The FatRef

Sturridge penalty - TV replays prove nothing

2012-01-28T23:44:00.001Z

I'm a Chelsea fan so I took a special interest in the penalty that gave the Blues vicstory over QPR in the FA Cup today.
I don't know if there are fewer cameras when ITV shows football but there didn't seem to be a decent view of the incident in which referee Mike Dean ruled that Daniel Sturridge was pushed over in the penalty area.
There's certainly a coming together of two players but I couldn't see if Sturridge was pushed or not - so guess what, I'm going to trust the referee, shock horror.
Chelsea are playing miserably at the moment so I'm grateful for any goals they can get.
Messrs Strachan and Warnock decided on TV they had a good view of the incident and that Dean didn't. Ah well, I hope and doubt that Dean is losing much sleep about it.

Flying feet endanger top stars in Africa

2012-01-28T00:14:00.001Z

The refereeing during Friday night's thrilling African Cup of Nations matched between co-hosts Gabon and Morocco was truely weak. At least three gruesome two-footed and flying tackles deserved straight cards but the ref appeared determined not to offend anyone, ignoring some bad fouls altogether and reluctantly handing out a yellow card or two to the worst miscreants.

Played on a poor surface, both teams flew into challenges and the referee lost control of the game, allowing players to foul at will. Temperatures rose and fell at the whim of the players, not under the guiding hand of the ref.
That said, he was not able to put a dampener on an effervescent match that ended with Gabon - playing in front of a packed home crowd that included the country's president - scoring the winning goal out five in the 98th minute. In the 91st minute the referee risked a lynching by awarding a penalty against Gabon for a handball that looked far from deliberate. But 8 minutes time added on? That's a lot.
Gabon have now qualified for the last 16 of the tournament, but back in Europe, managers of prize African palyers must be looking at these games witha grimace. Chamakh of Arsenal and Kalou of Chelsea have already fallen to injuries and illness - hopefully not too extreme - but the risk of the long-term loss of a major international player is serious with such wild challenges going unpunished.

Who said that? Curser avoids a card

2012-01-27T00:00:00.002Z

We're 10 minutes into the cup match and the game is progressing nicely. Ball goes out of play and the club assistant, doing his job properly, points his flag in the direction of the throw. I'm watching play from about 20 yards away and suddenly, from behind me, I hear "Lino you're a cheating c**t."I turn around to look at four defenders and a goalkeeper. It's obvious to me that the shout came from 50 yards away rather than 15 and that it's 99 percent certain that - for some unknown reason - the goalkeeper has screamed out the abuse that would normally earn him a straight red card.

But I didn't show him a red card. In fact I didn't even show him a yellow. The reason? I didn't see him shout the unpleasant curse. Although I was virtually certain it was the goalkeeper who shouted the abuse, I could not, hand on heart, say with absolute certainty that it was him. At an appeal hearing, the first thing the panel would say would be; "well referee, did you see the player shout abuse?" And the answer would have to be 'No.'

The goalkeeper didn't fall for the method that occasionally works. "What did you call him?" He'd been around too long for that, so I had to settle for a reprimand. The opposing team and manager were, of course, outraged and wanted to know why I had not taken any action. "If I can't see it I can't give it," was my response. I'd have liked nothing better than to have kicked the foul-mouthed 'keeper off the pitch, but couldn't.

The day violence tapped me on the shoulder

2012-01-26T23:42:00.001Z

It was last season and the disciplinary side has all been dealt with, so i consider it safe to discuss the incident now.
It was the closest I've come to a serious assault since I took up the whistle 10 years ago, and a moment that has stayed with me throughout the summer and into the new season. I've learned some lessons from it.

