Scotland vs Armenia

[rayb]

Can I get some opinions on a this foul in the game please. It occurs at the 3:40 min mark in the video below and I see this sort of thing happening at the local levels as well and would like some advice if I may.

Black comes in quite forcefully in front of white who is running fast with the ball. Just steps in front of white and uses right arm to assert his position then proceeds to fall down immediately winning the foul. I assume because white just runs ( I assume the ref things he pushes) into the back of black.

If you play the video frame by frame (comma and full stop key in youtube) you can see black arm comes across and white is then trying to reciprocate or, IMO just fend off black. If anything, its a very soft nudge from white but he was running at full speed.

It seems that black knew exactly what he was doing and pushed in front of white to get the free kick as he knew white could not help but run into blacks back. At the first hint of a touch he crumpled to make it look like a push.

I think I would have called "Play on" as, for me, black seemed to go down to easy for the level of contact and I'm thinking what else is white supposed to do - he can't physically stop. I'm sure black would have objected if it was play on and he believe (aka hoped) he would get a foul for being pushed in the back.

Does anyone else thinks this an obvious foul on white? - am I being too lenient for a play on decision? Am I overthinking it?

 

[Anubis]

detection and tolerance of fouls vary from ref to ref. This one could be a foul either way, or nothing
I dont think there is too much to see here

 

[rayb]

Thanks for you Reply @Anubis. I know it was a basic event but just wanted some clarification from someone more experienced. It's good to know that this type of tackle can go either way depending on a lot of factors - I'll worry less about any similar decisions I make then

 

[Anubis]

Thanks for you Reply @Anubis. I know it was a basic event but just wanted some clarification from someone more experienced. It's good to know that this type of tackle can go either way depending on a lot of factors - I'll worry less about any similar decisions I make then

Could be any number of things, has he given similiar fouls already, does he feel need find a foul take heat out something, were the players involved likely to retaliate, dare I say it, was there a maybe foul ( to Scotland) just before it so he looking ( taking) first chance award them the next one, as you say, could be anything

dont think I would want to see 90 mins of that being a foul, doubt the players would either but based purely on this one incident, its nothing

referee performance wont be remembered or judged on whatever way, if any, this decision is awarded

 

[santa sangria]

There's also a "what does football expect" component to this. Yes, blue has "rocks in the pockets" and has no need to go down. But blue has got in front, and white's momentum is into the back of blue. In the end, white has lost the ball, and blue's actions here are expected at high level football. If the referee had the camera angle, maybe he'd be less likely to give a foul. But as Anubis says, in theory you could give this either way or nothing, but I think football expects this is clever by blue and a soft foul by white.

At grassroots though, if I'm a ref with a good view of this, I would hope to wave this away, tell blue to get up and hope that I've made it clear that grassroots football is about playing, not about throwing oneself to the ground!

 

[Redster]

Blue is also defending. There's an expectation that fouls are a bit softer when it comes to the defending side.

That being said, not sure I'm blowing that. Depends on the angle.