The Ref Stop

Goalkeeper clip, Guardian website

The Ref Stop
Remember this going round a while back. Can easily be solved by more proactivity from the ref. As soon as he sees that an offence has been committed, and an opponent is also running it, it can only mean one thing. He should be sprinting in like his life depends on it. Solves all your problems.
 
So many things wrong with this clip.
1. As above , did not run in to manage any possible incidents between keeper and opponent for the first or second white player.
2. Did not award DFK to keeper for initial challenge or signal advantage (if that was the reason for not awarding the free kick)
3. Awarded (what can only be a) IFK very late, by 4 seconds.
4. Did not sigal the direction of the said free kick.
5. Did not signal indirect (losing him for a second but it's fairly clear he didn't)

So the correct decision would have been DFK to keeper for the apparent contact as soon as the keeper put the ball down. There would have been no arguments from anyone.
 
Should have been a DFK and a YC against the attacker for the antagonistic feigned kick on the keeper. Quite dangerous and the sort of thing that's inviting problems later.
But, the ref didn't (perhaps considered it trifling - or perhaps he was applying advantage, in which case the keeper's chosen to do something stupid, so his tough luck there). So, given that didn't occur, it's a good goal.
Attackers have the right to the quick free kick, so good on them for having awareness and capitalising on the keeper's mistake. It's a clear offence by the keeper.
Of course, had the keeper refused to release the ball to the attacker he'd be finding himself in the book.
 
This was on HIVE a new resource for Supply League Referees and Observers (and above) provided by The FA. This is the official comment on this clip. As it's the official clip, it represents The FA's expectations in this situation if it ever happens to you...

Once again, this is a very interesting clip with some really important learning messages for the Referee. As such, it’s vital that we share this kind of content to the wider groups so that we can educate and develop our thought processes should this kind of incident happen in one of our games.

As a Referee our alarm bells should be ringing the moment we see the attacker approaching the goalkeeper. It is very late in the game and essentially we should be wanting to close the game off safely and securely and not wanting to jeopardise the match control that we may have built up.

Whilst some may argue that the attacker does not intend to challenge for the ball and accidentally slips into the challenge – his actions clearly make contact with the goalkeeper, in this particular case causing a temporary fault with his equipment (his footwear). So, therefore and understandably our practical recommendations for the Referee to apply within the laws of the game are as follows:

• Recognise the attackers intentions as ‘careless’
• Stop the game
• Award the free kick to the defending team
• Draw closer to the incident and give proximity to both goalkeeper and attacker
• Explain to the attacker that whilst they might not be his intentions, the actions are still careless and that you have a responsibility to award the free kick.
• Allow the goalkeeper the time to correct any equipment before restarting the game.


We can understand that in this clip the Referee may have deemed that because the Goalkeeper was still in possession of the ball he was ‘technically’ unaffected by the actions of the attacker and was therefore happy for play to continue.

Additionally, we also recognise that on occasion, teams may prefer to continue with the game from a goalkeeper ‘fly kick’ rather than a goal kick/free kick restart. But on this occasion that adds to the complexity of the thought process when the simplest, safest and most practical thing to do is to stop the game and award the free kick.

We often talk about awarding and giving what the game expects in these kind of circumstances, for the Referee to show an understanding and empathy for the game. Collectively, we can all agree that nobody at this game expected for the Referee to act/not act in the way that he did let alone permit the restart which lead to a goal. As Referees and Observers we could gauge our actions by asking ourselves a very simple question in exceptional incidents of this nature – Does the game expect this ?

Match control, game safety and demonstrating an empathy for the game is essential here and implementing the practical guidelines above will see Referees adopt a more cautious, sensible and expected approach to incidents of this nature.

Dan Meeson
FA National Referee Development Manager
 
Reasoning is sound.....I only query that they thought the attacker was only being careless!

Though given that the issue of the QFK is separate to the initial foul (sure, he got the first one wrong, but accepting that decision, let's look at the next one) it's a shame they didn't include a discussion on that.
 
Reasoning is sound.....I only query that they thought the attacker was only being careless!

Though given that the issue of the QFK is separate to the initial foul (sure, he got the first one wrong, but accepting that decision, let's look at the next one) it's a shame they didn't include a discussion on that.
The message here is to not let the game get into a situation where that can happen.

Its touched upon in what the game expected. Nobody, including the attacking team expected that goal to stand. Yes, they've chanced their arm and took it and I think if you asked for their honest opinion they would have expected the referee to pause the game and a ceremonial restart. At the very least allowing the keeper to correct his equipment first.

Therefore anything beyond that, for this particular clip, is meaningless and it would be more appropriste to have a general QFK v ceremonial discussion.
 
The game expect a free kick, once that's missed...

The goalkeeper was clearly trying to waste time, not going to aid in that by letting him do his laces up.
 
The game expect a free kick, once that's missed...

The goalkeeper was clearly trying to waste time, not going to aid in that by letting him do his laces up.

Just to correct you - the keeper wasn't trying to do up his laces, he put down the ball to grab his foot.

So, the entire purpose of putting the ball down was to try to get the referee to call the foul by the attacker.

So, we all know the referee determined no foul by the attacker (either trifling, or maybe he thought it was an honest slip of footing), then the keeper's tried to force the referee to make a decision in his favour.

A little like when players are knocked over and grab the ball expecting they're going to get the free kick :)
 
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Another thought process for the referee would have been foul but keeper has it in hand so play on. But punish the keeper for the offence after referee decided to play on. TBH I'm not 100% sure he was certain which way he wanted the free kick. He did realise he had to stop the game but he then just went with the flow. One of those moments your brain suddenly starts processing everything on a 10 second delay. The late whistle did indicate that.

Very good analogy with players on the ground grabbing the ball. Often this happens in 50-50 challenges when you can give a free kick or just let it go. Grabbing the ball means you have to stop the game. Which way do you give the free kick now? Against the 50-50 challenger? Your instinct tells you not to because it encourages the 'grab the ball' action and that gives the impression the player influenced your decision? Or against the player who handled the ball? But after all he was tackled in a way could have given a free kick for and what if it's in his PA. This stresses the importance of how sometimes calling an early foul (even a 50-50) and dealing with a small moan can get you out of a massive no-win situation that can ensure.
 
This is like modern teaching...... don't chastise someone for an error, (poor Johnny), then let that behaviour error continue and then don't feel any remorse for the future victims.
 
Poor reffing but for a time wasting gk maybe just desserts. By the way Ciley nice to see you back. I thought you had gone to Montana:)
 
The clips another great example of a ref who maybe knows the laws, but, is ignorant in the art of applying them

2 entirely different things...
 
I am sure no one will get to this level of refereeing by being ignorant in applying the laws. I have seen better and higher profile referees making mistakes worse than this. IMO this is more about lapse of concentration than ignorance. Poor refereeing non the less.

And yes, welcome back Ciley. I started a thread in your name when you were gone. Not many of us here have a thread named after them :)
 
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