The Ref Stop

Cup final errors

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Redref34

Well-Known Member
Level 5 Referee
In a cup final recently, I sent off a goalkeeper from an offside indirect free kick restart for delaying the restart of play (second yellow) and restarted with an indirect free kick to the other team. (I now know this was completely incorrect). Luckily it had little impact.

With the recent no handball in the FA Cup final… does anyone have any other mistakes that they have made in a cup final?
 
The Ref Stop
Gave a penalty that was never a penalty in a million years once. The first half had been difficult with a lot of niggly fouls, so I decided I’d keep a tight rein early on in the second half and just give any soft fouls.
Unfortunately the first soft one of the second half was in the penalty area and I inexplicably gave a penalty for it. I know that technically a foul’s a foul regardless of where it happens on the pitch, but this was one of the soft fouls that would provoke a disagreement if given on the halfway line never mind the penalty area. Nobody expected a penalty and as soon as I gave it I just wished the ground would swallow me up.
 
Redref34 said:
In a cup final recently, I sent off a goalkeeper from an offside indirect free kick restart for delaying the restart of play (second yellow) and restarted with an indirect free kick to the other team. (I now know this was completely incorrect). Luckily it had little impact.

With the recent no handball in the FA Cup final… does anyone have any other mistakes that they have made in a cup final?
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The comparison is really not right. Yours was error in law, the FA cup final was a subjective decision.

I gave an offside off a goal kick as an AR. I knew the law, just lack of concentration and narrow focus. Ref called it, bench complained and I immediately knew what I had done and apologised. Error was (somewhat) fixed though with a dropped ball. Pre new laws so the ball was kicked back to the keeper.
 
one said:
The comparison is really not right. Yours was error in law, the FA cup final was a subjective decision.

I gave an offside off a goal kick as an AR. I knew the law, just lack of concentration and narrow focus. Ref called it, bench complained and I immediately knew what I had done and apologised. Error was (somewhat) fixed though with a dropped ball. Pre new laws so the ball was kicked back to the keeper.
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I never said they were the same.

Yes the VAR red or yellow aspect was subjective but the on field decision part was not subjective it was a missed handball, therefore an error.
 
Redref34 said:
I never said they were the same.

Yes the VAR red or yellow aspect was subjective but the on field decision part was not subjective it was a missed handball, therefore an error.
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I'm getting a bit pedantic here and also going OT. But that's what this forum does to one.😊

Hand/ball contact is factual (not subjective), in/out of PA is factual. But if it is an offence or not is still subjective and depends on the opinion of the referee. There is a difference between an "error" and an "error in law". We can all agree on not calling that handball was an error, but it was not an error in law.
 
First year as a referee I was an AR for the U13 League plate final (move over Attwell think we know who's had the better finals over the years), and there was a possible ball over the line from the corner, must have been 15 players all crowded round the back post and I thought the keeper had kept it out.

Unfortunately, the keeper trained with my brother at the time and he had footage that showed the ball had gone quite far over. Luckily the game ended very one sided so didn't have too much effect on the outcome.
 
Funnily enough in a cup final last year I had a similar handball scenario to the Dean Henderson incident (albeit the keeper slightly further outside his box).
I don't know why, and because there was no camera footage, I'll never know why, but I just didn't see the handball. I saw the keeper coming out, anticipated it as a potential issue but just didn't see any contact between ball and hand, but absolutely everyone appealed in unison... so I guessed based on player reaction and gave the free kick (not something I recommend doing a lot, but when you have to do it, you'll know. I sold it that the ball was going out towards to corner so it wasn't a DOGSO and I cautioned the goalkeeper. Everyone on pitch accepted it.
My coach said he thought it was DOGSO but that having not seen it at all I did well to arrive at a caution and a free kick and I was never going to be able to send off for an incident I hadn't seen. (I did have a glance across at my AR before giving it and he sort of glared back at me giving not a lot away)
 
Not a final but a semi final. I was AR, ball in the penalty area about 10 yards in front of me, two players jostling for it. I saw a hand come out and swat the ball away and was convinced it was the attacker, so signalled (big and proud!) a defensive FK. From the reaction of both players and the benches behind me, I immediately knew I'd got it the wrong way round....

