FINALLY! New LOTG in Action at Rio 2016

With changes in law like “Ball can be kicked in any direction at kick-off”, “Offside FK always taken where offence occurs (even in own half)”, and “Foul off the field penalized with a direct free kick on boundary line”, it’s no wonder why most referees were excited to watch the UEFA European Championships this year, and to get a first hand look at the new laws being applied.  The most anticipated of these changes is the new DOGSO part of Law 12 in that the “triple punishment” has been removed and some DOGSO offences inside the penalty area are now punished with a Caution (yellow card).  However, as exciting as the 2016 Euro’s were, I was personally a little disappointed in that there weren’t very much match incidents, or at least controversial incidents to really talk about.  On one hand, I applaud the officials at this years tournament for the exemplary job they did at managing and controlling each match.  On the other hand, by the end of the month-long event, the referee community still didn’t have much examples of the new laws in action.  That is until now…

Thank you IFAB for yet another monkey wrench!

Recently, IFAB has sent out a new circular heavily pertaining to Law 11 and the interpretation of the offside law.  In particular, it pays close attention to “Interfering with and opponent” and the act of a “”Save”.  Along with the circular, The FA have also distributed a clarification memo, and illustrative examples to help referees at all levels understand what is actually being discussed.  I’m not going to go into them in great detail – if you would like to see the material for yourself, you are more than welcome to download them below:

A Caution, is a Caution…is ALWAYS a Caution.

It’s always a downer when you’re all geared up and ready for a match, only to get an email notification that your game tonight has been cancelled, or rescheduled.  That’s what happened to me last night however, I was able to salvage what was left of my evening by catching the second leg of the Amway Canadian Championship semi final between Toronto FC and Montreal Impact.  Thankfully the game was very exciting and fairly high scoring as Toronto was losing on aggregate and needed a fairly high number of goals if they wanted any part in the final.  The blind mice for the night did a tremendous job of controlling the match without any major problems however, I did feel that there was an opportunity for a Montreal send off.

Who Needs Cards, Anyway?

Being the football referee enthusiast that I am, and a self proclaimed nerd when it comes to things of this nature, I am often left wondering about situations and their probability of actually coming to pass, not just in my own appointments, but in games my friends watch over or matches I see on TV. I also like to ponder on the reasons why certain things are the way they are, and how/when they came to be. Often these two curiosities work hand in hand as finding the answer to one, inevitably answers the other. Over the weekend, a friend asked a hypothetical scenario which did exactly that; the answer sparked my wonder and I went searching for answers.(I should preface the question by saying that DMC knows the answer but was just thinking about the mechanics and complexity of the situation.)

The scenario as asked by DMC goes like this:

“Player commits cautionable offence (doesn’t matter what it is really – but let’s say a reckless tackle). You take out your pad/card to write it down before showing the yellow. Player smacks said pad/card out of your hand – You show a red card for that.Question: Do you still record the yellow you were going to give? If so, when do you consider the caution “recorded”? When the act is committed that warrants the caution, when you decide in your head you’re giving a caution, or when you show/write the caution (whichever comes first)?”

Pazzo Futsal LOTG

DID YOU KNOW that in Futsal, there is an instance where you can have possession of the ball, infringe the laws of the game and still be awarded an indirect free kick?  Sounds crazy?  Can’t believe it???  Well….IT’S TRUE!!!

#WorldCup – Marchisio Send Off – Who thinks it’s only a yellow?

 

 

Preface – If you don’t already know, I am an Italy supporter (as well as Portugal) however, you might find my opinion in this post rather surprising and contradictory.  I am, in fact a referee first and when it comes down to FIFA Law vs. National Pride…Law always wins!

After the embarrassment of Italy’s departure from this World Cup, I had some discussions with colleagues and my parents (my father to be exact) about the severity of Marchisio’s tackle that ultimately got him sent off in their last match against Uruguay.  The discussions revolved around how everyone thought it was a soft dismissal and Marchisio should have only got a caution for his actions.  Everyone blamed Mexican referee Marco Rodriguez for causing Italy to play short for 2/3 of the match, and then not dismissing Suarez for his cannibalism against Giorgio Chiellini.  However, after watching the replays over 100 times and looking at still shots of the incident (and my father is going to kill me for this), I agree with the Mexican official and I think that Rodrigues was CORRECT in sending off Marchisio.

World Cup Game Day 5 – Portugal should have played 2 men short!!!

 

 

As I was at the cottage this weekend, and didn’t have any internet connection, I was unable to comment of match days 3 and 4 however, you would like my take on a couple of incidents please message me and I will gladly write a post or two.  Most interesting one for me was Ecuador’s goal against Switzerland…in particular the ball placement.

On to match 1 of the day…

After watching the yet another embarrassment for a top class team, and having to witness Portugal’s horrific 4 – 0 loss to Germany, I decided that I should count my lucky stars that the score line wasn’t more drastic as Portugal should have been in deeper water very early in the game.  To what am I referring?  In the 11th minute, Mario Goetze was hauled back by the arm as he bore down on the Portugal goal by João Pereira, who got a yellow card for his troubles.

Football Myths – Part 2: I’m the Captain

Patrice Evra, Giorgos Karagounis, Steven Gerrard, Philipp Lahm, Fabio Cannavaro, Cristiano Ronaldo, Iker Casillas, and Lucio….What do they all have in common?

Football Myths – Part 1: Asking for Yards

Welcome to Football Myths Part 1 – Asking for Yards.  This is the very first post in a 7 part series in which I will set out to debunk a few of the most common myths that I am faced with every time I step out on the field of play to referee a youth or senior mens competitive match.  I came up with the idea to do this on my drive home last night from refereeing a few mens recreation indoor matches.  Throughout the night I was faced with the usual chatter and dissent that comes with the refereeing territory however, there are a few things that I keep hearing every week that really bothers me because I don’t know where players are getting their information from.  My assumption is that a lot of the referees they see on a regular basis are making fundamentally wrong decisions, which then leads to drastic inconsistencies for the players as they see different referees from week to week, and it makes the rest of our lives more difficult as we have to constantly hear the barrage of nonsense that come out of these player’s mouths.  I’m not talking about the difficult, grey line interpretive calls where opinion makes a big difference such as what is/isn’t a hand ball, or what is or isn’t offside.  No, I’m talking about the fundamental, basic rules and laws of the game that so many people seem to THINK they know, when in reality what they thought they knew is actually all wrong. 

Never in My Wildest Dreams: A Lesson in Sporting Behaviour

At times, we often see and discuss match situation where Unsporting Behaviour is concerned.  I’m sure many of us can come up with countless accounts and stories of USB situations that we have all had to deal with at some point in our carerrs.  However, never would I imagine a situation such as this…