Fair Play
FAIR PLAY
Leeds United, Viking Stavanger and
Avenir Beggen were on the starting grid
for this season's UEFA Cup thank's to the
places awarded to England, Norway and
Luxembourg, winners of UEFA's Fair Play
Scheme,
The mechanisms have now been
modified to make the Fair Play Scheme
even Fairer. Last time round, countries
were split into three groups based on the
number of matches played by their clubs.
England finished first in the top group of
14, Norway won the middle group and
Luxembourg were the winners of the other
group. This has been scrapped and every
body is now in the same boat.
The other big change is that, whereas
last season's awards came as (pleasant)
surprises. UEFA now plan to publish the
Fair Play ranking every month so that ever
ybody -players, coaches and fans- can see
not only where theystand but also what
they need to do to improve their chances.
At every European match, a Fair Play
assessment form will be filled in by the
UEFA Delegate, assisted by the referee
and referee's observer. Between 1 and 5
points will be awarded according to the
behaviour of the public; conduct of team
officials; respectfull attitudes to the refe
ree; respect shown to opponents; and the
degree of positive, attacking play as
opposed to negative aspects like time-
wasting, "tactical" fouls or play-acting.
On top of this, each team will start with 10
points., losing one point for every yellow
card and three for a red one A dismissal
for two yellow cards will mean a penalty of
three points.
The total number of marks will then be
devided by the maximum possible: 40
points (or 35 if the crowd is not taken into
account) and then multiplied by 10.
Watch out for the monthly Fair Play
League table.
