Euro 2016 round-up

[frank_ref]

Tournament's over and, I've got to say, the standard of refereeing was excellent.

Maybe we can attribute this to Collina 'cos, you know, whatever he touches is gold, he's our Jesus, et cetera, but whatever the reason...pretty incredible to have so many games and so few wrong decisions.

Why such a difference when compared to the Premier League? Where were the offside shockers? The dodgy red cards?

Perhaps it was having the AARs wot dunnit.

Anyway, things I thought about:

• Throw-ins looked weird, didn't they? Tons of throws Sunday players woulda been protesting most vehemently. But what the hell. But watching probably 50% of them taken from 10-15 yards further up the pitch I wasn't so pleased with.
  
• I was a bit disappointed at the amount of time-wasting and slowing the game down, and I often thought not enough was added when subs were made or time was wasted in injury time. Too many times where free kicks took 45-60 seconds to take. Plus goalkeepers regularly taking 15+ seconds with the ball.
• Are quick free-kicks not allowed anymore? Is it all spray n pacing from here on in? Shame.
• Great to see the ball going backwards from kick-off! One ancient bit of pointlessness done away with
• Apart from a couple of shouts for pens that weren't given the only decision I saw that was poor was awarding the pen to France in the semis. Totally changed the game and was tough on the Germans. If ever there was a case for going with the easy option...when 2 people out of 50,000 appeal for something, I think you can let it slide.
• Okay, and the one where the ball hit the black guy's arm and Clatts said, "that arm was definitely white, fellas." But how cool would it have been if Portugal had scored from the free kick, to see The Henry's face while he protested a shocking handball decision that basically decided the game (they did kind of score from it, if you think about it).
• Issuance of cards felt just about perfect. Though Ramsey may class himself unlucky, and Wales too, 'cos we'll never know whether he may have been the difference.

There. What are your thoughts? Were the referees the stars of the tournament? What were your favourite decisions? And do you agree about the time-wasting and feel they could have been stricter with that, or was it fine?

 

[RustyRef]

I think overall the refereeing was the highest standard that I can ever remember at a major tournament. A few minor issues but on the whole all of the referees and their management team can be very pleased I would say.

A couple of things I don't agree with you on ...

• If you are going to pick out a poor penalty decision I don't think it can or should be the one against Schweinsteiger. Whilst I agree that was on the harsh side, and there were few if any appeals and it came as something of a surprise, it was technically correct. Far more incorrect was the failure to penalise Skrtel for a ridiculous challenge on Jonny Williams, especially as that have probably been a red card as well.
• I don't think Ramsey was unlucky, and perhaps more tellingly nor does he. He has come out since and said it was an instinctive reaction and he knew he was getting cautioned as soon as he did it

 

[frank_ref]

Fair enough on the Ramsey card, and good for him for his philosophical and mature acceptance of it.

And totally agree on the Skrtel challenge on Williams. I thought that was a penalty all day long, and was very surprised it wasn't given seeing how close the AAR was to it.

Too close, perhaps? That's about the only reason I can think of.

 

[bloovee]

Agree with most. But why was Ronaldo allowed free rein pitchside after being substituted?

 

[OIREF!]

Agree with most. But why was Ronaldo allowed free rein pitchside after being substituted?

Bloovee - I agree with you on this one. Towards the end of the match Ronaldo seemed to be coach, physio, timekeeper, fourth official and anything else he fancied.

 

[PinnerPaul]

Agree with you about time added on, even in the final thought MC a little "tight" on the time added.

Ironically the penalty against the Germans came in 2nd minute of added time where there were NO stopages at all in the half!

Agree standard was excellent, on offside, haven't checked stats, but seemed very few - presume that's because of generally defensive way most teams were set up.

 

[RustyRef]

Agree with most. But why was Ronaldo allowed free rein pitchside after being substituted?

He was substituted, not sent off. He is therefore allowed to be in the technical area, and allowed to be standing as long as there is only one other person standing. He can also give instructions as long as he is the only person doing so. In short he hasn't actually broken any rules and the 4th official was correct to let him do what he did.

 

[Peter Grove]

He was substituted, not sent off. He is therefore allowed to be in the technical area, and allowed to be standing as long as there is only one other person standing. He can also give instructions as long as he is the only person doing so. In short he hasn't actually broken any rules and the 4th official was correct to let him do what he did.

I'm also not so sure that Ronaldo did anything much wrong.

The Laws of the Game do not limit how many people can be in the technical area, that is left to the competition rules. According to the Euro 2016 regulations for the Technical Area (which are a little vague on this specific issue) as I read them it appears that up to 23 people including substitutes and team officials were allowed to be in the technical area (which they define as including the substitutes bench area) during final tournament games.

The only Laws-related questions for me would be whether Ronaldo was either issuing tactical instructions at the same time as the coach (as RustyRef correctly states, the laws only allow one person at a time to do this) or behaving irresponsibly. I didn't see his behaviour as being particularly irresponsible and I couldn't say for sure whether he was just offering encouragement or actually issuing tactical instructions - and if he was, that he was doing so simultaneously with the coach.

 

[GraemeS]

There was one point where he clearly went down the line, in order to encourage a player who had left the FOP for treatment to get back on. But aside from that blatant ignoring of the all-important dashed line, I don't think he did anything remotely wrong.