It had been a local derby and the second time in 2 weeks the two teams had played each other. The losing team was bottom of the league, full of youngsters who were clearly fed up to be losing again, but equally full of bitterness and aggression. 5-2 down, I'd already booked a couple of their players and sent one off by the time the game finished. At the end of the game a few of the losing team were snarling at me and one in particular sounded very unpleasant, so I showed him a yellow card for dissent and warned him to calm down or the card would become a red.
The players drifted off and as the teams, spectators and I drifted back to the changing room, I looked around to see the player I'd just booked belt a ball at me. It whistled past my head. Already a little concerned that the dozen or so mates and girlfriends of the losing team were in close proximity, I suddenly found myself surrounded, with the chief troublemaker snarling abuse at me.
"Go on, get your red card out and that'll be an excuse to smack you in the mouth," he urged me. Twenty or so yards from the large clubhouse, with plenty of other people about, I said nothing, but kept walking as the players shoved his face into mine, apparently desparate to prove he could beat up a bloke 30 years older than him and clearly not used to a rumble in Maidstone town centre on a Saturday night.
As we rounded a corner, I popped into the main entrance of the clubhouse and shook the player off. He noticed it and turned round to come after me but then found himself threatened by several players from a different game who had noticed what was happening.
I gave it a couple of minutes and find my way to the safety of the changing room, telling my sorry tale to the three others refs there. Within minutes the losing team's coach was in the changing room telling me how fed up he was with his players and that he was thinking of packing it in. Then 10 minutes later the guilty party appeared to apologise for his actions, clearly undert instructions and realising his footballing season could be over.
I thanked him for his apology and told him I'd be reporting the incident to the league, which I duly did. The odd thing about refereeing is that you never find out the consequences of actions like this. I just happened to find out a few weeks later that the player had received a lengthy ban. The team itself folded temporarily, but I'm pleased to see that it got back onto its feet, proving itself bigger than a couple of players incapable of self-discipline.
As for me, there's no doubt I was shaken. It's daft to think that a softy like me in his mid-50s can defend himself effectively if a young thug wants to beat him up. And what's more as a ref you can't really defend yourself with any violence. It would be the last time you picked up a whistle if you were shown to have traded punches with a player.
But I looked for my mistakes and learned from it. Was I too confrontational? Should I have taken the abuse without saying a word? I really think I could have done better in keeping myself away from the players and spectators I suddenly found myself involved with. hang around for a ocuple of minutes until the players have gone, let them start the process of cooling down.

Balotelli accepts violent conduct charge

2012-01-25T18:55:00.003Z

Well, I'm always willing to say i was wrong, even if my heart tells me a bit of an injustice has been done in the case of Mario Balotelli.
But Man City have decided not to challenge the charge of violent conduct in Sunday's game against Tottenham in which he stamped on Scott Parker. Referee Howard Webb didn't see it at the time, but said when asked to review the incident that he would have sent Balotelli off if he had seen the incident.
Balotelli will now serve a four-match ban, starting immediately.
If Man City aren't fighting it, I can only assume they accept that Balotelli deliberately stamped on Parker, but the whole affair leaves a strange aftertaste.

What a joke - African Cup of Nations played on flooded pitch

2012-01-25T18:42:00.002Z

It rained in Equatorial Guinea this afternoon. And when I say it rained, half the sky dumped its contents on the Bata Stadium in less than half an hour, flooding the pitch, the dressing rooms and the tunnel elading to the pitch.
It has stopped raining now but the match has started, in conditions that are quite simply unplayable. The ball is not moving when kicked, players are sliding all over the place and teams are resorting to trying to keep the ball in the air.

It doesn't matter whether it's Wembley or Bata, the referee has the same responsibilities - players' safety. And Mr Coulibaly of Benin, who appeared at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa as a referee, should have cancelled this match, even though I'm sure he faced intense pressure from African tournament organisers to get the game started. It's the referee's job, and no-one else's, to decide if a pitch is fit to play on.
But when an expensive Europe-based player gets his leg broken on this dangerous pitch, then the noise will really start.

Under fire Webb makes dash to Cardiff

2012-01-25T14:24:00.001Z

Howard Webb is having a busy few days. The dust had hardly settled on his performance in the Man City vs Tottenham game on Sunday then he was jumping in his car for a drive down the M6 to Cardiff to take charge of the Cardiff vs Crystal Palace Carling Cup semifinal on Tuesday night, a game that stretched into extra time and penalties, a severe fitness test for the strongest of referees.

