Small Addition Needed to “Pass Back” Rule

It would be a far stretch to argue that the LOTG are 100% complete, and without gray areas or debatable topics; just look at the changes about to come into effect and what a huge Pandora’s box of protest and dissent is going to follow.  However, that’s an entirely different topic, and separate post that I will save for another day.  Alas, there are certainly some areas where the LOTG could use a little clarification and possible the odd added word or two just to make things solid and clear for all parties concerned.

One such instance is regarding a deliberate pass from a player to his own goal keeper.  In this clip, white is the defender and plays the ball to his own goal keeper.

Advertisement

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.

As the Saying Goes – Fool Me Once…EmbarrASSed

One of the most embarrassing moments out on the FOP for a referee is when we get duped into believing simulation.  This is also one of the hardest things to catch, and IMHO the biggest “disease” in the beautiful game.  There are plenty of things that we can do as referees in order better understand and catch the culprits as they try to trick and deceive us (see l’arbitre’s post on simulation).  However, no matter how close we are to play, how focused and concentrated we are, or how diligent we we try to be in all our games, sometimes the actors on the FOP catch us off guard and we fall for their theatrics.

 

Football Myths – Part 3: Playing On the Ground

Player:  “REF!  He’s on the ground!!!”

Referee:  “OK….and???”

Sound familiar?  It should, because I hear this at least once or twice every single game.  What players fail to realize is that playing the ball while on the ground isn’t actually against the Laws of the Game.  Every time I hear this protest I challenge players and coaches to find me the reference in the LOTG that says a player cannot play the ball while on the ground.  Since most players and coaches don’t have the LOTG handy, let’s figure it out for them.

Understanding Fouls in Futsal

The transition to Futsal can be difficult for a Football referee.

Some of the major changes that referees face include:

• Higher mental awareness of technical offences
• Positioning system of control
• Altered foul threshold
• Communication with referee crew

This is a lot to take in despite a lot of experience on a football pitch. Let’s focus on just one difficulty; adjusting to fouls.

Football is

#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.

World Cup Game Day 1 – Congrats Mr. Nishimura on a job (somewhat) well done.

Finally…the day that the world has been waiting four years to arrive is upon us!  For the past month I have been counting down the days and have been waiting with such excitement for the 2014 World Cup.  This one is a sort of special one for me…it’s being played in Brazil and for many of those people who know me well, they know that I have a special love affair with the South American country of Samba and Soccer.  Although I am of Italian and Portuguese heritage, my love for Brazil comes from my background as a musician/percussionist.  This world cup fuses both my passions as they collide into a month-long high of great football being played in the midst of great music!

In keeping with the theme of my blog, I will attempt to pick out the good, the bad and the ugly of the refereeing and decision-making throughout the tournament, and give you my own humble opinion on how I saw things.  These are only my own opinions and in way do I suggest that I am the greatest referee in the world…if I was, I would be in Brazil this month, not sitting at my computer writing this blog! 😉

So, let’s get on with it then…

Lessons Football can learn from Futsal

In my short tenure as a futsal referee and enthusiast, I’ve picked up on rules better enforced in Futsal than in football due to the nature of the game.

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.