They say it's hard to teach an old dog new tricks but I have to disagree as this old dog tried a new trick this weekend and it worked a treat.
I confess that I am a thief, a magpie if you like, of other people's valuable ideas and after considering them, I often drag them into my professional and refereeing life, getting good use out of them. I do not take credit for the advice of others who have taken the time to pass their advice to me and always acknowledge the source. Most of the time, I'm so busy storing up these other ideas that I forget who mentioned it originally, but I always mention it came to me from "a friend".
On Saturday I assessed a referee and one of the things I noticed was when he had a free kick outside the penalty area. He dutifully paced out the 9.15m (10 yards) and ensured the defensive wall was respecting the required distance. When doing this, they were standing on the line which marked the edge of the penalty area. Before this season started, "a friend" told me he had been advised that in this situation, always make sure the wall is either 1m inside or 1m outside the penalty area.
The reasoning was that if a defending player in the wall moved his hand to block the ball, the offence would clearly be a free kick (wall outside the penalty area) or a penalty kick (wall inside the penalty area). It also aided the management of the wall by making a point of showing them they were inside the penalty area and the risk they took if they moved their arm/hand into the path of the ball when it was kicked towards them. I imparted this advice to the referee who agreed it was a good piece of advice and he would consider using that in his next game.
On Sunday, I went through this process with the players, getting the defensive wall inside the area by 1m, telling them to keep their hands down. I said that if I saw their hands moving into the path of the ball and it struck their arms/hands, then I would adjudge their actions as deliberate and would award a penalty kick. The players from the home team acknowledged this instruction in the 1st half and then the away team did the same later in the same half. In the 2nd half, the away team won a free kick and the home team lined up just inside the penalty area.
I reminded the players of my instructions from the 1st half and then stepped away before signalling the restart. As the ball was about to be kicked an attacking player who had been in the wall ran towards the ball, leaving a gap in the wall. The ball was played towards this gap and the player on the end of the wall raised his arm and virtually caught the ball. I immediately blew my whistle and pointed to the penalty mark. The only protest came from the offending player who said he was protecting his face.
His team mates just shrugged their shoulders and made their way out of the penalty area. I then had a comment that the ball was going in the goal and that the offender should be sent off. I had to admit that I hadn't followed the flight of the ball, but in my opinion, the ball appeared to be heading over the crossbar and this was accepted.
So my advice to you (and this one is my own advice, not from a "friend") is always keep your eyes and ears open for little tips and tricks in someone else's game. You may be able to adopt the idea yourself or at least give it a try in one of your games and who knows, it might come off as mine did yesterday. Don't be surprised if some of them don't work for you, even magpies pick up stuff they find is useless to them from time to time but then again, even silver foil from chewing gum can be used to build a nest. On that note, I'm out of here ... too many shiny things attracting my eye!
Continue reading...
I confess that I am a thief, a magpie if you like, of other people's valuable ideas and after considering them, I often drag them into my professional and refereeing life, getting good use out of them. I do not take credit for the advice of others who have taken the time to pass their advice to me and always acknowledge the source. Most of the time, I'm so busy storing up these other ideas that I forget who mentioned it originally, but I always mention it came to me from "a friend".
On Saturday I assessed a referee and one of the things I noticed was when he had a free kick outside the penalty area. He dutifully paced out the 9.15m (10 yards) and ensured the defensive wall was respecting the required distance. When doing this, they were standing on the line which marked the edge of the penalty area. Before this season started, "a friend" told me he had been advised that in this situation, always make sure the wall is either 1m inside or 1m outside the penalty area.
The reasoning was that if a defending player in the wall moved his hand to block the ball, the offence would clearly be a free kick (wall outside the penalty area) or a penalty kick (wall inside the penalty area). It also aided the management of the wall by making a point of showing them they were inside the penalty area and the risk they took if they moved their arm/hand into the path of the ball when it was kicked towards them. I imparted this advice to the referee who agreed it was a good piece of advice and he would consider using that in his next game.
On Sunday, I went through this process with the players, getting the defensive wall inside the area by 1m, telling them to keep their hands down. I said that if I saw their hands moving into the path of the ball and it struck their arms/hands, then I would adjudge their actions as deliberate and would award a penalty kick. The players from the home team acknowledged this instruction in the 1st half and then the away team did the same later in the same half. In the 2nd half, the away team won a free kick and the home team lined up just inside the penalty area.
I reminded the players of my instructions from the 1st half and then stepped away before signalling the restart. As the ball was about to be kicked an attacking player who had been in the wall ran towards the ball, leaving a gap in the wall. The ball was played towards this gap and the player on the end of the wall raised his arm and virtually caught the ball. I immediately blew my whistle and pointed to the penalty mark. The only protest came from the offending player who said he was protecting his face.
His team mates just shrugged their shoulders and made their way out of the penalty area. I then had a comment that the ball was going in the goal and that the offender should be sent off. I had to admit that I hadn't followed the flight of the ball, but in my opinion, the ball appeared to be heading over the crossbar and this was accepted.
So my advice to you (and this one is my own advice, not from a "friend") is always keep your eyes and ears open for little tips and tricks in someone else's game. You may be able to adopt the idea yourself or at least give it a try in one of your games and who knows, it might come off as mine did yesterday. Don't be surprised if some of them don't work for you, even magpies pick up stuff they find is useless to them from time to time but then again, even silver foil from chewing gum can be used to build a nest. On that note, I'm out of here ... too many shiny things attracting my eye!
Continue reading...