After the Mario Balotelli incident, Webb will have been kept busy until late on Sunday night and part of Monday filling in forms and answering phone calls from the Football Association about the clash between Balotelli and Scott Parker. Webb did not send Balotelli off for stamping on Parker but indicated after the game that he would have done if he had seen the stamp.
Referees cover a similar amount of ground to players during a game - although not at such a fast pace - and top level refs are astonishingly fit. I watched Webb closely last night and he glided around the ground, seemingly unbothered by the fact that he'd only had 48 hours between stressful games.
I may be wrong but I thought I saw a glimpse of Webb stretching his leg muscles on the touchline - with a few minutes to go - while he waited for a player to be treated, but he gave a near perfect performance. The only curious call was right at the end when he failed to award a yellow card to a Palace player, almost, it seemed, out of sympathy for the effort the players had put into 120 minutes of football.
No, Webb was right on top of the action throughout the game, often surprising players who look up to appeal to the ref only to find him standing right next to them.
Separately, the FA came out in support of Webb today after some pretty unpleasant and uncalled for criticism from Balotelli's agent.
FA Chairman David Bernstein said: "We all have a duty to respect our referees, to question their integrity or imply anything other than total impartiality is reckless and unfounded. It harms the perception and treatment of referees at every level of football, and we must not allow that climate to exist.
"Referees have only one live opportunity to make a judgement call on those instances that they see in a fast paced game. They do not have the benefit of numerous camera angles and replays, they make these decisions with honesty and integrity."
Bernstein went on to say that, "specifically relating to the incident involving Mario Balotelli, Howard Webb did not see the incident but on review confirmed he would have sent the player off if he had seen it at the time. On review, Webb would not have sent off Joleon Lescott for the incident involving Younes Kaboul."
¶

Howard Webb did the right thing

2012-01-24T18:21:00.001Z

There's been a lot of guff spouted about what Howard Webb saw or didn't see in the split second in which Mario Balotelli accidentally or deliberately stamped on Scott Parker's head on Sunday.
It's pretty clear from the video of the game that Webb did exactly what he's supposed to do. Balotelli shot and the ball rebounded violently off Parker, flying 20-30 metres away into the air. As soon as Webb realised the ball would be in the air for a moment, he glanced back at the melee of Balotelli, Parker and Luka Modric and would have seen a tangle of arms and legs as all three competed for the ball.
Webb pointed at the incident, a message that says, 'I'm aware of that incident and that there might be an injury but I'm playing on because I haven't seen a foul.' He then looked back in the direction of the ball as it landed and Man City's attack continued.
Really, people need to remind themselves that Webb did not have a slo-motion replay camera attached to his retinas. He saw it in real time. In real time you see a shot and a tangle of legs and bodies. Nothing else.

Whiff of hypocrisy as Balotelli condemned, but Crouch left in peace

2012-01-24T14:20:00.000Z

I have to confess to being surprised, firstly that Howard Webb appears to have indicated he would have sent Mario Balotelli off if he had seen Sunday's clash with Scott Parker, secondly that the FA has charged the Italian youngster with Violent Conduct and thirdly that whispers appear to be emerging from Manchester that City may not dispute the charge.

But my biggest surprise has to be the media's apparent lack of interest and outrage at the behaviour of Peter Crouch in Saturday's game against West Bromwich Albion, where video shows the England striker running his fingers across the eye of West Brom captain Jonas Olsson. The act looks very similar to those of rugby players when they are accused of eye gouging.
Fortunately for the Swede, Crouch clearly did not succeed in scratching his eye, which could have put him out of the match and in a worst case, even blinded him. I joke not. This happened a couple of years ago to a Gravesend rugby player during a game against Maidstone, in Kent.
What's perhaps the most shocking is that the Balotelli incident has been run and re-run ad nauseam on Sky Sports News, while I have yet to see the Crouch incident anywhere but on the Internet. Why is this? Far be it from me to second guess the editorial priorities of the broadcaster, but I would have thought the video has enough shock value to bear coverage.
I still stand by my view that it cannot be proved that Balotelli deliberately stamped on Parker and that it's equally possible the high speed clash was accidental. But it strikes me as impossible for Crouch to argue that he reached out from behind Olssson and accidentally ran his fingers over his eye.
I look forward to the FA's comment on this matter.

Did Crouch gouge Olsson's eye at weekend?

2012-01-23T18:46:00.001Z

Sky TV has come across video that appears to show Stoke striker Peter Crouch running his hands across the eye of West Brom captain Joan Olsson at the weekend. The action looks very similar to that used by rugby players when they are "gouging."

What the hell is going on?
Strikes me that there is so much off the ball, casual violence going on these days at the top level that referees need to call in the video ref urgently. I haven't been a supporter of such assistance in the past, but cheating is reaching scary levels. Punishments need to be severe.
The video shows absolutely no reason why Crouch would be running his fingers across Olsson's face from behind. The only conclusion that can be drawn is that it's a nasty attempt at gouging.
Where will it all end?

