Dear Conspirators in the Underworld of Football,

Well, last Newsletter brought out a load of responses in regards to the consideration of banning slide-tackling.  Interestingly enough, 85% who wrote in at least were in favor of the ban.  10% were against a change and 5% wrote in about something entirely different which makes me suspicious that they didn't even read the column but just went straight to the league table and the other pages.  Anyway, here.  Have a look at some of the better ones.  It's good reading.

After reading the last edition of the JIFL News I felt compelled to write in for the first time.  I couldn't help but remember all of the great players whose careers were cut short by injuries due to slide tackles.  One that comes to mind is Gascoigne in the 1991 FA Cup final when he slid and caused the self-inflicted injury which he never really and fully recovered from.  In an instant , a great footballer's career was cut short in front of the entire world.  If slide tackling in every form had already been outlawed back during the original foundation of the rules period then imagine how many more players would have played on and all of the memories that we would now cherish from those normalized careers which weren't.  What a different world of football we would live in today. 

Yours in football,

Grant
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Editor:        Long time no hear, my friend.  I agree with you.  If all of those players could have been allowed to play on with a natural career ended only by age it would, indeed, be an alternate world from the present day that we currently live in.  I, for one, think that the skill levels would be much higher than they currently are.  With a ban on slide-tackling, players will just have to accept when they have been beaten and do their best to recover staying upright.  It will be a much more exciting game and many more goals will be scored per game.  Let's call it the Save Messi Law.  Let's save his career before some brute cuts it short.  Wouldn't that be a shame?  Imagine if this Law were to go into affect?  Instant improvement in the game.  No more long delays.  No Drogba faking it when you actually aren't injured.  Nonsense washed out of the game.  The more I consider this idea, the more that I like it.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Dear Our Hero,

Agree with your column this week.  Slidetackling is rarely profitable in the big picture of football.  Purely from a business standpoint, that particular skill is already past it's due date.  Players are just too expensive nowadays to injure.  The EPL proves it.  It is the most profitable football league that the world has ever seen.  People want to see skillful play like teams such as Arsenal and Manchester United have developed over the last decade.  Other teams were forced to follow that style of play especially after that 50 + odd game run that Arsenal had going undefeated a few years back.  Fans do not want to see their players injured.  Coaches do not want to see their players injured.  Players do not want to see their teammates or opponents injured.  Sponsors do not want to see their players injured.  Referees don't want any injuries ether.  Nobody wants injuries in football.  So why does FIFA not consider a ban on the slide?

Sincerely,

Kenny Copeland
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Editor:         Good points in your argument, sir. You could develop that into a report with historical and statistical facts and present your findings to FIFA yourself if you wanted.  You could blitz the media with bloggers and discussion boards.  Embrace technology and you can be the one who gets it going.  By the way, I have checked the web and cannot find any discussions anywhere regarding a ban on slide-tackling in football/soccer.  Looks like we are the first to pick it up.  Interesting.  Let's see where this goes.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Big Mouth,

I disagree with you.  My friends and I like to see bone crunching tackles and punch-ups in football.  That is part of the entertainment.  No reason to watch or play it otherwise.  Why take it away?

-Paul Neish 



----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Editor:       But Paul, hold on a moment and reconsider your position.  You see that is why we have other sports like boxing, Australian Rules football, rugby, and the like.  If you want to see brawling then watch Ultimate Fighting.  Football is for skillful athletes whom have trained themselves to do things with their feet that nobody could hope to do with their hands.  You have simply confused your sports together.  Try to imagine a football match that is flowing back and forth for 90 minutes with little interruption outside of out-of-bounds play.  Games would seem like they were only 60 minutes long.  Like a good movie, great games go by fast.  Think again about your position and come back with a better argument rather than simply the desire to see violence.  Also, remember that here in the JiFL we all want to be able to get up the next day and go to our jobs whatevertheymaybe without a cast on our leg or a limp.  We wanna just have fun playing football.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hey I know who you are.  You grew up in Manitou and your name was not Your Hero.  It was Egghead.  And you played soccer in the park every day.  Anybody in the neigborhood would tell the time of the day by looking to see if you were over in the park.  You used to hide behind trees so your mom couldn't find you to come home for dinner.  You wouldn't let anybody walk through the park in peace unless they played against you in football first.  You were like that troll in the Billy Goats Gruff story.  Where are you living now?

Mike H.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Editor:       Oooops.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well, I enjoyed your comments this week.  In the next Newsletter, the League title will finally be announced.  Stay tuned.

 

- Egghead

S p e c i a l    JIFL A n n o u n c e m e n t s: