Ballboys should be neutral

[Coco-1101]

What next. All clubs should have same number of home fans. Otherwise its unfair. There should be salary cap and transfer budget cap?
I think you have lots of free time on your hands but you can use it for something better. Please don't reply. I am not bothered anymore

 

[Shadydan]

Not really an issue

 

[Krule]

That's just inhuman, it's cruel, unjust, painful and.....oh hang on....read the thread title wrong.....thought it said "neutered"......

 

[Dharmabum]

Nonsense thread. Partisan ballboys is part of the fun of the game.

The same goes for partisan refs, right?

 

[Dharmabum]

That's just inhuman, it's cruel, unjust, painful and.....oh hang on....read the thread title wrong.....thought it said "neutered"......

Some times I consider that it could be a good idea for certain IQ challenged fans

 

[Dharmabum]

What next. All clubs should have same number of home fans. Otherwise its unfair. There should be salary cap and transfer budget cap?
I think you have lots of free time on your hands but you can use it for something better. Please don't reply. I am not bothered anymore

That's called financial fair play
I reply to tell you that I feel honored that you bothered to take time out of your seemingly very busy schedule to reply to my "unworthy" post though.

 

[Tucker]

The same goes for partisan refs, right?

That’s taking things to extremes though. The ref is part of the game, his neutrality is essential to its proper running.

Ball boys aren’t essential to the game, and neither is there neutrality. It’s up to the referee to add on time, or to rule over anything the ball boys do to try and affect the game.

Frankly, this is a complete non issue. The rules of the game already account for this, referees are already able to add on time for stoppages and wastage.

 

[Dharmabum]

That’s taking things to extremes though. The ref is part of the game, his neutrality is essential to its proper running.

Ball boys aren’t essential to the game, and neither is there neutrality. It’s up to the referee to add on time, or to rule over anything the ball boys do to try and affect the game.

Frankly, this is a complete non issue. The rules of the game already account for this, referees are already able to add on time for stoppages and wastage.

You did NOT get my point The point it NOT about time wasting.
Why shouldn't the ball-fetchers be neutral when it come to how they distribute the balls?

 

[Tucker]

You did NOT get my point The point it NOT about time wasting.
Why shouldn't the ball-fetchers be neutral when it come to how they distribute the balls?

No, I’m not missing the point at all, like I said, the referee is in control of the game, he already has the powers to stop shenanigans. But aside from that, football isn’t a hermetically sealed, sterile experiment. It’s always going to have and element of home advantage, and this is one area where that will always come into play. It’s impossible to make every single variable in the game neutral, and we shouldn’t be trying to. Home advantage is a massive part of the game. It’s what makes nights like Wednesday, or the game against City at the Etihad that much more special. Overcoming the other teams advantage and beating them anyway.

But you seem dead set on this being a massive issue, so ok then oh wise one...how are you going to implement this neutrality?

 

[Dharmabum]

Security guards/stewards etc. Are people who live and work locally. If you want a truly "neutral" ball boys then you'd have to bring people in from outside the local area. And the point about refs I was making is that refs are paid pretty handsomely and theyre struggle to recruit them, so I imagine that problem would be even worse for "professional" ball boys who would be paid almost nothing and have to give up their weekends (and their parents weekends) schlepping all up and down the country. Who in their right mind is going to be a professional ball boy driving g u and down the country all weekend for like 10 quid an hour? Nobody is the answer

Like I say, it's just in no way practical and I think you're massively overstating the importance of it and turning a complete non issue into something it's not. Creating a problem that barely exists and coming up with a completely unworkable and unnecessary solution to it

If it works in tennis why can't it work in football? I am talking EPL, Seri A etc. and not the lower divisions. And if it's such a non-issues, well, you really seem engaged for it not to be an issue for you...
Who says they cannot be recruited locally.
I know many people are reluctant to changes.
Very few - including lots on SC - supported VAR when it was suggested years ago. And if the majority had gotten what they wanted Spurs would not have been in the CL final (not this year).

