The World Cup of Calvinball: Fifa’s hasty changes turn refereeing into a freeforall | Beau Dure
Jul 15, 2026
Match officials are enforcing tweaks to the laws of the game that have hardly been tested. The results? Drama, ‘mistaken identities’ and lots of confusionIn the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes, the titular characters occasionally played a game known as Calvinball.The rules were amorphous. At any m
oment, something like a “30-yard base wicket” may become part of the game. Determining a “winner” was besides the point, as the score for one game was given as “Q to 12.” The fictional, farcical sport entered public consciousness and was even cited by US supreme court justice Ketanji Brown Jackson in a blistering dissent last year. Continue reading... ...read more read less