Ball-boys, whats the point?
With pitches that are surrounded by hoardings, and stands - usually no more than 3m from the pitch, i have to ask myself what is the point of "ball-boys" anyway?
Glenn Hoddle has been in the media admitting that they play a part in home advantage. They are told when to give the ball back quickly and when to time waste by the management of the home club.
He is basically saying its a fact what we all believed anyway. I'm sure most teams do it, including CFC and everyone in the prem. Even the crowd do it at times? When the ball is in row z they hold on to it, slowing the play down or wasting time. Sometimes they have to get a new ball!
But this incident has highlighted the extent to which the officials at a club will go to, to basically cheat (and it is a form of cheating). We have ball boys tweeting that they will deliberately cheat, and they have been brought in just to do exactly that.
They do not speed up or help the game in any way, in fact they deliberately slow it down. Is it time that they were got rid of?
Glenn Hoddle has been in the media admitting that they play a part in home advantage. They are told when to give the ball back quickly and when to time waste by the management of the home club.
He is basically saying its a fact what we all believed anyway. I'm sure most teams do it, including CFC and everyone in the prem. Even the crowd do it at times? When the ball is in row z they hold on to it, slowing the play down or wasting time. Sometimes they have to get a new ball!
But this incident has highlighted the extent to which the officials at a club will go to, to basically cheat (and it is a form of cheating). We have ball boys tweeting that they will deliberately cheat, and they have been brought in just to do exactly that.
They do not speed up or help the game in any way, in fact they deliberately slow it down. Is it time that they were got rid of?
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I noticed at our home games a few years back we switched from each ballboy having a ball handy so play would get cracking quickly, to just using one ball so they'd have to go fetch it. With us it's more a penny-pinching exercise than gamesmanship, as it's not too often we're holding a lead we need to waste time for...
Fair enough, it would be a shame if this one idiot ruins what would be great experiences for young children.
How big are the pitches in the games you watch?
:rolleyes:
In todays game, there is simply no need for them - they hinder the game and actually waste more time than not having them!
Dont really see the point of them nowadays if i honest, But changing anything in football nowadays is just about impossible.
You mean Hazard I presume.
No, i mean the ball person to tweeted before the game that, given the chance, he would perform the actions that he did, to get the result that he did.
I used to watch Burnley on a regular basis, and if they were leading with a few minutes to go, they would do the same thing - withdraw the 'multi-ball' system where the ball boys each have a ball which they throw onto the pitch before retreiving the match ball, and instead just wait for the crowd to throw the match ball back, thus wasting time. Of course, if they were losing, they kept with the multi-ball and threw a ball back on the pitch pronto!
What is the need for them?
They was bought into football quite by accident and have stuck around for no other reason then football has this mindset of "oh we can not change this or that or the whole world of football comes to a end".
what are you talking about,take ball boys away and you can add 10 mins per game, will deystroy flow of a game too.
Most just get on with it and are useful, particularly in grounds where you have plenty of empty seats for a wayward shot to get lost in. Plus it gets little kids involved which is nice. It should just be kids though, not obnoxious 17-year olds.
And if they was not there? Make a hugh difference to the game? Nope not at all, Its just another part of a game that refuses to change
Not all grounds have the luxury of full stands and non-stop advertising boards.
In a world where everything is black and white i would agree, but this is a game where something that is "useful" but not really that important and needed has been changed to give one team a advantage,
I have heard of clubs not putting ball boys in the other sides half to help the home team and now this. Ball boys timewasting/breaking up play is a tactic used by the manager just as much as moving a guy a extra guy in defence etc, Now if football was policed in the right way and punishments was handed out for this sort of thing I would agree with having them but sadly Football is unable (or refuses) to do it.
"All clubs do it" and "its always been that way" is not a reason or a excuse
The result was a win for Swansea, because Chelsea were not good enough to win.
Officials can add time for time wasting. Players cannot kick ball boys.
I take it Chelsea ball boys have never wasted time.
Not at all, But teams do use them as part of their tactics and that should not be allowed in sports. They should be a good idea but football is unable to govern itself in a proper and responsible way,
But its not only about timewasting, Its about breaking up play, Allowing players to get back and defend, No players should not be allowed to kick ball boys, but also someone who is not part of the game should not be able to have a say in how long a game is played or when throw in's etc are taken
Correct CFC did not deserve to win, as i have posted before.
No players can kick officials from the other team, luckily in this case no player kicked an official from the other team, he kicked a ball.
See my first post, where i CLEARLY state that CFC have used this tactic themselves.
There is no need for ball boys in the premier league. They are used tactically and cynically.
Everyone was moaning yesterday that the "kid" was a "minor" etc, but from what i gather most ball persons are very young.
What sort of game basically bribes young kids to cheat to give their team an advantage?
Pretty sickening really.