Editor's Take: Why physical play is diluting the benefits of futsal

 

By David Knopf

Editor, Futsal World

     Teams I’ve coached have played futsal since 1997, the year enthusiasts in Kansas and Missouri put together the first leagues in what is now U.S. Youth Futsal.

Journalist David Knopf coaches futsal and soccer.

     If I recall, both leagues began with four teams in a single division, and things were so bare bones that my Missouri league played in the gym of a nursing home that once served as a seminary for aspiring priests.

     The two leagues even got together that year and played a Border Battle exhibition game – Kansas vs. Missouri. As I recall, Kansas was the better team, but all the participants had great fun.

     I recall that one weekend, our sister league in Kansas – having since evolved into one of the largest in the United States – experienced a delay in the delivery of its futsal goals and had to use ours. League organizers drove around 30 miles each way one Sunday to pick up our goals and then return them soon thereafter.

     The Kansas league has come a long way since then, having evolved from Kansas City Futsal to Super F League to the current reincarnation, U.S. Youth Futsal. Who would’ve thought then that USYF would be sanctioned by U.S. Soccer and host a 109-team national tournament with six courts under one roof?

     I still coach outdoor soccer and futsal, and have a U-15 boys team. While I continue to see our boys profit skill-wise and tactically from futsal, there is an area in which I think the game can improve.

     From watching youth futsal in the U.S. and higher-level international futsal games on TV, I observed that our American referees have yet to acknowledge the firewall that should exist between the physicality of outdoor soccer and more finesse-oriented futsal. Why, I wonder, can a UEFA European Championship futsal game played by very powerful grown men be far less physical than a youth game in this country?

     It's because our referees aren't aware or aren't being taught that futsal, as a mostly indoor game played on a hard surface, is more of a finesse game than the physical outdoor game.

     It’s especially true among young referees – high-school-age players themselves – who interpret contact such as shoulder charges, slide tackles and other forms of physical contact the same way they would outside.

     I’ve heard the argument that futsal rules allow more contact than they used to, but when the game is played at the highest level – using the world's best futsal referees – there is a marked absence of physical contact. What becomes obvious is the great individual technique and team play. If you’d like a visual example, check the UEFA 2012 Futsal Championship final between Spain and Italy (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zG8HY59ffVs

     I don't see a lot of players being knocked off the ball, whether it's with a shoulder charge, a slide tackle or grabbing.

     There are several rules differences between outdoor soccer and futsal, but to protect the spirit of the 5v5 game it's essential to acknowledge that slide tackling (where there is contact with an opposing player, the likelihood that it could occur or simply reckless play) and shoulder charges (where the target is the opponent and not the ball) are fouls and should be called to keep futsal a game that encourages skills, not physicality.

     This is especially true for shoulder charges, as well as use of the hands to detain an opponent. In studying games in person and online,  I see games that are negatively influenced by referees who let the contact go. Players who might otherwise play the game within the non-contact spirit of the rules are forced to meet force with force or concede the advantage.

   
     When that happens, I think the benefits of futsal become diluted. And using the same mindset to officiate futsal and walled indoor soccer is wrong, too, because indoor is cold-weather version of the outdoor sport while futsal is not.

     It is its own game.

     If there’s a simple way to instruct players to play futsal, it is to defend with their feet. Rather than use a shoulder, hands or hip in defending, a player should be taught to lead with his or her feet in trying to win the ball or stop an opponent’s progress.

     And, frankly, that head's-up approach carries over well to defending outdoors.

     There is incidental contact in a futsal game, but if you watch the world’s best teams play futsal – additional highlights linked in the Video Picks section of this newsletter are good examples – there is a minimum of physical play.

     In many ways, skillful play in the outdoor game has diminished because physical defending has evolved to a point where creativity is inhibited. Sadly, a player like Messi – who played futsal as a youth – is an exception to the rule. There are too few Messis and too many players who are being rewarded for their physical domination.

     It’s important that individual referees be aware that the essential spirit of futsal is to encourage technical, skillful play and to leave physical play to the outdoor game. Our game hasn’t grown enough yet to have futsal referees who specialize in the game and don’t also call outdoor soccer.

     Until it has, it will be up to referee assignors and supervisors to reinforce the game’s spirit and emphasize finesse over physical play. There's nothing in the rules or interpretations that says futsal should be just like outdoor soccer.

     As a coach and an admirer of both games, I want my players to get the maximum benefits out of futsal so they a) become better futsal players and b) improve as outdoor players. They won’t do either if referees continue to allow the nature of one game to spill into the other.

     We welcome your opinions! Have a comment or a guest editorial? Contact the editor at davidknopf48@gmail.com