So the question is; why do FIFA continue to leave this ruling in their laws of the game? It’s clear from the regularity that players are booked for removing their shirt after scoring that the message from FIFA is not getting through. If it was, players would have stopped doing it. But scoring a vital, game changing, goal is always going to prompt wild celebrations on and off the pitch, so why are players punished for doing so?
There are, of course, circumstances in which removing your shirt could be worthy of a yellow card. A player charging off the pitch while removing his shirt to celebrate in front of supporters of the team he’s just scored against isn’t a wise decision, and I can see why a yellow card would be produced in that instance. Similarly if a player reveals a t-shirt with an offensive slogan printed on it, I can understand why that might prompt the showing of a yellow card. To go back to Iniesta’s World Cup winning goal, not only did he remove his shirt, but his vest underneath had a tribute to Daniel Jarque, the Espanyol player who had died after suffering a heart attack in August 2009. Jarque was just 26 when he died, and Spanish football was stunned by his death.
Iniesta paid tribute to him during a historic moment for Spanish football, as they were about to win the World Cup for the first time. Something similar happened this season, when Doncaster Rovers striker Billy Sharp removed his shirt to reveal a t-shirt that read ‘That’s for you son’, a tribute to his two-day old son who had died earlier that week. It was a hugely emotional moment for Sharp, but referee Darren Deadman chose to ignore the rules and did not produce a yellow card.
That incident just proves that the current ruling is ineffective and misjudged. Football should be about joy and celebration, and when players score such important goals as Ricardo Vaz Te did on Saturday, they should be allowed to enjoy it. Unfortunately, it’s a ruling that FIFA are unlikely to change any time soon, which means that players will continue to pick up pointless yellow cards, because they should never stop celebrating goals.
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The whole not being allowed to take your shirt of is ridiculous. I can assure you that the real reason is absolutely not to do with over ‘excessive displays of joy’. The real reason is more to do with the fact that in removing your shirt you are also removing the sponsors name from view. FIFA of course would never admit this because they dont like to be viewed as an entirely money orientated organisation. I believe this rule is more evidence of FIFA’s greater interest in the green stuff than whats actually best for the game just like the decision to hold a world cup in Qatar. Good one FIFA.