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…

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!!!

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…

Ponder This (A Formal Reply to “larbitre”)

My good friend larbitre posted a great topic for discussion:

Detecting Tension between Players: The Second Look

…and this particular scenario got me thinking that there is an even more crucially important talking/learning point here – not to take away from larbitre’s point of taking the second look…which is also a very important tool in game management.  It was the second clip of Howard Webb at the 2010 WC.

Rooney Should Have Seen Red!

I know I’m a little late on this but it’s definitely worth the talking points.

The Match:  

Sunday, November 24 – Manchester Untd v Cardiff City

The Incident:

“With just seven minutes on the clock, a race for the ball between Rooney and Jordan Mutch saw the England striker kick out at his opponent.  Luckily for United, referee Neil Swarbrick only deemed the foul a yellow card offence.” (courtesy of thescore.ie)