© EuroFootball.com
In Italy, in order to eliminate the players' acting in football, a quite drastic and controversial decision has been made - not to kick the ball out of bounds. A few days ago, captains, coaches, referees of teams from the "Serie A" and "Serie B" leagues gathered together with the President of the Italian Football Federation Franco Carraro and the President of the Italian Football League Adriano Galliani, and agreed that a team with the ball will not kick it out of bounds if the opponent is lying on the field. From now on, only the referee will be able to stop the match, deciding whether the player's injury is serious enough to stop the game. In addition, according to another decision, teams will not be required to return the ball to the opponent who intentionally kicked the ball out of bounds so that a teammate could receive medical assistance. In most countries, there is an unwritten rule, the so-called "fair play" principle, when a team, seeing a teammate or opponent injured on the field, kicks the ball out of bounds, and then, after receiving assistance, gets the ball back. However, especially in Italy, according to the opinion of the majority of analysts, players' acting is gradually turning into players' and teams' tactics. This issue was first addressed in Italy by head coach Fabio Capello, who believes that now a lot of playing time is being wasted due to staged injuries. "It is becoming a general trend, 'fair play' has become a tactic," the coach says. Capello is supported by the majority of other league coaches, who claim that the match should be stopped by the referee. "When a player cleanly takes the ball away and it is stolen from him, he immediately falls as if shot, pretending to be injured, and the ball is kicked out of bounds. In other leagues, such as England or Spain, this does not happen," says head coach Luciano Spalletti.
