rez9000
Any point?
- Feb 8, 2007
- 11,942
- 21,098
I hope I'm not out of line with this, but happy to be guided by Mods.
Clive Tyldesley posted this yesterday on his Twitter account:
He calls for direct action by fans and I think he's right to do so. He says that fans should contact the relevant football governing bodies to register their opposition to the handball rules.
So, if anyone wants to do that, I have some email addresses that you can use. Before that, I just want to say, please, please, please do not be abusive in any emails you send. 1) You catch more flies with honey than vinegar. 2) Even putting aside the obvious moral issues, just looking at it logically - abuse can be easily dismissed, whereas a calm, measured and polite view cannot be ignored quite as easily. Additionally, any emails one sends are unlikely to be read by the individuals directly; they will be read and precis'd for them by private secretaries (I know, I've worked for an executive in the past in that very capacity), so abuse will likely upset someone who is just trying to do their job.
So, some addresses for you:
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport: [email protected].
Richard Masters, Chief Executive of the Premier League: [email protected]
Now, onto IFAB. The IFAB board is made up of representatives from FIFA, the English FA, the Scottish FA, the Welsh FA and the Irish FA. These are the addresses for their Chief Executives (and in the case of FIFA, the President)
Chief Executive of the English FA: Mark Bullingham: [email protected]
Chief Executive of the Scottish FA, Ian Maxwell: [email protected]
Chief Executive of the Welsh FA, Jonathan Ford: [email protected]
Chief Executive of the Irish FA, David Martin: [email protected]
President of FIFA, Gianni Infantino: [email protected]
I was unable to find an email address for Mike Riley at the PGMOL - if anyone has one, then do please let me know and I'll edit this post accordingly.
A few tips for writing your email of complaint:
You can also Tweet them, for those of you on Twitter, comment on their Facebook pages, etc, etc.
How much use it will be, I can't say. For all we know it will fall on deaf ears and is a waste of time. I don't know. I wrote this so that anyone who does feel the desire to express their opinion in the direction of those responsible for what's happening has some tools in order to do so.
Clive Tyldesley posted this yesterday on his Twitter account:
He calls for direct action by fans and I think he's right to do so. He says that fans should contact the relevant football governing bodies to register their opposition to the handball rules.
So, if anyone wants to do that, I have some email addresses that you can use. Before that, I just want to say, please, please, please do not be abusive in any emails you send. 1) You catch more flies with honey than vinegar. 2) Even putting aside the obvious moral issues, just looking at it logically - abuse can be easily dismissed, whereas a calm, measured and polite view cannot be ignored quite as easily. Additionally, any emails one sends are unlikely to be read by the individuals directly; they will be read and precis'd for them by private secretaries (I know, I've worked for an executive in the past in that very capacity), so abuse will likely upset someone who is just trying to do their job.
So, some addresses for you:
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport: [email protected].
Richard Masters, Chief Executive of the Premier League: [email protected]
Now, onto IFAB. The IFAB board is made up of representatives from FIFA, the English FA, the Scottish FA, the Welsh FA and the Irish FA. These are the addresses for their Chief Executives (and in the case of FIFA, the President)
Chief Executive of the English FA: Mark Bullingham: [email protected]
Chief Executive of the Scottish FA, Ian Maxwell: [email protected]
Chief Executive of the Welsh FA, Jonathan Ford: [email protected]
Chief Executive of the Irish FA, David Martin: [email protected]
President of FIFA, Gianni Infantino: [email protected]
I was unable to find an email address for Mike Riley at the PGMOL - if anyone has one, then do please let me know and I'll edit this post accordingly.
A few tips for writing your email of complaint:
- Be polite - obvious as detailed above;
- If you can say something good about the organisation before you express your disappointment, do so - again obvious, but it can get people onside before you express your view. I fully acknowledge that it's not the easiest thing to do, but it can help;
- Stick to the facts - OK, we're talking about something subjective, but logic and fact are far more powerful weapons in an argument than only opinion - if you can offer some undeniable facts, that's always useful;
- Don't use threats - can't stress this enough. Not just for the moral implications, not just for the damage it does to the argument, but for oneself. Threatening someone is a crime under UK law and you can be prosecuted. Just don't. It's wrong and it isn't worth it;
- Shorter is better. Keep the information concise and to the point.
- Do not accept being passed back to "customer services" (or whatever the equivalent is for those organisations), unless it's a named person who directly promises a follow-up. And if they don't then follow-up, ping the executive again to state that you got no follow-up;
- Explain clearly what you want as a solution or outcome;
Dear Mr. (person),
If you can put in some form of compliment about their organisation here, that's helpful. Obviously, this may be difficult, but it's worth making the attempt.
