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Originally Posted by atapene  ...mmmm. newsflash? though those of us who have been catching up with the top level of competition over the last few years can definitely see that OUR level of play is rising, the fact remains that at the highest level, surely for 15 years or more we have seen the same intensity on the puck, the same amount of bodies on the bottom, the same depth pools and the same physical ability of players.... i know the same amount of training goes in as it used to, and players are not genetically becoing faster. in fact the biggest changes apart from the tactical are changes in equipment, which have helped to bring skill levels up. i've seen footage from 92 etc.... not too much has changed.
which leads me to my point.... sorry, what is wrong in the first place? lets just identify the areas people are concerned about.
1- reffing, and the ability of refs to pick the fouls through lots of bodies
2- ....some people feel there is not enough space in the game? |
I dont really understand you, except for the part where you ask "whats the difference?". If you really see the 92 worlds the same level where your play is now, than I think we cant have a reasonable discussion. Further, you found the second biggest change from 92 onwards in -I dont get this - equipment!?!
Fins, masks, snorkels, pucks, sticks and gloves are more or less the same, or maybe only that some pucks are not as bad as they used to be... really confused me with that statement about equipment. I get the feeling we dont play the same game, so it must be me then...
Anyway, If you trully see the game of uwh without a major problem on how its defined, thats ok with me. As you asked for, I'll just run it over again for you.
1. Ref's are not able to see what they need to see. At any point on the wall, and several times in the open game when the rush or "traffic jamm" happens and it happens more and more often since 92. Not only that, but refs cant see the goal clearly, more often than they can. Those are facts, for anyone that is critical of the job of referee. With putting less players on the field, one can change this MAJOR problem. If there is another solution to this - I'm all ears! We can also forget about refferee's problems, but that is already how we behave now. If a ref cant see all of the game, then this is not a game but something else. Thats my main issue.
2. UWH should be non-contact sport, something thats been lacking for long time, and is getting worse, primarilly for the same reason - too many players on the field. Injuries are more and more often, dirty play can be easilly hiden from the eyes of reffs, all that becouse of too many bodies in one mass of water.
You know, when they breed Tuna's in the cage, they have a standard on how many they can put in one cage, and how big the cage should be. When tuna's get too big, they just kill and sell them. But I dont belive thats viable solution to our problem.
3. Manouvering the puck and skills are getting less prominent in the game, becouse there is just not enough space to perform them frequently enough, and thats becouse players are just too many times bunched together as pre-mentioned tunas. Fast swimming, and good strong hand is the prominent factor now.... a bit dumb, isnt it? But true, its not yet as dumb as american football... so maybe we should do nothing for now.
4. In explosive and highly phisical sports like Ice hockey and basketball there are several players for each position. Strange enough UWH is in my view THE most explosive and physical of all sports, but have only 4 subs for 6 positions. I'll wait and see what answers that statement brings me...
5. Many times happened, that on big championship there is this "cool" refferee, that calls some 15 or so advatages and the game gets shortened from 15 down to 10 minutes. How about a time stop for a faul play? And offcourse, faster re-starts. At least on big champs, where it can be logistically possible. Small tournaments are hard pressed for time as it is, but continental and worlds shouldnt be.
Thats goes for all pools, its just that in " <2.5m " it gets more nasty, and the problems are more intense. And no please, I'm not trying to completly change the game, I just stated all the issues I have, when re-thinking what we play. I'm in no ilussion that any of it will change - Its highly unlikely. But I still say, that I'm a bad ref and I'm not able to do my job like I should!