already been discussed. One has one’s own ready-made opinion.
- FIFA takes care of all ideas for improvement. There are specially set up committees for this, especially for the rules.
- Although all the goals would be approved everywhere without much objection, scepticism prevails by far: “Yes to the goal, no to the attainability.”
- Any change to something as gigantically big as football, the world’s number one sport, could also bring a reduction in following, in marketability. So conservative thinking is at the forefront. It stays as it is, it stays as big as it is. Number 1, that’s all you can do. Basta.
- Betting and gambling is recognised as the surest way to ruin, especially in this country. The scepticism about this is so great that people don’t even think about the basic considerations, the betting market and how it works. One senses the danger of already having the seeds of gambling – and thus ruin – planted in one’s mind just by thinking about it. So: Hands off.
The means to achieve the goals:
All in all, there are three topics, which are dealt with in detail in longer sections, and which all contribute in a simple way, if understood, internalised, applied, to achieving the goals:
- The football rules, their application and their interpretation. The central but surprising demand is: the application of the existing rules. This demand sounds absurd, of course, since the view must naturally exist that the rules are applied. This is where the most persuasion is needed. However, there is a technique of proof that should silence doubters after the mere formulation. Here is just this much: You play isolated game situations to the doubters, without a view of the surroundings and the place on the court, only the scene to be judged. Then compare the judgement made in retrospect with the judgement made in the game. The results would be astounding but clear: the strikers are permanently disadvantaged. Consequence: less and less scoring and goals.
- There is another demand that has not yet been formulated in this way: A rethinking process would simply have to take place. The aim of the rethinking is that every referee and every assistant internalises the understanding that every goal situation stopped by a whistle is a missed opportunity to provide the spectator with the desired entertainment.
- The spectator – and here one thinks above all of the neutral ones who simply want excitement and action – is deprived of a moment of suspense. Since this happens permanently in the game, it is like a crime thriller without a corpse, a soup without salt, a menu without a main course. Basically, every whistle against an attacker, every alleged striker’s foul compared to a defender’s foul, has to be carefully considered whether it should be done to the neutral spectator, whether the reasons are good enough to stop the play. The spectator wants to see what is about to happen. “Something’s about to happen! There’s one free!”: “Don’t get excited. The whistle blew a long time ago.” “Oh, but I wanted to get excited.”
- Measuring by the same yardstick, defender to striker and vice versa is the claim, the assertion that it is not happening. The simple and intended consequence would be this: The strikers would have more freedom, the good players would be able to prove their quality. And: as soon as there are, as a consequence, more goals, the value of a single goal is lowered and thus it is generally easier to let a scene go. Today, every time the referee awards a goal, he already has the feeling that he is deciding the game. So he looks for reasons to decide against it. A psychological phenomenon that can be proven. But, once understood, understandable.
Here is just this for confirmation: At the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, 80% of the games were won by the team that scored the 1:0. A shockingly high figure that certainly speaks against perceived tension. - A large section deals with German reporting, which is simply proven to be extremely poor. Comparisons are made with other countries, the tone of voice is examined and a number of phrases are used, which give nothing away except that the speaker wants to look clever and good. It is shown that it is much more about the fact that as a journalist, one has the obligation to first of all – before troubleshooting and sober situation analysis, which, if carried out, should at least be correct – to convey the tension and drama of the individual scene, which should also reveal itself in pure emotionality. Here, through the foreign comparison, there are some possibilities to lead evidence, to make this audible and recognisable. Research into causes is carried out as well as strategies to combat them are offered. A few techniques that have long been in use abroad are presented, which would inevitably lead to more objectivity and more entertainment.
- Part 3 deals with the predictability of football. A rather difficult section, as some mathematics has to be introduced. On the other hand, it is a highly intriguing question that concerns a great many people. Here, too, scepticism is naturally high, which intuitively tells you that calculating football is simply impossible. The proof is not completely to the contrary, but a mathematical figure is derived that measures the calculability in an understandable number. In any case, the algorithms are discussed in a very understandable way. In other respects, too, thinking in terms of probabilities is propagated, which, in relation to the frequently asked questions “who will win the match?” or “who will become football world champion?”, discusses the actual question to be asked: “with what probability will this team win, that team win?” or “with what probability will this team become world champion?” respectively. The parameters and the developed computer programme are presented and the practical results are mentioned. One consequence could be: The reporting could be made much better, more interesting, with the understanding of this. Another consequence could be — since the betting market is presented in parallel — that betting is also legalised in this country and established as a sensible, entertaining, tension-supplementing, by no means ruinous accompanying action. Ultimately, this part also serves the goals: to make football better. The scientific component, however, may well be mentioned in general and could mean a step forward.
