In recent years it's become the done thing to kick the ball out of play when a player is down injured, the game being restarted with a throw back to the team who were in possession.

This season however Bristol City have taken the step of informing all other Championship clubs that they will not kick the ball of of play, unless the player down has a head injury. They will also carry on playing if it is their player down injured too,

Thoughts on this?

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/aug/06/bristol-city-write-to-clubs-to-explain-new-policy-of-not-kicking-ball-out-of-play

Personally think it should be down to the referee to stop the game. So long as it's agreed before the game there shouldn't be any problem with not putting ball out.

If its a head injury I've no problem with stopping play, if someone oges down like Hess did on Saturday and the ref didn't call a stop to the game I would like to see a player put the ball out, but if someone just doesn't get up and carrys on rolling around play on because if he was really that hurt he'd drag himself to a touchline

It will be fine until one of their own players does a cruciate or breaks a leg and the oppo do not kick the ball out because Bristol City wrote a letter to all clubs saying they would not kick it out themselves...

Think it should remain solely up to the referee to stop the game.

difficult to make a hard and fast rule. The ref might not appreciate the seriousness of the situation if he’s busy keeping up with the game. Otherwise I think what Johnson has done makes sense.

Quoted from Malta_Mariner_90

It will be fine until one of their own players does a cruciate or breaks a leg and the oppo do not kick the ball out because Bristol City wrote a letter to all clubs saying they would not kick it out themselves...

Think it should remain solely up to the referee to stop the game.

I agree. This kick the ball out lark has been a pain for ages, supported by the authorities mainly because taking a throw afterwards is easier to manage than a dropped ball at the spot of the injury. Time all referees earned their wages and made the important decisions instead of leaving it to other people.

The problem I have are when foreign players go down clutching their faces even though there is no contract with their head. Busketts was a master of it. His face must have been made of glass!

When play is restarted it is always to the disadvantage of the attacking team meaning that there is an advantage for players to go down

It is also a time wasting tactic since the time taken never gets fully added on. To stop this why can't  we have an independent time keeper who stops the clock when the ref signals like they do in rugby league?

The worst ones are when teams don't kick the ball out when their own player is down, lose possession, then expect the opposition to kick it out! Personally, unless the player down is obviously seriously injured, I'd never kick it out.

Only the ref should stop the game in my opinion I hate it when the fans start booing.

I think what Bristol propose is spot on as things stand at the moment, but I would have it that when a player is down the physio comes on and deals with him, the game carries on and when the player is ready to continue he stands with his hands in the air, the referee will decide when he becomes active by telling him. If a teams down to ten men whilst he game continues then see how quickly players are not as hurt ad they are today.

if a player goes down and play is stopped ,that player must stay off the pitch for 5 minutes(controlled by 4th official) so a player genuinly injured would need that time to recover but someone play acting penalises his own team.    just an idea.   :-/

Quoted from 4055

if a player goes down and play is stopped ,that player must stay off the pitch for 5 minutes(controlled by 4th official) so a player genuinly injured would need that time to recover but someone play acting penalises his own team.    just an idea.   :-/

So our star striker gets hacked down by a vicious tackle, and has to leave the pitch for 5 mins?

Quoted from 4055

if a player goes down and play is stopped ,that player must stay off the pitch for 5 minutes(controlled by 4th official) so a player genuinly injured would need that time to recover but someone play acting penalises his own team.    just an idea.   :-/

I would add that if it was a foul then "the dirty illegitimate" who did it goes off for twice as long

Quoted from mimma

The problem I have are when foreign players go down clutching their faces even though there is no contract with their head. Busketts was a master of it. His face must have been made of glass!

When play is restarted it is always to the disadvantage of the attacking team meaning that there is an advantage for players to go down

It is also a time wasting tactic since the time taken never gets fully added on. To stop this why can't  we have an independent time keeper who stops the clock when the ref signals like they do in rugby league?

It is not exactly restricted to foreign players is it? Morecambes keeper this past game being a prime example....

It should be up to the referee to decide if something is serious enough to warrant stopping play. Sportsmanship is fine and all but it's out of control when it's expected to give up an advantage because somebody is rolling around like a fanny only to be running around seconds after their team has the ball back.

If there is a serious injury then referees already have the discretion to stop play so treatment can be given, no need to kick the ball out anytime somebody hits the deck. The ball will eventually be out of play on it's own. If a team wants to put the ball out of play it should be given to the other team, that's their choice and they shouldn't automatically get the ball back.

Time wasting also needs more strict punishments in the game. It's getting ridiculous now when the dying minutes of a game are just players falling all over the place like they have been shot. I also think that an obvious dive in the box to win a penalty should be an automatic sending off like with the last man rule.

God forbid but let's hope no Bristol City player or any of their opponents players suffer a compound fracture or similar.

That said Bristol's opponents may not adopt the same approach of course

Remember many years ago at the end the f a Sky game they would put statistics up, one was total game time, usually about 90 odd minutes, another was active game time, this was usually around 45 minutes, so basically the actual action was only around 45 minutes, if the ball is dead then he clock should be stopped.

Quoted from ginnywings

So our star striker gets hacked down by a vicious tackle, and has to leave the pitch for 5 mins?

