Planet Soccer

It is because soccer players are whining primadonnas. they should issue yellow cards for everything, keep the game moving more freely.

The rule was brought in because one wingnut FEMALE player from the U.S. did it to celebrate a World Cup goal on international tv coverage. Thankfully she was wearing a sportsbra underneath, but the rule was brought in a few years ago to prevent another such embarassment. If the players don't know the rule, I suggest they should try reading a book every once in a while.

The responses should be erased off here.

This rule is more in line with the NFL's policy of no fun. The rule is ridiculous at best and we'll see how long it lasts when Messi or Ronaldo get expelled for ripping their shirt off for scoring a game-winning goal in the semi-finals of a World Cup match.

I can fully understand and support an issuing of a card and subsequent fine/suspension for flashing an advertisement or a political message on a t-shirt underneath the kit, but when a player is so filled with joy, takes off his shirt and is then penalized for it, it is too much.

Soccer is a celebration and when a goal of magnificent proportions is scored players deserve to celebrate by going topless without facing persecution.

The law of the game #6 to be exact talks about equipment.And it mentions that players have to wear jersey,shorts,socks,shin guards period..the referee did only his job plain and simple.Now I have to agree with you John when you said that Fifa should focus their attention in things that really matter.As for example: racism withing asa and provincial soccer assotiations..soccer is a global game and we all know who play the game with passion and skill.And yet they don't let you in..politics have to disappear for the development of soccer in Canada.

you are as bad as sepp blatter bringing up the taylor tackle on eduardo in your blog. eduardo has forgiven taylor, who will carry that guilt a long time, hoping that eduardo makes a full recovery.
as for the rest of your blog, you obviously had nothing better to write about, like barnsley winning in the FA cup...3 championship clubs in the semi-final draw. no (yawn) instead maccarone taking off his shirt, riveting stuff.

the ref sent off Taylor.

there was nothing else he could do. he followed the letter of the law.

as did the ref who gave the yellow when the shirt came off.

shouldnt the players follow all the rules or just the ones that you think are not silly?

I have to agree with Scott from Galsgow, so many interesting developments in the world of soccer, yet Mr. Molinaro once again focuses on some obscure Italian game noone outside of Italy cares about.

How about writing something about Canadian soccer on occasion John, considering you work for the CBC and not RAI.

Scott and Jim hit the nail on the head. The rule is almost as pointless as this blog.

Rules are rules and until they are changed have to be enforced. It's not as if Maccarone did not know about the rule. In my opinion Maccarone should be the one getting all the criticsm as he should know the rule by now.

I thought the rule came to be because they wanted to reduce the long game stoppages due to celebrations on the field after a goal.

I agree with Catherine, if a team is pressed for time to tie after a 1-0 score towards the end of the game they should not have to admire some guy celebrating pure and simple is a delay of the game and as such it should be sanctioned, with respect to Scott, Jim and Colton I say why you follow the blog if you find John deserving of your denigrations? it smacks of hypocrisy, kudo to John for writing the blog one of the few journalists in Toronto who cares about the beautiful game. Keep it up John!

I have a question. Will Maccarone have an automatic 1 game suspension? I know if a player has a violent behavior on minute 88, with a red card only losses 2 minutes of game; thats the main reason to suspend players on the next game too, but for a celebration is too much.

The stupid shirt rule was brought in because of whining from sponsors. They felt that the camera would focus exclusicvely on one player when he scored, and they paid to emblazoned on the shirt, sothey deserve the prime coverage. Since Sepp Blatter is part of the Juan Antonia Samerach breed of greedy sports money grubbers, he gladley agreed. Considering the (relative to their total budgets) small fees sponsors pay to be on the shirts, I am surprised they would relent. I mean, even the huge clubs only a get a few million a year for shirt or stadium sponsorships, when their operating budgets are in the hundreds of millions.

The penalty of a yellow card is a little steep, though being penalized for excessive celebration is not uncommon in sport. The CFL has had rules preventing this in place for many seasons.

I can appreciate rules of this nature since the dignitiy of the opponents need to be respected. After having a goal scored against a team, the last thing they need is to have it rubbed in their face.

In the end, being disqualified from the game is a little excessive for removing a shirt in celebration. Maybe, there are less severe ways of preventing arrogant, over the top celebration.

As I'm reading all of this, again, what comes to mind are comments like the one that Jim (Toronto) gives......"no one outside of Italy cares" This anti-Italian sentiment keeps on coming from the English fans.
I think it still stems from the Azzuri winning their 4th Rimet Cup (World Cup)and also because Serie A (and possibly Serie B) are much better and more exciting then the Premier league or any other top league in the world.....The majority of the world's best players play in Italy...wonder why??

To Marco:

I'm not English and I'm not anti Italian...In fact I supported Italy over France in the last WC.

I just feel that this is the CBC and the amount of content on Italian soccer is excessive compared to what is written about Canada's men's team for example. This is afterall Canada's national news site.

As for Serie A being better than the Premiership...I think that argument is moot considering the situation with 4 EPL teams in the semis of the Champions League this year!

The best point made in this series of writings is the time wasting issue, particularly in this example. I'm not sure what has motivated FIFA to establish this rule but if excessive celebration takes place and is clearly wasting time then there should be some form of consequence. I agree that the emotion of the moment can take over but it should be kept reasonable.
As far as the ongoing verbal battles that take place on this blog about what league is better; every league has it's unique elements, intreague, and quality...that's what makes it the beautiful game.

John responds: Well said, Kevin. I could not agree with you more regarding which is the best league. I follow the top leagues religiously (Premierhsip, La Liga, Serie A, Ligue Un, Bundesliga, Argentina) and they all offer something unique.

As for the shirt rule, I don't care, there are many much more stupid rules in the world.

In response to the "Canadian content" vis-a-vis soccer, the truth is that there is not much happening of interest. I would be happy if someone commented on the fact that Canada should have a good mens side and should be in close to every World Cup but isn't because of anti-soccer sentiments in the country or the fact that Toronto FC is a money-maker and not a soccer team.

As for the Engligh teams in the Champions League, what is English about them aside from the fact that they are from England? Arsenal has ONE English player on the field from time-to-time. The English league has an average of 17 foreign players per team. English league, English teams? I dont think so.

Not disagreeing with Alex about the amount of foreign players in the EPL, he's completely right. However the argument put forth was about which league was better, and the point made was that the EPL appears to be the strongest league with four of its teams still remaining in the Champions League.

The shirt rule: It should be removed. It has nothing to do with time wasting, as players waste tons of time with their shirts on as it is, I don't see how taking off a shirt adds significant time to celebrations.

The blog: It does have a strong Italian slant, which can be annoying at times, but in this case he used Maccarone as an example because it made sense. Can't vilify the man for that. Maybe for othe reasons, but not that! =)

How about taking something from hockey. If a player commits a foul or delay of game - say five minutes off the field. Keep the yellow and red cards from more serious offenses.
Might work.