I find this to be appalling refereeing. It smacks of 'gotcha refereeing' - when the referee takes pride in having caught somebody out and decided the game. I'm choosing to believe it was ignorance rather than that sort of conceit.
IMO this referee has failed to understand the purpose of a kickoff.
A free kick can be taken quickly - but that's because it's about restoring the balance. If the defending team didn't have 10 players behind the wall and organised before the kick, why should they get that benefit because they committed a foul? It's about restoring the advantage to the attacking team.
A kickoff? Not even close. It's a relatively neutral restart with one team in possession. There's nothing being restored, no justification for catching at team off guard. It's a ceremonial restart to put both team on equal footing.
Sure, if the referee tries to get them going and they refuse - well, he can't caution so starting is the only option. But as it stands? Pretty bad.
Also, a whistle is required. Maybe he blew it, maybe he didn't, but there was no arm signal.
This isn't even about match control It's about simple fairness and understanding the different restarts and the game.
