Tottenham vs Newcastle

[Peter Grove]

Strange incident in this game (or so it seemed to me). 21st minute, Kyle Walker is injured and leaves the field play. Play restarts with another Spurs player taking a throw in. A minute or so later, the ball goes out of play for another throw to Spurs. Walker goes to take the throw in but before he can do so, the whistle sounds. Roger East then walks some distance over to the touchline and physically shepherds Walker (who was still holding the ball in his hands) onto the field, then shepherds him back off again before allowing him to take the throw.

Was this the correct procedure for a player returning from injury? I have to say that I cannot recall having seen this happen before. Yes, the player needs the ref's permission to return to the field but does he have to physically do so before anything else can occur?

 

[Kes]

Strange incident in this game (or so it seemed to me). 21st minute, Kyle Walker is injured and leaves the field play. Play restarts with another Spurs player taking a throw in. A minute or so later, the ball goes out of play for another throw to Spurs. Walker goes to take the throw in but before he can do so, the whistle sounds. Roger East then walks some distance over to the touchline and physically shepherds Walker (who was still holding the ball in his hands) onto the field, then shepherds him back off again before allowing him to take the throw.

Was this the correct procedure for a player returning from injury? I have to say that I cannot recall having seen this happen before. Yes, the player needs the ref's permission to return to the field but does he have to physically do so before anything else can occur?

Yes it was. (I think?).
Walker had left the FOP in order to receive treatment, and hadn't yet been given permission to re-enter by the ref. So, in order for him to take the throw (for which he presumably has to be considered back in active play) the ref then "permitted" him back onto the field before allowing him to step back off and take the throw.
Probably looked a bit weird and rather anal to everybody else, but from a ref's perspective it was exactly as per the LOTG and so to be applauded.

 

[AlexF]

Strictly speaking, by the Laws, only a substitute must enter the field of play before taking part, a player returning from injury or equipment issue need not...

but the logic behind this little show is obvious. If the referee doesn't do this, then it seems that Walker (as Kes noted) left the field of play to have his injury treated, then took part in a restart soon thereafter without obviously being given permission by the referee. By going over and asking him to step onto the field of play, the referee is making it clear to all involved that permission has been given.

 

[PinnerPaul]

Strictly speaking, by the Laws, only a substitute must enter the field of play before taking part, a player returning from injury or equipment issue need not...

but the logic behind this little show is obvious. If the referee doesn't do this, then it seems that Walker (as Kes noted) left the field of play to have his injury treated, then took part in a restart soon thereafter without obviously being given permission by the referee. By going over and asking him to step onto the field of play, the referee is making it clear to all involved that permission has been given.

Might provoke the odd "comment" on a Sunday morning though!

 

[Kes]

Strictly speaking, by the Laws, only a substitute must enter the field of play before taking part, a player returning from injury or equipment issue need not...

but the logic behind this little show is obvious. If the referee doesn't do this, then it seems that Walker (as Kes noted) left the field of play to have his injury treated, then took part in a restart soon thereafter without obviously being given permission by the referee. By going over and asking him to step onto the field of play, the referee is making it clear to all involved that permission has been given.

Might provoke the odd "comment" on a Sunday morning though!

Speaking as a Toon fan, my only comment was "effin marvellous!" and well done the Toon.

 

[Peter Grove]

Strictly speaking, by the Laws, only a substitute must enter the field of play before taking part, a player returning from injury or equipment issue need not...

but the logic behind this little show is obvious. If the referee doesn't do this, then it seems that Walker (as Kes noted) left the field of play to have his injury treated, then took part in a restart soon thereafter without obviously being given permission by the referee. By going over and asking him to step onto the field of play, the referee is making it clear to all involved that permission has been given.

I'm still not sure about this. I've seen the "making it clear" argument on other discussions about this incident but from what I saw, it did nothing of the sort, in fact if anything, it only served to confuse everyone involved.

Let me just throw this idea out - what would be wrong with the referee saying (in effect, or in actual words) "You have my permission to return to the field, go ahead and take the throw." To me, that would be much less time-consuming, less messy, less confusing and from what I can tell, it would meet the requirements of the law as written. The referee's permission has been given before the player returns to the field, he just takes the throw before doing so.

 

[JayMarple21]

Have to say this was very petty from Roger East which capped a terrible five minutes for him last week, in a game he otherwise did ok in.
All he needed to do was wave to Walker and make it clear he could take the throw-in. Then moments later he fell over with no-one near him. Had a laugh about it though, although he managed to trip a Sunderland player today as Costa headed over. Did anyone else notice this?

 

[Kes]

Let me just throw this idea out - what would be wrong with the referee saying (in effect, or in actual words) "You have my permission to return to the field, go ahead and take the throw." To me, that would be much less time-consuming, less messy, less confusing and from what I can tell, it would meet the requirements of the law as written. The referee's permission has been given before the player returns to the field, he just takes the throw before doing so.

In a Sunday League match that would be fine. But this was a top class Premiership fixture.
Doing as you say wouldn't have made it clear to the thousands of people in the stadium who couldn't hear it, the millions watching on tv and the pundits and jobsworths who'd all smugly analyse it afterwards (especially if Spurs had gone on to score indirectly resulting from that throw) and say "well, yes of course the referee got that wrong really because it wasn't as per the LOTG". Walker was SEEN to re-enter play directly from injury and then continue with the throw.

I can't believe a fellow referee is criticising a top-level referee for doing his job correctly and by the book. ??