 

[Spurrific]

I'd go one step further and say they should be eunuchs. Eunuchs or robots.

 

[Tucker]

I'd go one step further and say they should be eunuchs. Eunuchs or robots.

 

[Spurrific]

View attachment 49965

I like how you think

 

['O Zio]

If it works in tennis why can't it work in football? I am talking EPL, Seri A etc. and not the lower divisions. And if it's such a non-issues, well, you really seem engaged for it not to be an issue for you...
Who says they cannot be recruited locally.
I know many people are reluctant to changes.
Very few - including lots on SC - supported VAR when it was suggested years ago. And if the majority had gotten what they wanted Spurs would not have been in the CL final (not this year).

So you respond to my post asking me questions, then when I reply you have a pop at me for being too engaged? Ok then

The comparison with tennis doesn't work at all because tennis isn't anything like as partizan as football. Obviously everyone has their favorite players but you don't have people who exclusively support one specific player in the same way as people follow a football team.

As other people have already said, ballboys wasting time or whatever is something that in an ideal world wouldn't happen, but it's just not practical to have professional neutral ballboys for the reasons I've already pointed out that you just seem determined to completely ignore. Like I mentioned already, even if for arguments sake we all agree with you, it's so low down on the priority list of things that need to be changed about that game to the point where it's almost irrelevant. If everything else about the game was perfect then it might be something that's worth looking into but as it stands it's basically a non-issue.

 

[Reece]

It's just part of home advantage imo. They could always introduce a rule that says a maximum of 6 seconds or 10 seconds and the ball must be returned. Or we do the stop the clock thing. Is that currently being tested out anywhere?

 

['O Zio]

It's just part of home advantage imo. They could always introduce a rule that says a maximum of 6 seconds or 10 seconds and the ball must be returned. Or we do the stop the clock thing. Is that currently being tested out anywhere?

To be honest I'm sure if it got to the point where it was genuinely affecting the game, the ref would have a word with the ball boy anyway. But because it makes so little difference that never really happens. So basically we already have measures in place to stop it, it's just that it's such a non-issue those measures never need to be used.

 

[Mr.D]

Ballfetchers. Lol

 

['O Zio]

Ballfetchers. Lol

Is that actually what they call them now? I assumed it was just the OP being overly PC.

 

[cider spurs]

We've had the advantage at times as a result of ballboys at home.

Can't really see the issue, we play home and away, so in theory, there should be times when we have the upper hand regarding ballboys.

On a closing note. If the ballboys are the difference makers, WTF are the footballers getting paid a price of a house each week for.

 

[Jimmypearce7]

For a while I have been thinking about the fact that ballboys are from the home team and what an advantage that can cause at time is not fair. And when a ballboy become a hero in CL semi-final because he "tricked" the opposing team it's time to look at the role those ballboys plays.
I would suggest that in the CL and EPL - and other main leagues - the ballboys should be neutral. Yes, it will cost a bit extra and one can never guarantee they're totally unbiased but home teams do have an unfair advantage due to the ballboys being drilled into how to help their home team.



https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/9051471/mourinho-man-utd-ballboys-barcelona/

Mourinho told RT: "You want a quick throw in, the ball boys need to know you want a quick throw in.
"The ball must arrive fast. I had a club where the club never understood how important the ball boys are.

"Even if you are winning, that speed is important. The goal kicks, the tempo of the game, the ball boys, in a good structure, can also play a part.

"People don’t know that a real football club, every detail is very, very important. In this game, the kid, very intelligent, very bright.
"I don’t know if he’s an academy player or not, but the kid knew what he was going to do."

I agree with you mate. After watching Ajax cynically waste time- ball boys clearly under instructions to do nothing when they received the ball after it went 2-2- and they know they can't be carded or time added as when a player wastes time. It's simply a form of cheating, why should we ignore it- even if we eventually defeated it last week!