I'm writing to you to express my dismay at the implementation of the handball rules in the Premier League this season.
I understand the objective of governing bodies to have clear and well-codified rules for the game. Well-codified rules assist in decision-making and can ensure fairness.
However, I believe that the latest implementation of the rules governing handball fall outside of what one would consider the spirit of the game. In particular, the incidents that occurred in the Premier League matches between Crystal Palace and Everton on the 26th September 2020 and Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle United on the 27th suggest a serious fault in the rules.
The decision by Peter Bankes (the game official in the latter match) to award a penalty on the basis that the ball struck the arm of a player whose back was to the ball, to my mind, falls far outside what the rules of handball are supposed to do, i.e. to prevent a player from handling the ball to his/her team's advantage. If a player cannot see the ball, there cannot be deemed to be any intent to gain an unfair advantage, which is what the rules of any sport are supposed to govern.
The usage of body position / body shape is not a strong basis on which to draw these kinds of conclusions, mainly for the fact that in a game of football, arms and hands may not be used to direct the ball, but they are used to direct the human beings playing the ball. Persisting with the rules as they are currently implemented will only lead to undesired outcomes.
Professionals and former professionals within the game are stating that they envisage situations in which players will deliberately play the ball into their opponents arms and hands in the penalty area as an easy way to gain an advantage.
The new rules have very few defenders and many detractors: Jamie Carragher (former Liverpool and England defender), Micah Richards (former Manchester City, and England right-back) have spoken forcefully on the subject in starkly negative terms. Journalists within the sport have likewise done so. Social media commentators have done so. The governing bodies appear to be on the wrong side of the argument in this regard.
What I would like to see done is
At this point you should adjust your email to suit the role the person you're writing to performs.
Your name here
If you can put in some form of compliment about their organisation here, that's helpful. Obviously, this may be difficult, but it's worth making the attempt.
I'm writing to you to express my dismay at the implementation of the handball rules in the Premier League this season.
I understand the objective of governing bodies to have clear and well-codified rules for the game. Well-codified rules assist in decision-making and can ensure fairness.
However, I believe that the latest implementation of the rules governing handball fall outside of what one would consider the spirit of the game. In particular, the incidents that occurred in the Premier League matches between Crystal Palace and Everton on the 26th September 2020 and Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle United on the 27th suggest a serious fault in the rules.
The decision by Peter Bankes (the game official in the latter match) to award a penalty on the basis that the ball struck the arm of a player whose back was to the ball, to my mind, falls far outside what the rules of handball are supposed to do, i.e. to prevent a player from handling the ball to his/her team's advantage. If a player cannot see the ball, there cannot be deemed to be any intent to gain an unfair advantage, which is what the rules of any sport are supposed to govern.
The usage of body position / body shape is not a strong basis on which to draw these kinds of conclusions, mainly for the fact that in a game of football, arms and hands may not be used to direct the ball, but they are used to direct the human beings playing the ball. Persisting with the rules as they are currently implemented will only lead to undesired outcomes.
Professionals and former professionals within the game are stating that they envisage situations in which players will deliberately play the ball into their opponents arms and hands in the penalty area as an easy way to gain an advantage.
The new rules have very few defenders and many detractors: Jamie Carragher (former Liverpool and England defender), Micah Richards (former Manchester City, and England right-back) have spoken forcefully on the subject in starkly negative terms. Journalists within the sport have likewise done so. Social media commentators have done so. The governing bodies appear to be on the wrong side of the argument in this regard.
What I would like to see done is
At this point you should adjust your email to suit the role the person you're writing to performs.
- DCMS may not be able to do very much, but they do have some influence over the FA and can ask questions of them. So if you write to DCMS, you could state your disappointment and ask them to question the FA as to what they're doing about the rule and how they intend to address the obvious flaws;
- Richard Masters, as CEO of the Premier League, can influence the way the PL implements the handball rules and call for them to be reviewed immediately;
- The CEOs of the relevant FAs as well as the President of FIFA can firstly review the handball rules and can also raise the issue at the IFAB board and press for them to be changed;
Your name here
You can also Tweet them, for those of you on Twitter, comment on their Facebook pages, etc, etc.
How much use it will be, I can't say. For all we know it will fall on deaf ears and is a waste of time. I don't know. I wrote this so that anyone who does feel the desire to express their opinion in the direction of those responsible for what's happening has some tools in order to do so.
