The Ugly Laws of the Beautiful Game: Ten Ways the Beautiful Game Is Not So Beautiful After All

Book Synopsis: Football is known as "The Beautiful Game." It is the most popular sport in the world, yet it has some of the worst rules of any sport. These rules are codified in a handbook titled Laws of the Game. While this handbook is updated every year, in essence the rules have undergone few major changes in over one hundred years. The Ugly Laws of the Beautiful Game argues that some rules need to change. It describes those rules and explores ten ways they could be modified to make the game a fairer and more enjoyable spectacle.

Much is made in the official football rules handbook about trying to promote "fairness" in the sport of football. But consider this: Is it fair that a team of seven can be forced to play against a team of eleven? Is it fair that an injured player cannot be replaced if a team has used up all its allotted subs? Is it fair that a winning team can slow down a game with impunity, denying the other team a chance to get back in the game? Is it fair that a penalty kick, leading 80% of the time to a goal, can be awarded for a minor infraction that in no way represents a goal-scoring opportunity? Is it fair that a team can win a major tournament by scoring more penalties than the other team after hundreds and hundreds of minutes playing in that tournament? Those questions and more are asked and answered in this book.

The Ugly Laws of the Beautiful Game is written for the die-hard fan as well as for those who are less familiar with the sport and who are simply curious about football (or soccer as it is known in the United States). With The World Cup coming up in November 2022 in Qatar, the book will be a great companion for those who watch and who wish to understand the game and want to know what is happening during a match and why.

The book is divided into ten chapters. Each chapter looks at an aspect of the rules that is problematic and illustrates the problem with examples from actual games played for the most part in the Premier League 2021/22 season. The problem usually arises because of the way the rules are written, which allows players to get away with bending the rules, much to the frustration of the millions of fans who want to see a fast-flowing and thrilling competition.

The ten chapters are:

1. The Red Card
2. Substitution Rules
3. Playing Time
4. Offside
5. The Penalty Kick
6. The Corner Kick
7. Fouls and Yellow Cards
8. Handball
9. The Throw-in
10. The Penalty Shoot-out

The author's credentials are simply those of being an avid fan of the sport who has been a recreational player, youth coach, and a youth referee. However, he is also a professional editor with many years of experience who therefore feels well-qualified to comment on how the handbook Laws of the Game is written and why it is in need of revision.