Players getting booked for celebrating goals

[GazzaJAnimal]

I saw in the Brighton - Arsenal cup tie one of the Arsenal players being booked for celebrating his goal. I know he ran over to the Gunners fans and he was right at the front of the stand whilst celebrating a goal.

This is what gets me about some edicts handed down to officials. This guy has scored a goal in the greatest cup competition in the world. Of course he's going to go 'a bit mad'. After all goals are what football is all about and should be applauded and celebrated. In this instance no harm was done, he was celebrating with his own fans, but got booked for it.

This always makes the referee look like a 'kill joy' when I know that you aren't!

On the other hand, players going down in the box with little or no contact are not being punished by cards. If a guy goes down like that in order to win a penalty is deliberately deceiving the referee for his own gain and should be carded, but the ref just waves play on and nothing gets done.Why is that not worthy of a card but celebrating a goal being scored is?

 

[Reffariiii]

I agree completely, however such is the Laws of The Game, and we have no choice in the matter. Yes it does make the referee look like a kill joy, but we must remember that we are referees and are not there to be liked, but to enforce the Laws of The Game, and if excessive celebrating is to be punished, then that is what we must do.

 

[Coventry Cardshark]

The main thing with goal celebrations is whether the player(s) endanger the safety of spectators or themselves. Once a player jumps over the advertising boards into the crowd, that's a pretty good indication of when to expect a caution. I didn't see Michael Oliver issue the caution on the highlights, but I did check to see whether Giroud was cautioned for his celebration on the BBC website at the time, as I was fully expecting it!

As for the players going down with relatively little contact, that's a completely different situation. If, in the opinion of the referee, the player has dived then he should be cautioned for unsporting behaviour. But it all depends on the opinion of the referee.