The Ref Stop

"Leave it"

JamesL

JamesL

Moderator
Staff member
Level 3 Referee
So this week we saw an apparent act of Verbal distraction go unpunished in the premier league.
The incident - Arter of Bournemouth seemingly shouting "leave it" to Chalobah of Watford as he was lining up a shot.

This is a real grey area for fans and players to understand and apparently some referees as well. The amount of times you hear "he cant say that ref" or "he has to say his name ref" when its an instruction to a team mate because refs before have punished any cry of leave it or something similar.

Had to explain on many an occasion that nowhere in the lotg does it say a player can't say leave it and that it only applies when its an attempt to deceive/verbally distract an opponent.
 
The Ref Stop
Cameras picked it up but i doubt with a 20,000 crowd that was even close to being heard by the officials!!
 
Chalobah certainly let Arter know about his act of unsporting behaviour.

As SF said, in a professional stadium with a noisy crowd, unless your in very close proximity it would be very difficult to pick up or be certain who said it. Hard enough at times down the local rec on a Sunday.

The great urban myth that you can't say mine or leave unfortunately spread up and down the country by coaches, players and some refs. As I said in a previous thread ref in one of my son's games last year penalised 2 players for shouting mine despite no opponent being within 15/20 yards of the ball or player on either occasion. Funnily enough on the flip side funny, was having a similar conversation with a "local celeb" ex-pro (who is now on the coaching staff at a Premier League club) on Friday night (our son's play for the same youth team), his son was in goal for the end of training penalty shoot out. As players were about to kick the ball the keeper was shouting at the penalty taker. Turned around to the keeper's dad and said that's a nailed on yellow for verbal distraction. He seemed genuinely surprised and said "Really? Isn't a crowd of 20k shouting "your sh1t" distracting?". To an extent he's got a point, but the laws are still the same regardless of whether the audiance is 50k paying customers or one man and his dog and those laws apply to the players.
 
Maybe I should clarify... I am not referee bashing here... the threaf was more around the general misunderstanding on the laws by fans players and evidently some refs. Seen a few facebook posts and it takes me all my strength not to try to reply to all the posters who clearly have no idea.
 
& even when you do try educating some people on the LOTG, usually get shouted out/mocked (despite being right) by the great social media kangaroo court keyboard warriors who think they know the "rules", but are clearly clueless and are not prepared to accept what you say!
 
Mooseybaby said:
The great urban myth that you can't say mine or leave unfortunately spread up and down the country by coaches, players and some refs.
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It appears I may be labouring under a misapprehension. Could you please explain this a little further?

My understanding was you couldn't call 'mine' when near an opposition player and an indirect free kick was the result. Based on the above that may be wrong. Could you please clarify the above?

Thanks
 
Basically the Laws make no mention at all about saying "mine" or "leave it". What they do say is that it is a cautionable offence for Unsporting Behaviour if a player:

"verbally distracts an opponent during play or at a restart" (Law 12)

So if two attackers were breaking free, with no defenders within 20 yards and one calls loudly to the other "Mine! My ball!" there is clearly no opponent nearby to be distracted and no offence has been committed. If however a ball is crossed into the PA and a player from each team go to meet it, another attacker calling "my ball!" loudly could, perhaps, distract the defender into thinking a team mate shouted. For this reason, as a safety precaution, players are often coached to shout "Pete's ball!" (or whatever their name might be) to avoid this confusion. Actual offences against this Law are pretty rare as the referee needs to be certain that the call really distracted an opponent.

Also note that it is a caution for the player who verbally distracted. As a result of stopping play to give this caution, an IFK is given to the other team. There is absolutely no way that a referee can justify merely giving an IFK without a caution (even though I have seen this done a number of times when I was a CAR). No caution, no free kick.
 
Technically, even if a player uses his name to say "Pete's ball!" as an opponent is about to take s shot, if you can be certain that it was said to distract the opponent and it indeed distracted him, then a caution and IFK is in order.
 
one said:
Technically, even if a player uses his name to say "Pete's ball!" as an opponent is about to take s shot, if you can be certain that it was said to distract the opponent and it indeed distracted him, then a caution and IFK is in order.
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I've actually given IDFK's for this sort of thing. Attacker runs in to hit a loose ball at the goal only to have a defender try and bawk them by shouting or yelling some rubbish. They get a hell of a surprise when they ask why and I say 'unsporting conduct'. (Obviously not many of their other refs are calling this sort of thing up.)
 
Far more common for me, but still rare overall, is the shout of "argh" or "rah" as someone is about to shoot or has just won possession. If it's hobby league and in midfield I will warn the first time, otherwise, easy YC.
 
If you stop play for this you MUST caution. If you feel a caution is harsh then you've made a mistake in even giving the free kick.
I have no sympathy for players basically cheating to put off a striker about to shoot.
I only get 2 or 3 of these a season but sooooo important to give the caution. 22 people will remember that one time the ref cautioned for it (even if they think I was the one doing his job wrong)
 
Just had Talkshite on the radio this morning and they continue to perpetuate the 'Leave It' myth,
 
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Is it still a caution if a player yells 'mine' instead of 'Pete's' (for example) if the ball was coming to him and he was only calling it for himself and not as a distraction? (If say the other players are within a couple of metres.)

Does that make sense?
 
Murri O said:
Is it still a caution if a player yells 'mine' instead of 'Pete's' (for example) if the ball was coming to him and he was only calling it for himself and not as a distraction? (If say the other players are within a couple of metres.)

Does that make sense?
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No. Only when it is, in the opinion of the referee, verbal distraction.
 
Murri O said:
Is it still a caution if a player yells 'mine' instead of 'Pete's' (for example) if the ball was coming to him and he was only calling it for himself and not as a distraction? (If say the other players are within a couple of metres.)

Does that make sense?
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yes it makes sense, no offence here, no free kick/card
 
The key is that the it's the verbal distraction that is important, not the words that are said. If the referee feels it was shouted in order to verbally distract, it doesn't matter what words are said.
 
UKColt said:
The key is that the it's the verbal distraction that is important, not the words that are said. If the referee feels it was shouted in order to verbally distract, it doesn't matter what words are said.
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correct, don't be fooled by the player that screams "MAN ON" at an opponent as he is about to shoot and thinks that will save him from being cautioned!! (I've seen it!)
 
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