A&H

Great Question

Who would survive the longest?

  • A - A 70's player having to play in todays game (With todays snowflake compliant LOTG) ?

    Votes: 11 61.1%
  • B - A 2019 player having to play in the 1970's (With a bloke with a whistle)

    Votes: 7 38.9%

  • Total voters
    18
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Sheffields Finest

Maybe I'm foolish, maybe I'm blind!
Level 7 Referee
Which would be the hardest adjustment?

A. A 70's player having to play in todays game (With todays snowflake compliant LOTG) ?

B. A 2019 player having to play in the 1970's (With a bloke with a whistle) ?
 
The Referee Store
Loaded question.

Which game do you like to watch or play in? One that players try to kick the sh!t out of each other or one that the focus is scoring goals by playing the ball.
 
Ok I can explain what I mean by loaded. The bits you put in brackets gives it away. The question seems to be suggesting to consider only the physicality of the game.

Yes it was much more physical in the old days and players from now, time travelled to 40-50 years ago will have trouble adjusting to it. However the game these day is a lot more tactical and players being highly technical is more of a norm rather than the exception. Most players from 40-50 years ago would struggle with that aspect of the game if they were to play today.

Simply put, it used be about athletes who could play football. It is now about footballers who can also be considered as athletes . I prefer the latter.
 
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That is one tough question but I am a sucker and hoping for B. Our new generation with the guidance of dedicated old farts such as myself will bring the youth around! Wait scrap that, the panties of today could not play in the 70s nor could the old farts play with the laws of today....Loaded quesiton but my hope is that we can turn these new chaps around!
 
I agree I worked with one of my older center referees today who has been around the rock for a while and we all agree. Play on! This was a match I was worried about centering due to the fact that there was so much dissent in the previous match I did with them in the middle. Funny how things work out and I personally, as a referee let them unfold, they all work out in the end. Rarely have I been involved in a game that was decided by whoever I put in the middle, Things just tend to work out as we all know and as long as well follow through with what we feel and believe then it is usually the case. I am a bit more lively tonight because my call outs for help have been answered and I can only learn from it all. Assigning is a tough job when you still need to perform in the middle. I still agree, its a loaded question and am leining towards the youth of today because that is the future. As long as I am still sucking air I have hope!
 
Footballers these days are fitter. They'd soon adapt to the expectations of yesteryear and just go with it.

The likes of George Best, Keegan, Macdonald, etc would, I believe, excel in the modern game, but defenders and midfielders like Hunter, Smith Bremner and the like would probably only last 20 mins before seeing red. :D
 
Cards on table, I was a striker, a sniffer, ugly goals, always top scorer but I'd score the knock down goals, deflections, even the charge on the keeper dropsies. Never top drawer and I had a dirty side too, I'd struggle now for sure, I could kick anyone, even the big centre halves but I'd get booked too often now with more cards on offer. Could a modern player play in my era?? Probably not, players were targeted for sure, slow the good one down and you've won the game by defualt.

I was talking to a Derby fan today who's best Derby player was Ted McMinn, he was out for a year with a cruciate and his first game back was at Bramall Lane, Vincent Jones stuck one on him after 10 seconds and 3000 Derby fans wanted to riot.. It happened, Maradona, Pele, Keegan, Dalglish, all knew what was coming and weren't bleating like babies every tackle. It was an expected part of the game. Were they athletes? No, we they excellent footballers, yes, a good footballer with a good brain is worth millions these days!!
 
Ted McMinn was a fav of mine, kicked the ball 20 yards in front of himself then chased it, knocking down anything that stood in his way
 
Modern footballers are far more athletic than in the 70s and 80s that's for sure! I begin playing youth football competitively in 1991. I'm not sure players are more skillfull now at all, what has changed is that coaches allow players to use skills these days. But there's alot less dribbling these days, that skill is dying out in modern football. Every team used to have tricky wingers but it's not so these days. Passing is far better these days due to different coaching styles and much better playing surfaces. The pace of the game is also slower these days as teams take longer to get the ball from back to front. However, the opposite it true when it comes to counter attacking, which is unbelievably good in the modern era. Footballers have much higher expectations now that's for sure. Expect much better facilities even at local level. Below standard players expect to play now which is a cultural change and due to less numbers playing. Players expect more protection from referees. The game is much less social these days than it was which is the biggest loss. The football club was the heart of the players social lives, especially in working mens clubs and pubs. That's all changed now and that's the biggest loss. The last couple of teams I played for didn't even put food on after the game and only a few people went for a drink. It used to be unheard of not to go to the home team pub after the game. It was an insult not to!
 
I think some of the younger refs on here would be having coronaries if they were transported back to a tasty game back then. It wasn’t lawless but there seemed to be less laws imposed!
 
Shef I didn't play back before they made the balls round....I know a bad joke! Or...... maybe not but I have noticed in the past few matches in my younger age groups, U12 and below these little rascals are starting to tactical foul. I am not sure if that was a thing back in the day in the younger groups but it sure is now. Just meaning the game has evolved and these kids may or may not be getting smarter? Or maybe in my old age have become quicker? Either I am slowing down or they are getting faster, most likely both. Great topic and question and good dialogue to boot.
 
Tactical fouls back then had a slightly different meaning, better players got kicked, usually on purpose. Listen online to tales from these times and your toes would curl, it was organised gamesmanship for sure, some players became legends at it. The tales of Billy Whitehurst were extremely funny! He wouldn’t get in a Sunday league side now and yet he played in the same side as Gazza.
 
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Good stuff Shef. I agree, as Bob Dylan once sang..".the times they are a changing" and as referees, we need to adapt as well. If I didn't live and referee in the moment I should be canned. I just had a Grade 4 referee, which I have no idea what that means in American football. MLS maybe which is a half ass league compared to the world stage who used to run an association on my rock tell me how things should be. This chap could not even start his computer let alone know what any of the massive law changes that have taken effect. My point is the ballers adapt and change and the referees need to as well. I know my ref game has changed in my short life span. If there wasn't any growth to every aspect of human development it would sure be a bore. And of course, I am way off topic...I blame it on the sun. But the topics on here get me to think about all sorts of stuff and again this is a great question with a wide range of answers to get us all to discuss issues that help us grow with the game. Mahalo
 
I had to present a talk to 26 companies yesterday in Bolton, they were a health and safety forum, we were comparing stories from todays new H&S requirements to when I first started in 1988, hardly any site rules, these days you get kicked off sites for stuff that wasn't even a rule back then...

Equally, in my early 20's could I of stood up and blathered for 90 minutes on any subject, NOPE!! ;)

Times are changing and its not always a bad thing TBF, I hate to see football injuries, broken bones etc, so for that, extra powers for referees isn't a bad thing, I do think that a lot of other stuff has become too fussy trying to help attackers too much....What about them poor defenders????
 
It wasn't just a game of skill, physicality was part of the requirements to be a footballer. You had to be able to take a kick and dish it out, it was simply expected.

The game itself has changed and for the better now. You could take the man out from behind and as long as you got some of the ball it wasn't a foul. But that was the game then, getting the ball was the consideration. It's not wrong, it's just different, it was a different type of game. It's evolved to a different game now and I prefer it that way. But, it is going too far now. Defenders fall over when shielding the ball knowing they'll get a free kick even though he's hardly been touched. That's not good for the game. That's not a good direction to be going where we allow the slightest contact to be a free kick. There must be a better balance.
 
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