I did the opposite in the middle of a County Cup semi final years ago too - ran too wide as the ball came into the box and clearly every player, every member of the benches and all the spectators saw a blatant defensive handball that I just couldn't see from my position. Not only made for a miserable game, but cost me my chance of a final that year....
 
Again not a final, but closing stages of an U13 cup semi-final quite a few years ago.

Corner played in and headed towards goal by an attacker, where it bounced straight off the outstretched arm of the defender and back out for a corner. I saw the handball, yet inexplicably pointed for a corner. To this day I have no idea why I didn't give it and it still bothers me more than 10 years on. Total brain fade.
 
Matthew said:
Again not a final, but closing stages of an U13 cup semi-final quite a few years ago.

Corner played in and headed towards goal by an attacker, where it bounced straight off the outstretched arm of the defender and back out for a corner. I saw the handball, yet inexplicably pointed for a corner. To this day I have no idea why I didn't give it and it still bothers me more than 10 years on. Total brain fade.
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My second one was from over 10 years ago too, and clearly still bothers me! Just goes to show how much these things actually do mean to us!
 
one said:
The comparison is really not right. Yours was error in law, the FA cup final was a subjective decision.

I gave an offside off a goal kick as an AR. I knew the law, just lack of concentration and narrow focus. Ref called it, bench complained and I immediately knew what I had done and apologised. Error was (somewhat) fixed though with a dropped ball. Pre new laws so the ball was kicked back to the keeper.
Click to expand...
I gave an offside from a throw in once as an assistant.
Thing for me was i believed I saw a flick on from the throw but the ref, a lot closer than me, waved me down and explained after the game it didn't touch him but can see why, from across the pitch, it could look like it did but thanked me for the flag regardless.
 
I done a cup final in my early days, probably going back 15 years now, where my assistant (also my brother) flagged for a penalty.
Pre game instructions were not to get involved unless i am well out of position (maybe like Atwell was in the final on Saturday), or completely blindsided but look at me first and see if I'm asking for help.

I was waving my arms saying no, cutting the grass so to speak.
And with that my assistant flags indicating he's seen something.
Balls out for a goal kick from this attack.
I've gone over to assistant to ask what he has seen that I may have missed. After about 20 seconds of chatting, I've walked away and continued with goal kick.
Come half time, the team who would have had the penalty, were leading 3-0.
They complained to me, saying i should've listened to my assistant.
Tried to explain the reasons why (which were i was in a perfect position to see the whole incident and far closer than my assistant) but they were not having it.
They went on to lose 4-3. And blamed me (for years, literally. Everytime I saw them in the street).
 
Also not a final but the 12th game of my career was a semi final last season. Literally 2 minutes in I dropped an absolute clanger and gave a pen for handball. AR (thank god I had them appointed literally 20 mins before KO) calls me over. “It’s nowhere near his arm mate, hits his thigh then chest”. Still haunts me. Had to wait a few more months for a half decent game after that 😂 rest of the game went fine though.
 
Less of a howler on my part but a moment I wish I'd got out of my own head and trusted my instincts.

U16 girls league cup final, 1st vs 2nd (A and B for the purposes of this), the B team is familiar to me as the only local team to me in the league.

I have neutral ARs, it's a tight back and forth game and its 2-2 in added time.

Ball passed through the B teams back line and an A team attacker is running on to it, my AR doesn't flag. I am fortunately in a good position, but perhaps not more credible than my AR and I think she is offside.

But I know I'm not credible, I know I know this B team and the girls well, and so I don't give the offside and the A team scores a winning goal.

I see a well place parents photos later and she was offside by clear air - felt awful!
 
This thread definitely shows that youth football is as much development for the officials as it is for the players. Everyone has dropped a clanger in their first few years and I think everyone involved gets too caught up in the occasion to remember what these age groups are really about. The most telling thing is that we all took time to reflect on this and hopefully it made us better in the long run.
 
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