Lescott should have seen red, but not Balotelli

2012-01-22T23:28:00.001Z

It's impossible, especially in the real time Howard Webb had to look, to tell if Mario Balotelli deliberately stamped on Scott Parker's head during the 3-2 win for Man City on Sunday. One thing that is certain, however, is that Joleon Lescott should have received a straight red card for a vicious forearm smash to a Tottenham attacker's face.

Balotelli's last minute penalty had Harry Redknapp fuming because the manager was convinced the Italian striker should not have been on the field following a clash with Parker. Parker carries out one of the many impressive tackles he performs in every game and Balotelli stumbles, struggling to stay on his feet. He falls backwards, banging into Parker's face with the back of his leg before jabbing his boot down into the midfielder's face. It's possible the blow was deliberate, but it's impossible to prove. It's also equally possible that the blow was completely accidental. Slo-mo replays tend to convict players, sometimes making accidental contact look measured. In real time, the clash looks accidental from start to finish. It's equally important not to carry prejudice into the game and to make decisions based on what actually happens rather than the chequered past of players.
What is beyond doubt, however, is that Lescott, just outside his area, delivered a hard blow with his forearm and elbow to the jaw of Kaboul (I think it is him anyway). He should have been sent off.
What few people have spotted, however, is how artfully Balotelli won himself the penalty in the 94th minute that won City the match. With the ball played into the area, Balotelli, if he was determined to score, would have hit the ball quickly. Instead, he let it bounce twice and slowed down sharply, probably realising that Ledley King was breathing down his neck. There's no doubt King brought him down, but there remains a question over to what extent the controversial Italian "persuaded" King to foul him.

Outmuscled or treated unfairly?

2012-01-22T17:46:00.001Z

To the weald of Kent on a mild winter's afternoon and a curious Reserve team fixture pitting a young home team against an away team that impressed immediately as being physically imposing and no softies. "This lot look like their first team," I thought to myself as we shook hands for the Respect handshake. And sure enough the visitors, from the Thames estuary, immediately imposed a physical dominance that lasted for 90 minutes and left the home team feeling battered and resentful.

The home side's complaints started from the kick off and grew in volume. Tackles were late, studs were showing, feet were flying, according to the home team. Trouble is, I wasn't seeing any of it. To my eyes, the challenges were hard, occasionally crunching, but fair. "You're not giving us anything Ref," was the common refrain.
By the end of the first half, the visitors were cruising, 3-0 up. They were clearly pretty grizzled veterans and capable of winding up the young home players out of my earshot, so it was a couple of the home players who ended up in my book for dissent.
I'm usually the first to clamp down on fouls and tend to the strict side, but I honestly couldn't fault the away team, even though the complaints of the home team continued beyond the final whistle and a 4-0 scoreline. I even questioned myself as I drove home, but came to the conclusion that apart from one challenge in which studs were showing, I couldn't really think of an incident where I had got it badly wrong.

Lee Mason got it wrong, Foy got it right

2012-01-12T17:09:00.000Z

Lee Mason's failure to show Glen Johnson a red card in the game against Man City on Wednesday was a real shame. A clear message from Chris Foy and the FA over two-footed tackles was watered down and confused by Mason's refusal to penalise Johnson when he flew in with a clearly dangerous two-footed tackle on City's Joleon Lescott.
It would be wrong to think that Vincent Kompany had been unfairly penalised for his foul on Man Utd's Nani on Sunday. It's Johnson who has got away with what should have been a three-match ban. He flew in at Joleon Lescott at much higher speed and again, with both feet off the ground and with his studs showing.
We all want referees to be consistent, and that's exactly what referees try to do. But it won't and can't happen. Let's look at why not.
Most obviously, Mason may not have had a perfect view of the offence. Fouls often look different from different angles. Another player may have crossed between Mason and the incident in the moment the foul took place - that's happened to me many times - or it's even possible that Mason blinked. It has been known.
But these are not excuses. One of his officials should have and indeed may have told him the challenge was dangerous, although I believe they were some distance from the action.
No, there's no way of escaping it, this was a mistake.
But I make the same point I've been making for many years. If football is to be run in the way it is, with a human being in charge, then there will always be contradictory and controversial decisions. Consistency is desirable and yet impossible to achieve. Some decisions are easy to make, others tough and some almost impossible,
But that's the way it is and there's little point in squeezing referees until they burst. It won't make then better.

Clattenburg promoted to FIFA elite group

2012-01-11T15:04:00.000Z

Referees trio receive FIFA promotions

Professional Game Match Officials (PGMO), the body that provides Select Group officials for Barclays Premier League matches, has had three of its officials receive promotions from FIFA.

