Comments on: Football, er, Soccer, and Governance http://madisonian.net/2007/05/14/football-er-soccer-and-governance/ a blog about law, tech, culture, and related things Thu, 10 May 2012 20:32:56 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Dave http://madisonian.net/2007/05/14/football-er-soccer-and-governance/comment-page-1/#comment-209694 Dave Tue, 15 May 2007 21:51:24 +0000 http://madisonian.net/archives/2007/05/14/football-er-soccer-and-governance/#comment-209694 I think William's posts and his article are motivated to a large extent by a desire to weed out a problem with adjudication in soccer: namely, the incentives that lead players to simulate injury and the difficulty of separating simulation from genuine fouls. I don't think there's a soccer observer who disagrees that diving is a real problem in the sport, though different cultures seem to assess the problem differently (Latins tolerate it with a shrug, while Anglophones seem to think it's only slightly less evil than Nazi pedophilia). And this issue aside, it seems to me that soccer doesn't have an essential nature (adjudicative v. expressive), but that it makes more sense to describe these as two aesthetic themes that recur in the game. Adjudication in soccer tends to constrain expression, as it prevents teams from playing as freely as they might in the absence of concerns about fouls. Of course, a purely expressive game would be chaotic, so some outer limit of adjudication is necessary to provide constraints within which players can express themselves. How you want balance these two traits depends on what you think of the game. If you found the 2006 WC wonderfully expressive, you'd have no problem with its adjudicative structure. If you feel that the play was overly cautious and restrained (which I tend to think), then you're likely to think we could do with less adjudication. How to implement the latter change is, of course, a tricky question I don't have a ready answer to. (Though getting rid of the offsides rule seems a good start.) I think William’s posts and his article are motivated to a large extent by a desire to weed out a problem with adjudication in soccer: namely, the incentives that lead players to simulate injury and the difficulty of separating simulation from genuine fouls. I don’t think there’s a soccer observer who disagrees that diving is a real problem in the sport, though different cultures seem to assess the problem differently (Latins tolerate it with a shrug, while Anglophones seem to think it’s only slightly less evil than Nazi pedophilia).

And this issue aside, it seems to me that soccer doesn’t have an essential nature (adjudicative v. expressive), but that it makes more sense to describe these as two aesthetic themes that recur in the game. Adjudication in soccer tends to constrain expression, as it prevents teams from playing as freely as they might in the absence of concerns about fouls. Of course, a purely expressive game would be chaotic, so some outer limit of adjudication is necessary to provide constraints within which players can express themselves. How you want balance these two traits depends on what you think of the game. If you found the 2006 WC wonderfully expressive, you’d have no problem with its adjudicative structure. If you feel that the play was overly cautious and restrained (which I tend to think), then you’re likely to think we could do with less adjudication. How to implement the latter change is, of course, a tricky question I don’t have a ready answer to. (Though getting rid of the offsides rule seems a good start.)

]]> By: Richard http://madisonian.net/2007/05/14/football-er-soccer-and-governance/comment-page-1/#comment-209658 Richard Tue, 15 May 2007 17:26:24 +0000 http://madisonian.net/archives/2007/05/14/football-er-soccer-and-governance/#comment-209658 I wonder if the quality of the game is being sacrificed for the sake of self-discipline & order. I note that Brazil's World Cup team lacked the passion and wild abandon that it usually practices. (I remember they played with those two characteristics in the 1998 & 2002 editions. Also, if Romario had played in the final in Paris in '98, the results could have been different.) I wonder if the quality of the game is being sacrificed for the sake of self-discipline & order. I note that Brazil’s World Cup team lacked the passion and wild abandon that it usually practices. (I remember they played with those two characteristics in the 1998 & 2002 editions. Also, if Romario had played in the final in Paris in ‘98, the results could have been different.)

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