A&H

A-League KFTPM

The Referee Store
https://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/kurz-slams-referees-after-penalty-coin-toss-snub

Assuming everything from the article is factual, what are your thoughts?

Can the league owners dictate the end for KFTPM. The referee is put between a rock and a hard place?
Unless there are other considerations (e.g. ground conditions, safety etc.), the referee tosses a coin to decide the goal at which the kicks will be taken which may only be changed for safety reasons or if the goal or playing surface becomes unusable
Law seems to imply that it should be a coin toss unless one of the goals is unusable, but "other conditions" could be argued to include "the regulations say so" or "to increase the spectacle and crowd involvement".
On the other hand, the FAQ explains the reason for the law as being the most fair way to do it, and explicitly points out the presence of spectators around the goal chosen as a factor that may make the decision unfair. So, I'd say he's fair to complain, though a protest as being wrong in law might not go in his favour.
 
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Referee is still entitled to choose an end rather than toss a coin if there's a valid reason to do so. If "TV reasons" counts as valid is very debatable...
 
I liked the Chelsea shout out the other night.

They could quite easily have gone the other end, through whatever reason, but both teams were situated behind that goal half and half and both able to see and cheer on the teams during shoot out.
 
When the nix had an a-league final series game a number of years ago, the penalty boom camera was down the home end, and was unsurprisingly chosen. Think it's pretty standard a - league behaviour.
 
I think it's more to do with having the fanatics (flags, noise etc) which happen to be home fans down that end which makes for better TV viewing. That very reason gives an unfair advantage to the home team which the TV sponsors don't care about, FFA cares little about (but want to keep sponsors happy) and the referee must care about.

That creates a massive conflict of interest for the referee. Do you make the game fair or do you follow orders from your employer?
 
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