Michael Oliver has been promoted to the FIFA Referees List for the first time. The 26 year-old has been in the Select Group since the 2010/11 season and has spent the last year in the UEFA Core Programme aimed at developing international referees.

Mark Clattenburg has been promoted to the Elite category, the highest level of refereeing. Mark has been a FIFA international referee since 2006 and the 36 year-old joins fellow PGMO officials Howard Webb and Martin Atkinson in the Elite category. England is now one of only three FIFA nations to have three Elite referees. Mark refereed four games at the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Colombia last year, including the semi-final between Brazil and Mexico.

PGMO General Manager Mike Riley has been appointed to the FIFA Referees Committee. The Committee oversees the development and training of all International referees and advises the FIFA Executive Committee. Mike, who was on the FIFA Referees List from 1999-2009, has been PGMO General Manager since June 2009 and his management team are responsible for the training and development of 77 referees and 231 assistant referees.

Respect campaign dies a miserable death

2012-01-09T18:14:00.002Z

Sorry FA, but I'm afraid the Respect campaign has died.
¶ The poor mite, rather like Dickens' Tiny Tim in A Christmas Carol, never really stood a chance. Despite the best intentions of its parents, the campaign died, suffocated by contempt for authority and the attitude that winning conquers over honesty, fairness and all those values we're expected to uphold.
¶ The campaign, in my humble opinion, never really got going at a grassroots level. My experience at a park level in Kent over the past 10 years in fact shows the opposite. Behaviour is getting worse. Players and managers are more brutish and less accepting of referees' decisions than ever.
¶ At a senior level, where player behaviour has a deep influence on the playing fields of Britain, week after week on our teleivison screens we see evidence that referees are not being shown respect. In fact they are being shown anything but.
¶ Personally, the only evidence I see of the Respect campaign is the ritual team handshake before every match and an email sent to me after every game asking me to mark teams' behaviour out of five. In two years of filling out these forms, I have never had a response or any form of feedback, so I can only assume they're being fed into a database somewhere and that an impressive powerpoint presentation will be put together at some stage to justify the cost of the campaign.
¶ I don't watch childrens' football very much so I can't make a call on whether behaviour has changed there. It has been a real problem area for some years now, mainly because of parents abusing referees.
¶ In the last couple of years, I've either experienced personally or learned through refereeing colleagues of direct threats of violence from players and mass fights involving weapons (very few of these thank the Lord). Worst of all, however, is the systematic intimidation of referees by whole teams.
¶ From the very first whistle, teams place an intolerable pressure on referees with non-stop dissent. It's organised too. When one player is booked for dissent, he falls silent to avoid a second yellow, allowing other players to take over responsiblity for putting pressure on the ref.
¶ Coaches scream abuse from the touchline. The civil manager is a rarity these days.
¶ It's harsh I know, but I was pleased to hear today that Neil Warnock had been fired by QPR. He paints himself as a jovial fellow, and is clearly intelligent, but it was nice to see his tactic of blaming match officials for every defeat and conceded goal had failed to keep him in a job. The sigh tof Warnock, crimson-faced and veins bulging with fury as he berates a 4th official, was not edifying at all.
¶ I'll be delighted to be proved wrong by the FA, but I won't accept stats wheeled out to show there has been a percentage fall in yellow and red cards. I'm there, every Saturday afternoon, as are my refereeing colleagues, and none of them see any improvement. At the top level, the proof is in the pudding, or on the SKY screens.
¶ The elite referees take home a salary of around £80,000, I'm told. That's a lot of money, but frankly, I'm not sure it's worth it to have ordure heaped on you once or twice a week.

