A01 Games Based Sport

 Introduction:

Founded in 1863, football is a games- based sport normally associated as a winter sport like rugby. Football is a sport that draws in the crowds as it is very popular with the public. There are football teams all over the world and every four years each country chooses its best players to take part in the ‘FIFA World Cup’. Each country has its own clubs that players from all over the world can join. Here in England we are lucky to have some of the world’s best clubs including: Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City and Arsenal. Some of the stadiums that the clubs play in are massive and can hold over one hundred thousand people including Wembley, England’s finest stadium. Unlike rugby, football is played with a spherical ball. Even though the game looks easy at first it becomes more and more complex as you start to play it.          

Rules of the game:

The rules of the game may seem hard at first but you will get used to them and they become very easy. Some rules don’t exist for beginners, like the offside rule, and gradually get introduced as you get better. There shouldn’t be any contact throughout the game and all tackles must be clean. In a tackle you must get the ball not just the player. On the next couple of pages you will find out about all of the rules and who enforces them.

Football pitches can be made from either natural or artificial grass. All pitches must be rectangular consisting of a goal area, a penalty area, flag posts, and goals. The dimensions of the pitch can range from 90-120 metres long by 45-90 metres wide. A bigger pitch obviously means a bigger space for players to run in, tackle in or pass in, and are usually played in by better players. However the dimensions of an international pitch are stricter and range from 100-110 metres by 64-75 metres.

The goal area always starts 5.5 metres away from each goalpost and come out parallel to each other 5.5 meters. The two lines then join vertically.

·         Starting 16.5 metres from each goal post the penalty area extends 16.5 metres out with the two lines joining vertically.

·         A flag post is stuck into the ground at every corner of the pitch within a quarter- circle on the field (1 metre in radius).

·         The goals must have 7.32 metres from post to post and must be 2.44 metres high. They cannot be wider than five inches.   

Football can become a very competitive game, especially when it comes to professional teams like Manchester United and Manchester City. This means that the players, and even the crowd, need to keep calm and not be stupid. It’s when violence brakes out that we have horrible football matches and swearing from the players. We also have some cases where fans run onto the pitch. None of this is necessary.

To stop this from happening we have yellow cards and red cards. Football is a none contact sport; however, there is usually a bit of contact. A yellow card is given for a bad tackle or for arguing with the referee. They are also given for swearing or arguing with the linesman. A red card is given for a severely bad tackle or for two yellow cards. Red cards are not rare, they happen quite often. Often you will find that the players argue with the ref and the crowd argue even louder.

Number of players on the pitch:

There can never be more than twenty two players on the pitch at one time, excluding the ref (eleven aside). The diagram below shows the basic formations of a team. However, not every team sticks to these formations. On every team there is a goalkeeper, defenders, midfielders and a striker. There may be more than one striker instead of four midfielders. Or there could be three defenders and five midfielders.  The manager can choose any formation he likes.

The manager also selects a captain who will lead the team, a free-kick taker, a penalty taker and a corner taker. Any substitutes sit on the side-line watching until they get substituted on. A substitute won’t always get subbed on. Before be substituted onto the field of play the manager needs to select a player to switch with the substitute. Usually you would swap a midfielder for a midfielder and a striker for a striker but this isn’t always the case. The manager needs to let the ref know when he wants to make a substitution so the ref can stop the game at a suitable time, for example at a throwing or a free-kick.

Equipment:

There isn’t much equipment you need for a game of football; all you need is a team jersey, shorts, shin guards with socks and studded boots or trainers depending on the surface. If you are a goalkeeper you will need a different colour jersey and gloves. You will need a different colour jersey so that the other team and the crowd know that you are the goalkeeper and you are not handballing it. It also stops your own team getting confused.   

Referees and assistant referees:

The referee has to wear black and is the person who follows the ball on the pitch and blows his whistle for any fouls the players make. He keeps the yellow and red cards in his pocket and uses them if necessary. Unfortunately the ref quite often makes a bad decision and all the blame goes to him but he’s only a human like you or me so why should he get moaned at. After all they quite often find themselves in a bad position where they can’t see the ball and they have to guess.

However, referees do have assistant referees that can help make decisions. There are two assistant referees that stand on each side of the pitch. One stands on one half and the other one stands on the other half, on the opposite side of the pitch. They don’t do as much running as the ref but they still do quite a lot. They each carry a flag that they put up for different reasons. They will raise the flag when there is a throwing and they will point it in the direction of the team that is taking the throwing. They will put up the flag for a corner, an offside, a handball and when they think there’s a foul that the ref misses. Occasionally the game may pause for a few moments for the referee and the linesman to have a word about a tackle if they have different opinions.

