Federation Internationale de Football Association
FIFA-Strasse 20,
P.O. Box 8044 Zurich, Switzerland
Tel : +41-(0)43 222 7777,
Fax : +41-(0)43 222 7878.
To Whom It May Concern
My name is Mr Paul Adepoju, a Nigerian national and a proud FC Barcelona supporter and a strong football fan.
I had no choice than to express this burning desire of mine which I believe millions of Football fans around the globe are sceptical and worried about. Football is a world-class game and it is being guided and controlled by laid down principles and laws. Credit to Ebenezer Cobb Morley, but with the wrong tactics and emanating divergence of some teams from the fundamental principle of how this beautiful game of football is supposed to be played, the game is proving to be a hide-and-seek game.
Having studied the History and Laws of the Modern Game of Football, it is clear that the main purpose of every sporting activity is to entertain and to create unity; Football is not an exemption to this rule.
According to the Association Football tactics and skills, the formation which every football coach and manager should use must fall between these range variations: 4-4-2, 4-3-3, 4-2-3-1, 3-5-2 and 4-2-2-2. And the styles of play of the Game must either be Possession football strategy or Direct football strategy (which is also called the direct attack or Long Ball); the choice from the above variation will depend upon the type of style which the team is employing. Any other styles or positions of play apart from the two mentioned above is tagged as a Professional foul and it will halts the opponent from scoring therefore resulting into a game of boredom. Professional foul is deemed to be punishable under the Laws of the Game.
Football is meant to be enjoyed by the fans because they all contribute their quota to the development of the game. They make the game played, they sacrifice a lot of their daily activities just for the 90 minutes of action, they want to be entertained and they want their team to win in a stylish manner based on the beautification of how this game was codified 147 years ago.
Ask a business man the ultimate aim of engaging into a business activity, the response will be to make profit, and how do you make profit? Through customer satisfaction. A satisfied customer will be willing to pay the value charged for what was offered to him/her. This applies to football, we the fans are not happy about how the game is being played nowadays, as the optimum objectives of some team and managers is to win by whatever strategy which is not based on the fundamental tactics that should be used on the conduct of play of the game.
I asked myself, what is the future of this beautiful game of football? The response was somehow obnubilating because millions of concerned football fans like me cannot continue to support a game whereby the whole 90 minutes of play seems boring and elusive. We cannot continue to sacrifice a lot of things just to watch 90 minutes of defensive game. As you cannot win illegally and expect fans to be satisfied, you cannot win with defensive strategy so as to entertain the audience. YOU CAN ONLY WIN BY PLAYING POSSESSION OR ATTACKING FOOTBALL which is the aim of the game and that is what the fans paid to watch. We want to be entertained in every game, we want to enjoy every seconds of the 90 minutes with or without regret and we want to see the beautiful game played in an official manner it is supposed to be played.
World cup is about to kickoff and the Soccer City Stadium is going to occupy over 95,000 football fans that will be supporting their team plus millions of football fans who will be watching it on screens across the cosmos. FIFA, do we have to sit down to anticipate an irksome defensive football match? What are you doing about this issue?
I was born into this game, grew up to admire it and the passion of this beautiful game of round leather will be passed on to unborn generations. The world accepted the game and we loved the game, we do not want to see it becoming deteriorating with an awkward emerging strategy.
I encourage FIFA to take a careful perusal to my suggestions/comments and if a punishable action is to be taken against teams or managers, who engage or engaged in the so called defensive strategy, please do not hesitate to do so because all we want is a BEAUTIFUL GAME OF FOOTBALL, nothing more and nothing less!
Thanks
Paul Adepoju
iluvjetnoise@accamail.com
“Just for the Love of the Game”
