The Ref Stop

Tossing of the Coin

JamesL

JamesL

Moderator
Staff member
Level 3 Referee
Very boring topic alert 🚨

During the Euro's what I have noticed that all the refs allow the coin to land on the floor at the coin toss.

This was always frowned upon as bending down to pick it up at the players feet was seen as weak or something like that. A reason could be found by digging in the archives I am sure.

They seem to be avoiding this by dealing with the outcome, final handshakes before retrieving the coin.

Wonder if this is how they have been told they have to do it, sure they don't do this in the PL.
 
The Ref Stop
It's a subtle difference, but makes the picking up of the coin just a post process "tidying up" exercise rather than part of the process which might make for a small psychological difference, perhaps.

And the FW approvez of this boring thread.😎
 
Great spot, be interesting to see if this appears in the new PL season ones that comes back.

For me, it feels a bit disjointed to toss it then leave it on the floor to then do something else and go back to it later, feels a bit messy.

I prefer a good solid flip and catch, job done, coin away. Although if your flip is poor or catch is clumsy you then also look messy too so!

Maybe we should just go with home team gets choice and scrap the toss completely.

Ste
 
I too approve this boring thread!

Artur Soares Dias yesterday, during the toss for Denmark v England, tossed the coin and caught it in the air - but sort of palm down, in a grabbing motion, rather than palm up and letting it land in his hand.

I tried it earlier with a coin and kept dropping it, and thus decided not to introduce into my routine at grassroots level! 😂
 
I was coached once and was told that by doing anything other than letting the coin land on the ground (like catching the coin) removes the randomness. Made even worse by you flipping said coin and showing it on the back of your hand.

I have fully disregarded this and continue to flip the coin and present it to the player from the back of my hand.

I did miss the catch once, and had the coin land in long grass on its side.
 
OldNavyRef said:
I was coached once and was told that by doing anything other than letting the coin land on the ground (like catching the coin) removes the randomness. Made even worse by you flipping said coin and showing it on the back of your hand.
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Don't understand the logic here. It's still totally randomised with the exact same odds of evens for heads or tails.
OldNavyRef said:
I have fully disregarded this and continue to flip the coin and present it to the player from the back of my hand.
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👌🏻

FinalWhistle said:
It could land edge on in soft mud. Now that would be interesting lol.
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True but I'd be more worried about a pitch that soft being playable by the end of the game.

sunnycrofter said:
I too approve this boring thread!

Artur Soares Dias yesterday, during the toss for Denmark v England, tossed the coin and caught it in the air - but sort of palm down, in a grabbing motion, rather than palm up and letting it land in his hand.

I tried it earlier with a coin and kept dropping it, and thus decided not to introduce into my routine at grassroots level! 😂
Click to expand...

So they're not all doing it then. Just seems to be the ones I have seen.
 
This topic to me goes parallel with tucking the shirt in. There are some old school teaching on trivial matters that had good reasons behind it at the time but largely no longer apply.

Do it whatever way works for you, of course within reason and must look professional and confident. For most of us, if the teams are seeing us for the first time, it's about leaving good first impressions.

On the same topic, majority of those who catch the coin, catch it with one hand then flip it to the other before revealing it. I see no good reason for the transfer of hands and in fact good reasons not to do it. But it's a trivial matter and back to the point of if it works for you...
 
I always catch, despite being autistic meaning I drop every 5th catch. A quick “one too many at the bar” genuinely saves me looking a tit.

I’ve not seen many top level pitches up close but some of the grassroots games I do the grass is so long you’d risk not seeing it and having to bend down to check! I’ll stick to my very dodgy catching!
 
JamesL said:
Don't understand the logic here. It's still totally randomised with the exact same odds of evens for heads or tails.
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It's not entirely randomised. The introduction of any other act than the flip and the land can see an element of bias being introduced. Then again if truth be told, so can the different techniques used to flip the coin, the duration of the drop, the surface they land on, the wind direction and strength.

I teach probability to GCSE level.
 
Brian Hamilton said:
It's not entirely randomised. The introduction of any other act than the flip and the land can see an element of bias being introduced. Then again if truth be told, so can the different techniques used to flip the coin, the duration of the drop, the surface they land on, the wind direction and strength.

I teach probability to GCSE level.
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And don't forget that the coin isn't pefectly symmetrical and weighted, either. The fact it has different designs on each side makes that inevitable regardless of any other factor. The differences are small though.
 
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