Duration of the game:

A football match always lasts at least 90 minutes with injury time added on at the ends. The 90 minutes is split up into two half’s both 45 minutes longs with a 15 minute break in between.  This break allows managers to have words with their players and players to have a drink. Extra-time is introduced in knock-out stages of a competition which lasts an extra half an hour, however, it is only added if after 90 minutes the score line is a draw. During extra-time there is a short break of just a few minutes for players to have a drink and speak to the manager. If after extra-time the score is still level then the teams compete in a penalty shoot-out. 

Penalty shoot-out:

A penalty shoot-out involves two teams that play against each other trying to score the most goals. To take a penalty the ball needs to be placed on the penalty spot and you take a shot to try and score. The goalkeeper tries to stop the ball from going in the net like in a normal match. All the players that aren’t taking the shot must stand behind the ball, around the edge of the box. At first it is best of ten shots but if both teams score five goals out of five they continue in sudden death. When someone misses the team that scores the most wins.  

Scoring:

A goal can only be scored if the whole ball crosses the line between the goal posts. The winner is the team who scores the most goals, except in competitions where the away goal rule applies. The away goal rule means that if the away team scores it counts as two goals but in these competitions the teams play at their ground and the other teams ground. So if the score was 2-2 the away team would be winning 2-3. 

Offside:

The offside rule isn’t introduced until you can understand and play football. This is because it is a rule that can confuse people and it makes the game more complex. The offside rule isn’t played until you are about 10-12 years old. This is a suitable age to start using this rule if you have been playing for years before.

If you are closer to the goal than the last opposition outfield player (excluding the keeper) you are in an offside position. If you are in this position the linesman will raise his flag and a free-kick will be given to the opposing team. The reason this is such a complex rule is because you need to keep an eye out at all times to make sure you are not offside. It also causes confusion on the defending side because the defenders need to keep a straight line to keep any strikers offside and to create a wall to block passes. To commit an offside offence you need to be in this position when the ball is passed towards you, therefore you can be in an offside position without causing an offence. For example if you were not in an offside position when the pass was made and you run onto the ball in an offside position it is not an offence because you weren’t offside when the ball was passed on.

The offside rule gets even further complicated as to commit an offside offence you need to interfere with play. Being in this position must be at your advantage to commit an offence. If the ball doesn’t get to you or you leave the ball because you know your offside play continues. Different refs may have different opinions as you will probably find out as you begin to watch more and more games.

If that’s not enough, there’s even more factors to consider. You can’t ever be offside in your own half of the pitch and you can’t be penalized for being in an offside position when a goal kick, throw in, indirect free kick or corner kick is taken.   

Free kicks:

When a free kick has been given the opposing team must stand at least 10 yards away from the ball until it has been taken. If the opposing team fail to do this the kick is retaken. There are two types of free kick given:

Direct free kick- This type of free kick is given if the player from the opposing side makes a sliding tackle that takes out a player. It means the free kick taker can take a direct shot into the opponent’s goal. It’s also given if the opponent deliberately tugs a shirt or a deliberate hand-ball. 

Indirect free kick- If this type of free kick is awarded you’re not allowed to take a direct shot on goal. You must pass at least once before you can shoot. If this free kick is awarded and you take a direct shot the opposition gets a free kick. An indirect free kick is given for any dangerous tackle that is made.

An indirect free kick can also be awarded for a pass-back offence; however this offence is fairly uncommon. A pass back offence is when a player passes back to their goalkeeper and the goalkeeper picks the ball up instead of kick it. If this offence does happen a free kick is taken from wherever the offence took place.    

Throw in:

When the whole ball crosses the touch line a throw in is awarded. It is given to the team that didn’t touch the ball last. The person who takes the throw in has to use both hands and throw it in with both feet on the ground. If they fail to do it then it is called a ‘foul throw’ and the opposite team gets a throwing.

Goal kick:

A goal kick is awarded if the striker or opponent kicks the ball past the goal line and the whole ball goes over the line. A goal kick can be taken from anywhere in the goalkeeper’s box but the ball must cross the penalty area line.

Corner kick:

A corner is given if the opposition were last to touch the ball when it goes over the goal line. The whole ball must go over for a corner to be awarded. The corner is taken from the corner side that the ball went out of inside the little quarter circle. The corner taker cannot touch the ball again until another player has touched it. Opponents must stand at least 10 yards away from the ball when the kick is being taken.   

My top 5 football players:

1.    Lionel Messi:

Although I find him a bit of a ‘ball-hog’ at times, he is a joy to watch. He really is a talented football player.  He scores many amazing goals that before were impossible and he make some fantastic passes.

Kaka:

Kaka is a brilliant player, very well known throughout world of football. He has played for some of the best teams in the world and scores some incredible goals. He is worth loads of money and is a very well experienced player.

 Fabregas:

Fabregas is one of my all time favourites. He’s a skilful player and recently moved from Arsenal to Barcelona. I think he scores some brilliant goals and dribbles the ball really well.

