Grasp The Nettle It Will Only Sting For A Wee While

CHANGES happen to the Laws of Football, but at a pace akin to the movement of tectonic plates, and without the subsequent earthquakes being too violent. Aside from the changes in kit, were Charles Campbell, Tom Vallance or any of the other great Scots of the late-Victorian era to be teleported on to the touchlines of the Glasgow Green football pitches today, they would see a game with which they were familiar.

What they would make of the violence of the tongue from players, coaching staff and spectators, the feigning injury and the lack of respect for the referees is another matter.

Basically, it's the same game today as back then, but, I would venture the laws have not evolved to reflect changes in attitudes of the people involved in the game.

Now we read that FIFA and in particular Herr Blatter are set to tinker with how the game is managed. Not the Laws of the Game per se, more what is and isn't acceptable about playing it.

Herr Blatter wants to do away with extra time. Wrong target I think; he ought to be doing away with draws. He may feel too many coaches and managers are sending teams out not to lose games rather than to win them. Well, if you allow draws, you encourage some lesser teams to play for draws - do away with the draw, they have to be more positive.

Mismatches will happen, particularly in cup ties. Coaches will always need, when in their heart of hearts they know the opposition is simply too good, to have a Plan B whereby they lose by as little as possible, that's fact.

But, conversely, there is the theory that by "parking the team bus across the 18-yard line" you are playing into the hands of the supposedly superior team. You are encouraging them to attack and the more attacks they have, the likelier they are to score goals and win.

It takes a ruthlessly single-minded coach, with a highly-disciplined team, to "play for penalties". It has been done, of course, particularly by some of the Italian sides of the 1960s and 1970s, but such tactics are anti-football.

That said, for the good of the game FIFA maybe has to abolish the draw.

But how? you might ask.

The obvious answer it would seem is to bring back the discredited "Silver" and "Golden" goals. But, I feel, to do this properly, we have to doother things as well. We need to encourage attacking play, well reward goals; rugby has brought in bonus points for scoring four or more tries - why not for four or more goals. Remember too, in rugby, even if you lose, but score four tries, you get the bonus. Better then to have a 4-4 draw than a 0-0 one, the fans will certainly be happier.

Rugby also gives bonus points for only losing by one score, encouragement there to keep going forward looking for goals.

But, inevitably, there will be matches which remain all-square at 90 minutes. How do you settle these?

Extra time will still be needed, but, I would change from two periods of 15 minutes, to two of ten minutes - the first with the silver goal in play, the second with the golden goal in play. If the sides are still level, we go to penalties, game over.

I commend this motion to the house.