Five ways to improve the Arabian Gulf League

Paul Oberjuerge brings up five examples that would improve the Arabian Gulf League.

With a goal difference of minus-33, Ajman, in orange, join Kalba in tumbling out of the AGL top flight. Adel Al Naimi / Al Ittihad

1 - Play on Thursdays and Fridays

The international competition for the eyeballs of local football fans is least intense on those two nights. The big European leagues play few matches on Thursdays or Fridays and the Uefa Champions League is a Tuesdays and Wednesdays competition.

Playing when most of the rest of the prominent leagues are quiet could lead to more local fans in the stadiums or at least watching AGL teams on their big-screen TVs. Being able to produce a fixture list with a preponderance of Thursday and Friday matches also would give fans a structure they could prepare for, rather than the current system, which sees matches wander all over the week and sometimes land on Saturdays and Sundays, leading to clashes with the English Premier League and others.

2 - Keep the expatriate player number at four per club

The expats are responsible for a significant fraction of local interest in the AGL, especially in the close season, and for a big part of the league’s rising global reputation. Each time the league signs a player from Europe or South America, tens of thousands of fans of that overseas club become more likely to check on his progress with his UAE team. Savvy football fans know that internationals, such as Asamoah Gyan, Mirko Vucinic, Fabio Cannavero, Jonathan Pitroipa and Jorge Valdivia have played here in recent years and helped make the league stronger, and more interesting. Also, some clubs have invested in younger players, such as Manuel Lanzini, 22, and Fabio Lima, 21, who they can sell on for a profit.

3 - Return the President’s Cup to an in-season schedule

The final game of the domestic season should be Week 26 of the league. The President’s Cup this year is at the end of the league campaign, beginning on Thursday, which seems odd and artificial. It also moves the whole of the second-biggest domestic competition into the hot part of the year. Imagine the unsettled situations around the league, where a club’s season could end this week or could carry on to the cup final in the first week of June.

4 - Enforce rules against diving

Simulation is a way of life in the league and in the region, and it does not flatter anyone involved. Games here often are reduced to 45 or 50 minutes of real competition, with much of the rest of the 90 minutes spent marvelling at the acting that goes on whenever two players get within touching distance of each other.

It is extremely rare to see a yellow card shown to a player who pitches himself to the turf and does four sideways rolls in would-be agony. A few cautions early in the season might change that.

5 - Institute water breaks on hot days

One of the reasons given for all the diving that goes on is to create a break for players to get some water in difficult conditions during September and May. A solution would be to standardise water breaks midway through each half.

Follow us on twitter at @NatSportUAE