I didn’t know we had a ‘star striker’?! Nice one ☝️

Quoted from ginnywings

So our star striker gets hacked down by a vicious tackle, and has to leave the pitch for 5 mins?

if hes hacked down the guilty player probably would be off for longer than 5 minutes with a Red card. :-/

Must admit, it frustrates me when one of Team A’s players goes down injured and they insist that Team B kick it out.

Team B kick it out and hey presto, less than a minute later Team A’s injures player is running round like Usain Bolt.

When I see a player on the floor rolling around in agony, I think about the times I’ve been in as much agony as that - like when I broke my leg, or when I got punched in the head in a brawl, so to me, if they’re down like that, I presume they need subbing.

Honestly, it boils my urine, all this dramatisation. In principle I agree with what Bristol City are doing. There’s no point kicking the ball out of play just so some soft twit can have a minute’s rest.

I think the idea of an injured player leaving the field for 5 minutes is a good one. If there is a foul and the offending player gets booked, the injured player doesn't have to leave the field. That rule should stand and would prevent the issue with the star striker above more often than not.

Time doesn't get added on correctly and teams use it to disrupt play so anything that encourages the game to flow better suits me.

Just let the medics/physio on and play round them , unless it looks serious or is in the penalty box

Quoted from jamesgtfc

I think the idea of an injured player leaving the field for 5 minutes is a good one. If there is a foul and the offending player gets booked, the injured player doesn't have to leave the field. That rule should stand and would prevent the issue with the star striker above more often than not.

Time doesn't get added on correctly and teams use it to disrupt play so anything that encourages the game to flow better suits me.

I said on a post a while ago that if a player goes down injured and the physio is required then the injured player should go off the pitch for a mandatory 5 minutes to ensure he is fit to carry on playing. If a player goes down injured then play should proceed unless the referee deems that the physio is required and play can then stop.

Quoted from supertown

Just let the medics/physio on and play round them , unless it looks serious or is in the penalty box

Good idea-you could use cones and that red and white tape and a ball boy inside the restricted area. You've set me off now.

Quoted from golfer

Good idea-you could use cones and that red and white tape and a ball boy inside the restricted area. You've set me off now.

It works in rugby

The fundamental problem here is that football is awash with cheats and gamesmanship. Referees are never quite sure whether they're being conned so don't know what to do and that puts "pressure" on opposing teams to stop play. Seem to recall that's why they introduced the rule about going off if you need the physio
I think that's why Bristol City adopted this policy, and until footballers and coaches start showing greater integrity it will be down to individual teams.
If you're in possession and one of your players goes down it's easy, you decide. Stop cheating and it's also very simple

Quoted from Gaffer58

Remember many years ago at the end the f a Sky game they would put statistics up, one was total game time, usually about 90 odd minutes, another was active game time, this was usually around 45 minutes, so basically the actual action was only around 45 minutes, if the ball is dead then he clock should be stopped.

I agree with the theory but based on that we would be finishing the game 3 hours after kick off, 10:45 for a night match.

I'm not sure that we have enough battery life in our new floodlights for that.

Quoted from chaos33

I didn’t know we had a ‘star striker’?! Nice one ☝️

Bit of a stretch at the moment, but not that long ago we had Amond and Bogle.

Let's imagine a big burly centre half elbows said striker in the mush without the officials seeing the incident. He goes down, then has to leave the field for 5 mins, while the opposition carry on with 11 men.

Unfortunately, the way the game is now, whatever rule changes are made, the cheating players will find a way to exploit it. Every game, you see players going down holding their head, because they know the ref has to stop the match for head injuries. I think physios being allowed onto the pitch during play is a good shout.

Why, the solution is easy....all we have to do is install one of those fairground cuddly toy grabbers pitchside. When a player stays down, the trainer puts 50p in the slot and attempts to pick up the 'injured' party. 99 times out of 100 they will be dropped back into play, which fits in with the amount of times a player is really injured anyway. Also the club makes some extra cash from the grabber.  ;D

Quoted from wuffing

Why, the solution is easy....all we have to do is install one of those fairground cuddly toy grabbers pitchside. When a player stays down, the trainer puts 50p in the slot and attempts to pick up the 'injured' party. 99 times out of 100 they will be dropped back into play, which fits in with the amount of times a player is really injured anyway. Also the club makes some extra cash from the grabber.  ;D

Typical grasping Meggie!

So am I. Great idea.

It should always be the Refs decision. Takes all the gamesmanship away from the other team.
I’d very much also like to see refs given the ability to caution players who make Lazarus-style recoveries moments after being at deaths door.

The one that gets me most is when a player goes off injured, then comes back on limps for 1 minute then sits down in the middle of the pitch while the phsio then spends 5 mins pretending to give attention while the sub warms up, If he could walk back onto the pitch he can walk off again without the game stopping..

We all seem to have a gripe about various forms of professionalism (basically cheating) but why are not FIFA or EUFA bothered about it, I would assume money is involved somewhere.

The number of member countries where ‘gamesmanship ‘ is an integral part of the football culture would dissuade FIFA from doing anything about it unless absolutely necessary. Only if there’s a clear threat to revenue because of a bad reputation would they act (ie if sponsors started to back away from being associated with the game).