The Ref Stop

2016-17

I like this bit in the Practical Guidelines: "This usually means the flag is carried in the hand closest to the referee"

Maybe now we'll see our International colleagues holding the flag 'correctly' (I believe this was discussed recently on here)
 
The Ref Stop
Whilst we will be expected to referee in the spirit of the game, how many players will play in the spirit of the game?

And yes, next season is going to be lots of fun, as 99.99% of players/coaches/managers at grassroots will not have the first foggiest about any of these changes.

Does anybody know if there has been (or will be) an associated update to the laws of small-sided football, that will impact all of the upcoming mini-soccer tournaments?
 
Denying a goal or an obvious goal-scoring opportunity
Where a player denies the opposing team a goal or an obvious goal-scoring opportunity by a deliberate handball offence the player is sent off wherever the offence occurs.
Where a player commits an offence against an opponent within their own penalty area which denies an opponent an obvious goal-scoring opportunity and the referee awards a penalty kick, the offending player is cautioned unless:
  • The offence is holding, pulling or pushing or
  • The offending player does not attempt to play the ball or there is no possibility for the player making the challenge to play the ball or
  • The offence is one which is punishable by a red card wherever it occurs on the field of play (e.g. serious foul play, violent conduct etc.)
In all the above circumstances the player is sent off.

(My bold/italics) - that's not going to cause any "debates" on the FoP, is it...?
 
"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!
Not really - the ball always had to move and the law still says the ball does not have to leave the corner area. The "fake corner" will still be legal so long as the ball moves which (as mentioned) it had to do anyway. This just clarifies the "kicked and moves" wording.
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...
You're a little behind the times - that particular wording was removed a year ago. Also, see IFAB circular no. 3 for further clarification. As for stationing players near the keeper, there was guidance issued by the IFAB after a similar scenario in a recent match between Shrewsbury and Man Utd that stationing players in an offside position for tactical purposes such as you describe, is expected to be punished as an offside offence. The full document explaining this is on the second page of the following discussion:

http://refchat.co.uk/threads/juan-mata-fk-offside.7172/page-2
 
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I first laughed when they changed the diagrams showing the referees and assistant's signals to be "non gender specific". :rolleyes:
 
Bit of an explanation of 'spirit of the game/Laws' but still not great
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(Sorry that picture is huge.Maybe an admin can resize it, not sure how to do it myself?)


So using the spirit of the game that does not benefit lower league football, can I finally ignore the fact the a player has blue tape on his yellow sock???
 
First change noted on p111, artificial and natural surfaces may not be combined on the field. I stand to be corrected but the Spurs pitch is a grass pitch sown onto an artificial pitch (something like a third of the blades are plastic. I think that's true of lots of pro team pitches.

Ignore that, the detailed explanation allows for hybrid systems
 
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Advantage for red card (IDFK if offender gets involved in play) that sounds very messy
 
"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!
Not really - the ball always had to move and the law still says the ball does not have to leave the corner area. The "fake corner" will still be legal so long as the ball moves which (as mentioned) it had to do anyway. This just clarifies the "kicked and moves" wording.
I think it is a very helpful re-wording - the basis of the fake corner was that the movement was so subtle that the defending team didn't notice it. At the very least now the movement has to be clear to the referee and the onus will be on the taker to ensure that the movement is clear - will hopefully mean the end of all this putting the foot on the ball and then walking away and later claiming that was the movement.
 
Does anybody know where I can get hard copy of this, im old school and always like to have a copy in my bag. Havent had one since 2014 but with such changes think its time for a new copy
 
I have re-registered on the Whole Game, do I need to request them?

If you've already re registered and didn't tick the box to add it to your invoice, give them a call and they'll probably take payment over the phone or request a cheque for one to be sent out
 
So using the spirit of the game that does not benefit lower league football, can I finally ignore the fact the a player has blue tape on his yellow sock???

This is exactly why the 'spirit of the game' addition is the stupidest thing they've ever done

This breeds laziness which breeds contempt. It encourages poor refereeing and makes it difficult for those with such a mindset to ever regain the full use of the laws

Terrible move if you ask me

Can see a lot of assessments going the way of 'development point, red 10 was wearing yellow sock tape' and a response of 'just reffing in the spirit of the game sir'
 
This is exactly why the 'spirit of the game' addition is the stupidest thing they've ever done

This breeds laziness which breeds contempt. It encourages poor refereeing and makes it difficult for those with such a mindset to ever regain the full use of the laws

Terrible move if you ask me

Can see a lot of assessments going the way of 'development point, red 10 was wearing yellow sock tape' and a response of 'just reffing in the spirit of the game sir'

Would have been more sensible to delete the whole sock tape reference completely - makes no difference whatsoever to the game at any level.
 
Totally agree

If it's one strap then clearly it's pedantic

Had a player leave his socks at home so he had to use tape all the way up his leg to hold his shin pads in place. Took a bit of searching but he found some yellow electrical tape in the end!
 
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