A&H

Leaving the field of play at the closest point during a substitution (West Ham v Spurs)

M

Mada

Active Member
You may have seen this on BT Sport during the West Ham v Spurs game on Saturday afternoon, unfortunately I was there.

In the second half Son was substituted at a point where he was on the far side of the pitch, furthest away from the benches. He then walked very slowly to the bench while the West Ham fans went crazy (we were 3-1 down at the time).

In the eyes of the law, Michael Oliver should have insisted that Son went off on the far side so the substitution happened quicker. I can only assume that as it was a London derby the concluded that Son could be in danger or could incite an incident if he walked around the outside of the pitch (anyone who has been to the Olympic stadium will realise how far away from the pitch the fans are).

Does anyone have any thoughts on this? The new rule was brought in to combat this exact scenario of time wasting and walking off the pitch yet Son was allowed to do it without penalty.
 
The Referee Store
I think in part you’ve answered your own question. The rivalry between the sides is sufficient reason for Son to be allowed to travel straight across the field.

Can’t comment on sanction or lack thereof as I only saw highlights on MOTD
 
Did the referee see fit to have a word with Son as he took this slow walk? If not I would imagine it had been agreed before the match for the reasons outlined above.

It may make sense to have this as a blanket ruling for all derbies so the distance of players to crowd could be irrelevant (imagine a spectator jumping the crowd barrier then running at the player...)
 
Another worthless amendment to the LOTG. Designed to reduce time being deliberately wasted by substituted players. In reality it just makes it something else for referees to have manage at EPL level.
The proper solution would be to instruct referees to caution deliberate time wasting and of course to make sure that delays due to the substitution process were correctly timed and added on. (Something else that never really happens).
 
This horse bolted and continues to bolt in almost every prem game I watch. Pukki (PARTY) did the long walk at the weekend.

It's a daft law because we lose match control if we attempt to enforce it. With injured players, because of the complication of the physio and potential limitations of movement, we are just about in a place where we can force off injured players (and their physios) to the closest boundary and it aides match control.

With subs it's just not gonna happen. I can't see how can ever enforce this without it seeming trifling, petty and damaging match control. There's added time already to solve this "problem".
 
Referees are being told during the safety briefing, that happens at every game at football league and above, that they want players to go off the technical area side. If there is a police officer involved in that briefing, as there probably will be at FL and above levels, as a referee you'd be taking a big risk in going against it. I've heard this from the horse's mouth, so to speak, and it was always a problem with the new law. Make a player go off the far side at some grounds and he's going to be lucky to get back to the technical areas alive ..!
 
Players are regularly near touchlines though without any harm coming to them. They warm up there, take set pieces from there, go and stand there when they've received treatment, etc.

From my viewing experience, it seems to raise the temperature of a game much more when a referee lets a player amble across to the halfway line compared to them going off at the nearest point.

It's funny how a player suddenly becomes a lot less concerned about their safety and rushes off at the nearest point if they're subbed when their team is losing...!
 
RustyRef said:
Referees are being told during the safety briefing, that happens at every game at football league and above, that they want players to go off the technical area side.
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It certainly wouldn't surprise me if this is the case. I always felt that if a player wasn't leaving the field quickly enough I already had ways to deal with that. Much easier and quicker to 'enourage' a player to leave the field in the traditional manner than to manage this nonsense.
 
Mada said:
Does anyone have any thoughts on this? The new rule was brought in to combat this exact scenario of time wasting and walking off the pitch yet Son was allowed to do it without penalty.
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The law amendment was indeed brought in to combat time wasting but as you alluded to earlier, it also has an express provision for the referee to override it. If they do decide this:

the referee indicates that the player may leave directly and immediately at the halfway line or another point (e.g. for safety/security or injury)
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I didn't see the full game (just highlights) so I don't know if the referee did or did not indicate for Son to leave where he did.

I have noticed cases where, although the player was on the side of the field further away from the technical area, by the time the referee had finished calling for and coordinating the substitution with the 4th official, the player had already started making his way across the pitch and it would probably have wasted even more time to send him back the other way.
 
Kes said:
The proper solution would be to instruct referees to caution deliberate time wasting and of course to make sure that delays due to the substitution process were correctly timed and added on.
Click to expand...
The caution part is too hard though, as most players feign injury and claim that is why they have to walk off very slowly, something that happens at park level as well. You can't prove they're not injured. But what refs should do, as you've said, is ensure every second is added on. If a player is deliberately walking off slowly (even to the nearest touchline), I count every second and ensure I add that on, as well as all other stoppages.
 
The logic behind the change made sense, but the practicalities of enforcing it, especially at levels higher than grass roots mean it almost never happened.

Could you imagine the drama if you made an opposition player walk around the pitch at The Den, rather than letting them go off at the halfway line?
 
They might as well just bin this as it’s not being enforced by officials and naturally, the players aren’t paying a blind bit of attention to it- when it suits.
 
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