Two-footed challenges

2012-01-08T23:43:00.002Z

Just to expand a little on the sending off of Vincent Kompany today during the Manchester derby.
It was predictable enough that comments from the ITV commentary team would be even more crass than when TV is shown on Sky or the BBC, but they still drove me potty, showing a frightening lack of awareness of the Laws of the Game.
Indeed Kompany himself, usually a wonderful centre back, showed unusually poor judgement in leaping in two-footed for a challenge he could comfortably have won with one leg, and could most probably even have stayed on his feet.
But fly in he did, both feet off the ground. Now Chris Foy and I have never played top level football, but the simple laws of physics state that a player has no control over his feet and legs when he is off the ground, whether that's three inches or three feet off the ground.
The player cannot control where his feet are going to land, so they could as easily break a leg as get the ball. It's irrelevant that Kompany got the ball. Nani saved himself by jumping over the challenge, but Kompany showed a flagrant disregard for the safty of his opponent. That's why he was sent off.
Players have been informed over the last couple of seasons that these challenges will be sanctioned with red cards. Many such red cards have been awarded this season.
It's a huge shame that Kompany was sent off. Everyone agrees with that, even Chris Foy. But if you show contempt for the laws of football and don't appear to care if you break someone's leg, then the laws are there to punish you.
It was a thrilling match. Man Utd were at their fluent best in the first half and Man City fought back gloriously. It was wonderful to see Scholes and Hargreaves back on the pitch and both teams had a strong shout each for a penalty.
Valencia was blocked at one end, though it's quite possible the foul took place just outside the area. Foy did not penalise the Man City defender. At the other end, a low cross struck Jones on the arm. Two very difficult decisions but neither was given.

The slippery slope

2011-12-22T16:27:00.002Z

has been well and truly followed by the Dutch football association, which today rescinded the red card awarded to Alkmaar goalkeeper Esteban Alvadaro, who decided to take the law into his own hands when he was attacked during a game against Ajax on Wednesday.
Alvadaro quite justifiably protected himself against the moronic attacker, who fell to the ground. But he then attacked the intruder, landing two hard and brutal kicks to the body before being pulled away by teammates. Referee Bas Nijhuis correctely sent him off for violent conduct. The laws are very clear. You're not allowed to attack anyone. The law's not just there for violence towards an opposing player. It applies if you attack a teammate, a ball boy, a mascot or an opposing fan. A player is expected to be able to control themselves.
The Alkmaar players went berserk when Alvadaro was sent off and the manager took his players off the pitch, forcing the referee to abandon the game.
The federation gave a most contrary opinion on Thursday when it announced the card was being rescinded, saying the ref had acted according to the laws in sending him off. But the card was rescinded and no action was taken. Hhhmmmm!
So players, from now on, feel free to kick the crap out of anyone daring to enter the field of play. And managers, this is how you get a game abandoned.

I'm not surprised they hate me!

2011-12-22T15:43:00.002Z

Sometimes, the decisons don't even themselves out, as I found out recently.
I discovered after the match that the home team remembered I had reported them two or three years ago for an unsavoury post match incident, and my decisions during the match meant it was less than likely I would be guest of honour at their annual dinner and dance.
With half an hour gone. the ball's hoofed upfield and I'm chasing desperately as a striker bursts into the penalty area, very closely followed by a defender. I'm 25 yards away still as I see the attacker go down. But wait, the attacker deliberately stopped so that the defender would have no choice other than to collide with him. I'm not giving a penalty for that, but I reckon I'm a bit too far away to say that it was a deliberate act of simulation, so just settle for cutting the grass with my hands and signalling no penalty. Cue much grumbling and loud shouts from the home bench.
2-1 down in the second half to a bottom of the table team, the home side is on the attack and pressing hard. The ball pings around the six yard box as the goalkeeper grabs the ball. I spot a boot hitting his stomach and blow for the foul just as the ball is poked into the goal. Cue even louder shouts from the touchline, where the home support has swollen thanks to the presence of the entire reserve team, which meant the crowd was about 30 instead of the usual 10 or 11.
My popularity plummets even further when the home player I booked in the first half for dissent decides to deliberately stick his foot in front of the ball as the away team attempt to take a free kick. Second yellow and a red.
This is all too much for the manager, who curiously rants loudly and explosively when a player is being subbed. I ask him to calm down; he refuses so I send him from the field of play, much to his surprise.
On 90 minutes, I had hardly penalised the victorious away team. But, in fairness, they played the game while the home team were just plain ratty and kept offending.

The South London special

2011-12-12T15:57:00.001Z

I came across these two interesting posts on club websites after two Kent teams I know met recently. I had been tipped off that the match had been a spicy affair but was startled to see that "a metal stake" was involved.
¶ First, the away team's website... (their spelling not mine)
¶ "When we lost to xxxxx we took in the right manor and shook there hands and walked away but this was not the case after our victory, as players and management started a mass brawl that involved there reserve side as well, we were forced into our changing room and left as soon as possible for our own safety."
¶
¶ And now what the home team had to say about the game.
¶ "xxxxxxxx are appealing for independent witnesses to an incident after Saturday's game with xxxxxxxxxxx. They are particularly interested in hearing from anybody who witnessed the assault on a xxxxxx player by a xxxxxxx player with a metal stake."
¶ I'm glad I wasn't reffing that one.

