Opinion | Home and Away: Referees ignore 'dark arts' despite clear rules to prevent grappling
Holding in the penalty box is blatant cheating and prevents goals, but players are allowed to get away with it
We seem to have cleared up the free kick, 10-yard rule thanks to magic spray and diving has been shown the red card thanks to a clampdown on aeronautics.
There is a new plague: shirt pulling, wrestling and grappling in the penalty box. It is ruining our viewing pleasure, as well as corrupting the young
Foul language has been severely curbed - it has been seven years since a top-flight player was sent off for swearing - and goal-line technology has solved the most heated disputes.
But there is a new plague: shirt pulling, wrestling and grappling in the penalty box. It is ruining our viewing pleasure, as well as corrupting the young.
It is bordering on a global endemic, too. Just ask the 10,000 fans watching the opening game of the Ethiopian Premier League season last weekend in Addis Ababa Stadium.
The capital's derby between Ethiopia Coffee FC and Ethiopian Commercial Bank may have lacked the fast pace and showbiz slickness of the EPL. But it contained the same number of infringements - the so-called "dark arts".
Mainly committed by defenders, such low tactics stop strikers at free kicks and corners from reaching the ball, in turn leaving fans bereft of goals. Even Ethiopia's finest are at it - the same bear hugging, head-locking, forearm-smashing, shirt tugging and theatrical tumbling and wrestling.