Gerrard:

Gerrard is great to watch and is great at scoring goals. He plays for Liverpool and he rarely makes any fouls. He’s a fantastic clean player.

5.    Fernando Torres:

It was hard to pick a player for 5^th place but I couldn’t leave Torres out. You’ll notice that I have selected an image of him when he was at Liverpool; this is because I don’t think he belongs in a blue shirt at Chelsea. Torres has always been my football idol because he is such a fantastic player. 

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           Barclays Premier League

The Barclays Premier League is the best possible league for the high ranked teams. Each year the worst three teams are relegated into the Npower Championship and the best three are promoted up into the Premier League. The salaries the players earn are massive. 

      






            Npower Championship

The Npower Championship is still a fantastic league to be in but it isn’t quite the best league. The money each player earns is still extraordinary and like the premier league the worst three teams are relegated into Npower League 1. The top three teams in League 1 are promoted into the Championship.

·       
            Npower League 1

Although league 1 is the 3^rd best league it is still a very good position for a team to be in. Most of these teams aren’t rich but are still earning a reasonable amount of money. The worst 3 teams are relegated into league 2 and the best 3 teams in league 2 are promoted into this league.

·         Npower League 2                                                           

    League 2 isn’t a great league to be in but it’s still got reasonable teams and players. The money is still quite high and there are still plenty of supporters. The worst 3 teams are relegated into the Blue Square Premier League and the best 3 teams in the Blue Square Premier League are promoted.

·         Blue Square Premier League

Most of the teams in this league aren’t very good and many of them don’t earn much money but it is still quite a good league to be in. There are many more leagues after this one but these five leagues are the main ones.

National Organizations:

·        FIFA - http://www.fifa.com/

‘Fédération Internationale de Football Association’ (FIFA), founded in Paris on 21^st May 1904, is the international governing body of football associations. In 1908 FIFA held its first football competition at the Olympics in London. The organizations survival was in doubt when it came to WW1 because many of the players had been sent to war. This meant there were few international fixtures till the players were back.

FIFA’s headquarters are based in Zurich and is established under the laws of Switzerland. FIFA Congress is FIFA’s supreme body, made up of many representatives from each member association. The Congress meets once a year to discuss things and only the Congress can pass changes to FIFA’S statutes. The Congress will elect other members, the general secretary and even the President of FIFA. The President is in charge of daily administration along with the general secretary. 280 members currently make up the FIFA staff.

FIFA’S Executive Committee is the main decision-making body of the organization. The committee is chaired by the President but the structure of FIFA’S worldwide organization also consists of several other bodies. These bodies are under authority of the Executive committee and among them are: The Finance Committee, the Disciplinary Committee, the referees committee, ETC....ETC...

Six confederations, beside from it worldwide institutions, are recognized by FIFA which ‘oversee’ the game in different continents. The continental confederations aren’t members of FIFA they are provided for in FIFA’S statutes.       

AFC, CAF, CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, OFC and UEFA are the six confederations:

·         AFC- Asian Football Confederation

·         CAF-  ‘Confédération Africaine de Football’

·         CONCACAF – Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football

·         CONMEBOL – Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol

·         OFC – Oceania Football Confederation

·         UEFA – Union of European Football Associations

"For the game, for the world."

·        The FA -  http://www.thefa.com/

The Football Association (FA) was founded in 1863 and is currently the governing body of football in England. It is the oldest national football association and is now based at Wembley, London. It’s responsible for all professional and amateur football in England.

For centuries before the first FA meeting football was a game of chaos. All this chaos was caused because there were no official rules; all schools used different rules depending on the local conditions. In 1862 13 London clubs met to agree on some rules.

Ebenezer Cobb Morley was central to the creation of the FA and to the modern game of football. Morley, as captain of the Mortlake-Based Club he wrote to Bell’s Life newspaper suggesting a governing body for the sport. This led to the first meeting that created the FA. Morley was the FA’s first secretary and the second president.

·        UEFA- http://www.uefa.com/

The Union of European Football Associations was founded on 15^th June 1954 in Basil. Since 1995 UEFA’s administrative centre has been in Nyon, Switzerland. UEFA not only represents most of the national football associations of Europe but also runs national and club competitions in its area. Furthermore it controls: Prize money, regulations and media rights to those competitions.

UEFA is the biggest of the six confederations of FIFA and is by far the strongest in terms of wealth and influence at the club level. Nearly all of the world’s top players play in European leagues, mainly because of how much they earn at top clubs in countries such as: England, Spain, Italy, Germany and France.

The top-ranked UEFA competition is the UEFA Champions League which is played by the top 4 teams in each country. A second, lower-ranked, competition is the UEFA Europa League. This competition is played by knockout cup winners and high placed league teams.

“We care about Football”