Is football becoming a non contact sport?

Although the unfortunate James McCarthy and before him Seamus Coleman may not agree, could it be argued that football is becoming more and more a non contact sport?

The "goal" scored by Zohore yesterday was a good example of this. Absolutely no way was that a foul by Big Ken - it was a fair, shoulder to shoulder challenge for a 50/50 ball where one player was just stronger than the other and won the ball cleanly, but as soon as the referee saw the weaker player fall over, he gave the "foul".

With apologies to Steve Zodiak,the ref continued this fussy approach throughout the whole game, mainly whenever a gust of wind blew over a Wednesday player but occasionally with one of our players also.

It seemed that whenever a physical challenge was made the free kick went to the player who fell over first!

Although the unfortunate James McCarthy and before him Seamus Coleman may not agree, could it be argued that football is becoming more and more a non contact sport?

The "goal" scored by Zohore yesterday was a good example of this. Absolutely no way was that a foul by Big Ken - it was a fair, shoulder to shoulder challenge for a 50/50 ball where one player was just stronger than the other and won the ball cleanly, but as soon as the referee saw the weaker player fall over, he gave the "foul".

With apologies to Steve Zodiak,the ref continued this fussy approach throughout the whole game, mainly whenever a gust of wind blew over a Wednesday player but occasionally with one of our players also.

It seemed that whenever a physical challenge was made the free kick went to the player who fell over first!

Yes it is, and that has been one of my many gripes this season. Looks like the good old fashioned shoulder barge is no longer part of the game. Nothing at all wrong with Zohore's challenge yesterday. Not certain he would have "scored" if play had been allowed to continue. Everyone in the ground and all 22 players on the pitch had clearly heard the whistle before he actually took the shot, and the keeper was obviously aware that the ref had blown which is way he barely made an attempt to even leave the ground.

I suppose this change towards football being a non contact sport stems from the Premier League where players do not want to be roughed up which could result in them falling over and dirtying their £150k a week knees. Won't be long before they decide it's too risky to play in the rain in case they catch a chill or something.

As far as ref's are concerned no need to apologise. My moan is when certain posters (one in particular) complain about the ref every time we lose, even when we are comprehensively outplayed. Personally, I thought yesterday's ref was not too bad and would have probably given him a 6 out of 10.

Ken's challenge was obviously fair but ref blew straight away and Ken just booted ball and goalie didn't attempt to save it as both heared whistle so not sure it would have gone in ! anyway back to point there was several instances in other games of robust challenges being allowed so can assume it's the referrying that's at fault especially in championship where game is stopped every couple of seconds! And is it me or are refs catching on with diving was supposed to be cracking down but haven't seen it until recently, but have seen several decisions gone in favour of defence past couple of weeks where players diving and been booked.