Kicking myself

2011-12-04T23:50:00.002Z

I found myself unexpectedly fixture free this weekend, and had already started making plans with my wife when the phone rang on Saturday morning at about 9.30am. Was I free for a match? I thought quickly, before deciding I should not upset the applecart at home. I declined the fixture, having been reassured by the fixtures secretary Steve K that he could easily find another ref. My wife knew who had been on the phone and said, "why didn't you take the appointment?"
And so I tootled around most of the day, doing odd jobs. I iced a couple of Christmas Cakes, went for a long, hour and a half walk with our Golden Retriever and also watched Chelsea finally win a game.
But something just wasn't right. My Saturday had lost its shape. In fact I was missing refereeing!
Sunday morning, woke up feeling fine. No stiffness and creaking joints that show how much of a struggle it can be to drag these aging bones around a football pitch. I even missed that.
Ah well, a lesson learned. When the floods or the snow wipe out most fixtures in January and February, I'll look back to this weekend and kick myself even harder.

Chris Foy and Stuart Attwell do the DOGSO

2011-12-04T11:08:00.004Z

The nation's worriers are howling with outrage this Sunday morning, not about Jeremy Clarkson's latest outburst, but about two refereeing decisions given at the expense of Newcastle and Bolton. In Newcastle's case, Chris Foy did not feel David Luiz deserved a red card when he brought down Ba about 10 yards outside the Newcastle area. In hindsight, and with the advantage of multiple video recordings, it appears Foy may have been mistaken, but there is no certainty. Foy felt the pass through to Ba had been too heavy and that it would have rolled through to the outrushing Cech. That, combined with the fact that a referee has a natural inclination not to send off players in the opening minutes, probably informed his split-second decision to spare Luiz a red. Not that the impetuous Chelsea defender really deserves it. He has proved himself an immature young man so far this season, costing his team a lot with poor decision-making and bad judgement. There is a little doubt about whether Ba would have reached the ball and perhaps that was enough to convince Foy to keep him on the field.

I do wish the so-called experts would think, just for a moment, before they convict the referee, who did not enjoy the benefits of technology to review the decision.

At White Hart Lane, Stuart Attwell made the opposite decision to Foy. He decided that Scott Parker - my player of the season by the way - would have had an obvious goal scoring opportunity if he had not been fouled just five yards inside the Bolton half by Gary Cahill. Owen Coyle ranted, but the only decision the referee really has to take is; "would the attacking player have a one-on-one chance against the goalkeeper?" And in this case, with the closest defender about 30 yards away, Parker most probably would have got to the goalkeeper before he could be closed down - hence the red card.Attwell should not worry too much about this decision: it was brave and correct.

At Wolves today, television commentators seemed to think that Sebastian Larsson should have been booked for diving in the penalty area. It was indeed a bizarre incident, Larsson was tapped on the shin by a Wolves defender, which qualifies - in this strange world of modern football - for a penalty. But instead of stumbling to the ground, he gave it the full swallow dive, swooping gracefully to the ground, arms and legs thrown out. It was a penalty, but if I had been Phil Dowd I'd also have been tempted to book him as well!

Those last, testing few minutes... suddenly down he goes!

