A&H

Surprise Decisions

colindotcom

colindotcom

Active Member
Gave a penalty very early on, on Saturday, against the the away team (clear favorites) however it was not clear no one was expecting it, the player i gave it to even turned to me think i had penalised him before realising! This really threw my match control until the away team eventually took control of the game after 50 minutes.
Its not the first time this season ive given a soft penalty early on. Im not saying they werent penalties just it would have been better not to award them. Is this the right thinking by me for an eaiser game?
 
The Referee Store
If you felt it was a penalty, then it's a penalty. You give what you see. Others may not agree, but that's life!
 
Hi CDC
I have a high threshold for awarding penalties so when I do award one there is little surprise. Probably more when I don't. Many times the game is influenced by calls for decisions. If the opponents felt that the challenge was fair with the defender perhaps touching the ball first and they did not look for a penalty or viewed it as a weak shout for one my instinct would be to let play continue.
The key though is being consistent. Once the stall is set out the ref has to stick with it.
 
Goldfish said:
The key though is being consistent. Once the stall is set out the ref has to stick with it.
Click to expand...

I do generally have a more lenient approach towards tackles, I think its a case of my hand moving to my whistle before my brain works properly! It was a fairly physical game (which I didnt know it would be) so there after for the next 10/15 mins every time a player looked at another player in a funny way they wanted a FK
 
If you believe it was a penalty then a penalty it was but (sorry but there is a but) the key word here is "surprise". If all 22 players are looking at you as if you are nuts for having given a decision and especially a potentially match changing decision then you can be 110% correct in law but you are not going to do yourself any favours when it comes to match control. Sometimes and I know this sounds really crazy it is better not to give something than it is to give it, to use your example, if no one is looking for a penalty and they both sets of players are just continuing the game then why "surprise" them with a decision that none of the expect, hell on the best of days it can be hard enough to "sell" a penalty even when it is obvious, the offending team are nearly always going to moan when you give it and the non-offending team will always moan if you don't but to give one that no one is expect is going to confuse everyone and is in the end going to plant the "does this guy know what he is doing" seed into their little brains and you job is going to be harder.
 
Two things I got told
1. No appeal means no penalty. If the attacking side don't think it's a penalty, then it almost definitely isn't.
2. No surprises. If players are expecting something, don't let them down! They expect red? Show red. They expect penalty? Give penalty.

For me, I have to be 100% sure to give a penalty AND use both things above. Obviously, everyone's different!
 
DanCohen17 said:
Two things I got told
1. No appeal means no penalty. If the attacking side don't think it's a penalty, then it almost definitely isn't.
2. No surprises. If players are expecting something, don't let them down! They expect red? Show red. They expect penalty? Give penalty.

For me, I have to be 100% sure to give a penalty AND use both things above. Obviously, everyone's different!
Click to expand...

No, I don't agree at all. Why have a referee if all your doing is rubber stamping the player's decisions? If they have done something which, according to you, is illegal than punish it.
 
Not at all. I'm by no means saying that every appeal is pen/foul, far from it. But 99 times out of 100, if there's no appeal (especially in the box) then it's not a foul. They'll appeal if they think it is!
 
If you've seen a clear foul in the penalty area (the only time you ever should be making the decision to give it!) than you would really bottle the call because the players aren't up in arms about it? No wonder players do get so agitated with referees: they apparently have to in order to get any calls made their way.
 
Not up in arms, I said appeal. If there is no appeal at all, then I'm not giving a penalty. If there's any appeal, then I start to decide!
 
We were told by a level 3 ref about no Surprises but personally if I seen a pen/FK I'm going to give it unless the player plays on AND has clear advantage. Otherwise ill blow up for it.

Simples
 
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