‘Bring back the shoulder charge’

In light of Chelsea’s controversial last-minute equaliser against West Brom, is it possible that football is heading towards the unattractive title of a ‘non-contact’ sport?

Over recent seasons, penalty kicks have been awarded for reasons that are trivial at best. The age of the good old-fashioned shoulder barge is rapidly becoming a distant memory, but why has the game experienced such a decline in physical contact?

Manchester United winger Ashley Young is the current target of vitriol on this topic. He was openly criticised by manager David Moyes after his apparent dive against Crystal Palace in October. Not too long after this incident, Young was at it again and bought his side a penalty in a Champions League game against Real Sociedad. However, Moyes diverted the blame to the referee on this occasion because, in the Scot’s words, “the referee was two yards away and gave a penalty kick. He refereed the Champions League final so you are expecting him to be as qualified as anybody.”

Obviously, questions must be asked of the player. Regardless of whether or not there is some form of advantage for yourself and your team, the spirit of the game should remain unchallenged. Despite this, the officials are not exempt from criticism. In some cases, the player has a split second to decide whether or not he has been subjected to a sufficient level of contact to fall over in the box. With this in mind, is it not the referee’s job to spot these infringements of the law? It is refereeing decisions such as the one referred to by Moyes that are persuading more and more officials to award penalty kicks for incidents where there is minimal contact.

Another key factor moving football towards non-contact status is crowd pressure. High-capacity stadiums such as Old Trafford and Stamford Bridge are notorious for fans influencing important refereeing decisions, and it has become so common that some referees are seen to be wearing a certain team’s kit courtesy of an angry supporter and Photoshop.

It seems that every Saturday evening when sitting down to watch Match of the Day, another referee buckles under the pressure of the home crowd. Andre Marriner is the latest victim of this after gifting Chelsea a last minute penalty at home to West Brom to maintain Jose Mourinho’s unbeaten record at Stamford Bridge. There have been too many incidents of fans reacting in a hostile fashion towards a referee, which may play on an official’s mind as they make a key decision.

Nobody wants to be on the receiving end of criticism, especially not from forty thousand or more people. It appears that many officials fear for their safety if they don’t make a certain decision. The modern game has seen a sharp rise in the level of crowd trouble and it is becoming easier to throw projectiles onto the pitch in disgust.

I would like to see the return of the shoulder charge into football. I’m not suggesting that we should accept fearsome two-footed challenges. I merely want to stop this nonsense whereby innocuous tackles are punished by referees. The rate of decline in physical contact in football means that defenders are afraid to challenge a striker in the box which, to me, shows that game has gone too far. Let’s bring back the hard tackles and the shoulder charges, and give the beautiful game the reputation it deserves.