Rio Ferdinand makes another ‘man of the people’ gaffe with hydration breaks take | OneFootball

“I am a man of the people, in terms of I’m from a place where we were always hoping for things to be accessible,” said Rio Ferdinand ahead of his much-maligned hosting of the World Cup draw in December, as he got caught between his role as a FIFA mouthpiece and the humble roots he was desperate to highlight.

After backtracking somewhat on that take on World Cup ticket prices in an interview with The Athletic, the self-appointed grassroots representative made another gaffe to strengthen suggestions that he has no idea what your Average Joe wants from The Beautiful Game.

Having initially justified the ludicrous ticket prices once again with some “this is just the real world” whataboutery, highlighting hotel prices “going through the roof” to excuse FIFA’s pocket-lining efforts, Ferdinand did then briefly empathise with the common man.

“It takes so many different football fans out of the equation to have the ability to watch a game, which isn’t nice,” he said. “This is the people’s sport, but when you price people out of it, then it becomes something different.

“I’d like to think FIFA would look at the next tournament and find a way to do it that suits more people, I’m sure.”

As is always the case, once the football starts those pre-tournament issues are – rightly or wrongly – largely forgotten about.

But another of FIFA’s decisions has been impossible to ignore while watching, or rather not watching, the football. Hydration breaks have become the talking point beyond how much better Lionel Messi is than Cristiano Ronaldo and th stunning own goal of qualification for the knockout stages being decided by head-to-head records rather than goal difference.

England manager Thomas Tuchel has been among the critics of hydration breaks.

“I think that it interrupts and changes the identity of a football match much more than I thought. I had hydration breaks before when it was really, really hot and needed, but they were shorter,” Tuchel said.

“They were shorter and they were just in a few matches. In the interests of fairness here, it is now done in every match for every team.

“It breaks the match almost in four quarters. And I think it changes the characteristic of the match more than I thought.”

They fundamentally change the game of football, and no-one likes or wants them when they’re not necessary beyond the broadcasters and those who benefit from the money their adverts generate during them.

Fellow man of the people Gianni Infantino has attempted to sell (you’ll excuse the pun) the hydration breaks on the good they will do for football.

Speaking to SNTV, he said: “Maybe the coach can reassess certain situations, correct certain mistakes. The players get a little rest and come back in full speed. Well, is that bad necessarily? Maybe it’s good.

“And we see as well the intensity of the games. We’ve never seen 90 minutes in a tournament like this played in such an intensity.

“Until the last second of the match, players attack and so on, and maybe, maybe not, but maybe it’s also a bit thanks to this little break that the players have and after they can go back on the field and show what they can do.”

On why they’re not only used in hot weather, he added: “If we were to use hydration breaks only in those matches where it was too hot and not in the other matches, we would give an advantage or a disadvantage to some of the coaches or some of the teams.

“Why would the coach have the opportunity to influence the game in one match just because it’s hot and in another match where it’s a bit less hot, he wouldn’t have this opportunity?”

And FIFA mercenary Ferdinand has echoed the thoughts of his great and powerful puppeteer, insisting “they’re not affecting the game that much” and welcoming them as an initiative for the Premier League to consider, because what everyone down the pub really wants is for football to be even more about the money.

“If all these players and these countries and these federations want the money, you’ve got to do a few things a bit differently,” he says. “There has to be a bit of give and take somewhere. They’re not affecting the game that much.

“This is something I see maybe happening further around. It could go into the Premier League or La Liga, etc. Because it’s more money. They’re going to look at it: ‘Let’s dig into it and find out how much more money came into the World Cup, to FIFA, just on these breaks’.

“So I’m saying, what if it’s a hundred more million? The Premier League are doing it (in that situation). And I don’t blame them.”

No, no, we can and should blame them, Rio. Because we want football to remain football, and would rather not get on the slippery slope to substitutions being sponsored by Gatorade.