2011-11-21T18:49:00.003Z

If there's only one goal in it or the game is drawn as the watch ticks past the 85th minute, it's time to switch to maximum concentration and focus for the remaining time.
On Saturday, the home team pulled a goal back with 10 minutes to play, making it 2-1. The goal breathed new life into the home team and they piled on the pressure, leaving large gaps in their own defence as they poured forwards in search of the equaliser.
At these times, the referee needs to keep a firm grip on the game. Although players are usually generally really focussed during these last gasps, they can also become very tetchy. On the north Kent coast, the watch tipped past 90 minutes and we started four minutes of stoppage time.
Suddenly, a home team winger, a youngster whose pace had bothered the visitors throughout, burst through into the penalty area. I was 20 yards away, reasonably well positioned, as the winger wriggled through defenders and suddenly went to ground. The home team screamed penalty, the visitors held their breath.
I blew my whistle loudly. Somehow, I knew what the right decision was. I ran towards the player who was on the ground, seven yards off the goal line, pointed up field and simultaneously took a yellow card out of my pocket. Still players hadn't grasped what decision I'd given.
So I shouted. "No penalty, free kick defending team ... and you're booked for diving," I said, looking at the attacker. I still don't know how I got the decision right. Looking back, it seems a blur, but I was able to pick apart the strands of my memory and remember that there was no physical contact and that the attacker just went down too neatly. He fell as though he knew he was going to fall, hands already out to break the fall and legs tucked together.
Confirmation, if I needed it, came in the form of a total lack of reaction from the attacking team. Even the player seemed disappointed rather than outraged. Several home players and their manager shook my hand after the game.
Spotting simulation is bloody hard and I'm sure I've got it wrong in the past, so I felt really pleased to have got this one right. It's a bit scary that a referee's validation for an entire 90-minute performance rests on a single decision in the 92nd minute. Scary but an enjoyable challenge nonetheless.
At these times, instinct sometimes helps, as it did on Saturday. At other times, it's often an educated guess, such is the speed at which these incidents take place. With a perfect view, you may see the foot clip an attacker's leg. But was the attacker's leg left there deliberately, looking for the penalty? Wise defenders keep their feet to themselves at these times, aware the punishment is severe for even the slightest error in timing and attackers are becoming more and more gifted at trickery. That shouldn't be the case but it is, and us refs have to try our best to be able to spot the cheating, for that's what it is.

Breaking News - Racism resolved by a handshake, says Sepp

2011-11-16T18:19:00.001Z

Think this story from my colleague in Switzerland speaks for itself.

¶ ZURICH (AP) _ FIFA President Sepp Blatter has defended his views on football's problem with racism, after suggesting that abuse between players could be settled by a handshake after a game.
¶ Blatter's comments in an interview with CNN prompted outrage in England, where football authorities have been dealing with accusations of racial abuse in two recent Premier League matches.
¶ Blatter later wrote on his Twitter account that while "it is not an excuse," he acknowledged that sometimes, "in the heat of the moment, things are said and done on the field of play."
¶ Howerver, Blatter insisted that "this does not mean that, in general, there is racism on the field of play."
¶ The FIFA president said that "racism and discrimination of any kind have no place in football."

The death of DOGSO - or the Kaiser's madness

2011-10-25T15:19:00.004+01:00

DOGSO, arcane refereeing parlance for Denial of an Obvious Goal Scoring Opportunity, could become a thing of the past if Franz Beckenbauer and the FIFA committee he chairs gets its way.
Clubs and players have complained for a long time that the triple punishment of a player conceding a penalty, receiving a red card and then a suspension is too severe when an attacker is fouled while through on goal in the penalty area with no other defender nearby.
A FIFA task force led by the famous German player says "simple fouls", by which I assume they mean trips or shirt-pulling, would only be met with a yellow card, so that a penalty could still be awarded but the player would be spared the extra punishments. It seems pretty clear that it would be impossible to show a player a red card for a foul committed outside the box, so these DOGSO fouls would all become yellow card offences.
All sounds logical enough No? Well No it doesn't.
The moment this law change is introduced, any player through on goal will be hauled down, driving a tank through FIFA's responsibilities to protect the beauty of football. You can be sure that defenders would work out ways to ensure they weren't sent off. If one is booked, get another defender to mark the swift attacker and bring him down as well.
FIFA introduced this rule to try and stop defenders ruining football and their intention was good.
Defenders who bring down attackers who are entertaining the crowd and trying to score goals should face the severest of sanctions. To wit, a penalty, a red card and a suspension.

Is it any surprise...

2011-10-24T18:56:00.003+01:00

after what goes on in the Premier League, that I had to caution two players within three minutes on Saturday for diving in with two-footed tackles. I told the first player he had come within an inch of getting a straight red for his foul and I questioned myself harshly after the game to determine if I had bottled a decision, avoiding a red card. The problem with these challenges is that I find them incredibly difficult to judge. It's simple to rule whether they're a foul or not, but when yellow and when red?
I had a perfect view of both fouls but still cannot say if they crossed the line from yellow to red. I'm fairly sure the second challenge was simply reckless and merited a yellow, but in the first the players went in with both feet off the ground, catching the player and the ball at the same time.
I was lining to a more senior referee last week who saw a similar foul and immediately took the red card out. he told me after the game he preferred to get the card out quickly to trust his initial judgement. I felt I needed a couple of seconds to make the call and decided I'd show a yellow, judging that the player had not intended injury to his opponent.
Giving him the benefit of the doubt? Maybe, but even us refs have to admit that sometimes these calls are hard to make.