The Ref Stop

2016-17

The Ref Stop
The spirit of the game!

Can I apply the spirit of the game "law" to the "goalkeeper throws bottle to deny goal" conundrum!!?

"the ball must clearly move to stop the practice of a player just touching the ball and then unsportingly pretending the kick has not been taken."
There goes the fake corner loophole!

"gaining an advantage by being in that position by playing the ball or interfering with an opponent when it has:
• rebounded or been deflected off the goalpost, crossbar or an opponent"

"Deflected" is in, but no mention of block. This is still a can of worms...
 
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Oh dear... "distracts" is no longer in the offside wording... looks to me like you can station a couple players either side of the goalkeeper and get away with it...
 
Does the definition of 'spirit of the game' appear anywhere?

If not....just another meaningless bit of guff that will allow weak referees to shirk their responsibility and dress it up with a catchy sounding phrase.

Meh.
 
Bit of an explanation of 'spirit of the game/Laws' but still not great
0c69bb3014643c8bb53bb11a79ac5a9b.png


(Sorry that picture is huge.Maybe an admin can resize it, not sure how to do it myself?)
 
Does the definition of 'spirit of the game' appear anywhere?

If not....just another meaningless bit of guff that will allow weak referees to shirk their responsibility and dress it up with a catchy sounding phrase.

Meh.

Apparently there is a definition....

'The main / essential principles / ethos of football'

The main principle of football is to score more goals than your opponents i.e. Win......so are they saying that the 'spirit of the game' is to win, and so a team who are actively engaged in winning should be considered to be playing in the 'spirit of the game' therefore their transgressions are to be dealt with more sympathetically than a team who are losing and clearly not playing in the 'spirit of the game'?
 
Bit of an explanation of 'spirit of the game/Laws' but still not great
0c69bb3014643c8bb53bb11a79ac5a9b.png

Players will tell you on a Sunday morning that sending players off does not 'benefit' the game.....should we therefore the start ignoring those offences in the 'spirit of the game'?

It's a ridiculous cop out that will simply lower discipline yet further.
 
New advantage signal too. You can use one or two arms to signal advantage "as there is agreement that running with both arms extended can restrict a referee’s running action."
 
Couple of little tweaks here and there which may make a difference, and clears up a couple of discussions which we have had in here in the last 6 months or so.

- The referee no longer decided when a kick from the penalty mark is complete. 'The kick is completed when the ball stops moving, goes out of play or the referee stops play for any infringement of the laws'

- You can take an offside free kick from the point at which he interfered inside his own half. 'The referee awards an indirect free-kick from the point at which the offence occurred, including if it is in the player's own half of the field of play.'

- 'The referee has the ability to take disciplinary action once he enters the field of play for the pre-match inspection'

- A player whose shin guard or boot is lost accidentaly must replace it as soon as possible and no later than when the ball next goes out of play.

But they can still score a goal, I think we decided you'd award a IDFK for dangerous play?

- My personal favourite change, really wasn't sure about this one before. 'Direct and indirect free-kick are awarded to the opposing team of a player guilty of an offence or infringement.'. :D
 
My only hope is that the CFAs properly circulate the changes to all leagues and clubs, even better put on some meetings where they're explained. Otherwise as @YorkshireReferee says, it's going to be a fun season
 
My issue is with those rogue referees that are currently still applying the laws from 25 years ago. This is going to go down a treat.

Don't get me wrong, those that can't progress should not hold us back, but the term 'last week's ref' is going to become a phrase used everyday when this comes in.

The player's aren't going to know what's going on either.
 
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