Professional football used to be a relatively simple affair. The players would train a few half days a week and then turn up for the match on Saturday. They would take the field of play usually, but not always, after a team talk from the manager. They would be followed out of the tunnel by the manager or assistant manager who would take his place in what we all knew as 'the dug-out'.
He would be joined there by the trainer. Another euphemism of course because he didn't do any training. He was really a first aid man, although seemingly armed only with a bucket of cold water and a sponge and perhaps in the lower depths of his jacket pocket, a bottle of smelling salts. Seldom was there any movement out of the dug-out unless the trainer was needed to apply his magic sponge to any injury that the players might have sustained.
Gradually all that has changed. The trainer is now a fully qualified physiotherapist with all sorts of appliances strapped to his body and a large first aid kit. The dug-out has got larger, probably starting with the introduction of substitutes. Two originally and now five from which three can be called upon to play. They all needed somewhere to sit whilst they waited to see if they were going to get a game.
The dug-out first made its appearance in the laws of the game in 1993 when it was described as the 'Technical Area'. It was set the parameters of the length of the bench plus one metre either side and an area in front of the bench up to one metre from the touchline. In other words no one other than the physiotherapist tending to an injury should ever be nearer than one metre to the field of play. This was of course an acknowledgement of the growth of incessant coaching from the line.
This was made quite clear, for it said that the coach may convey tactical instructions to the players during the game, but he and all other officials must remain within the confines of the area and behave in a responsible manner. I wonder if professional footballers ever feel insulted that their club thinks they need to be constantly told how to play the game.
The number of people appearing in the dug-out also seemed to grow enormously. One fourth official told me he had counted up to twenty on the bench. Who were all these people? Perhaps the club was selling tickets. In 1996 a limit was set to who could occupy the technical area but the actual number was left to each competition. These occupants had to be identified before the match commenced. In 1996 it also decreed that only one person has the authority to convey technical instructions and that he must return immediately to his position after giving them.
Not that anybody seemed to take any notice. I can remember matches when there were no fewer that four people giving players instructions from the edge of the technical area. I hope they were all saying the same thing. However, in 1999 greater powers were given to the Fourth Official regarding the behaviour of club officials in the technical area and discipline in the area has become tighter.
This year there has been a slight alteration in the wording of the regulation. In the past not only did it say that only one person could convey instructions, it specifically nominated the coach. If you took this to the letter of the law, at Reading it would mean that Martin Allen could convey instructions (try and stop him), but Alan Pardue couldn't. Obviously this is a nonsense, so it now says 'A person, meaning any person can talk to the players. Remember of course, that it is still only one person at a time, and then they must return to their position.
Dick Sawdon Smith