Double Dutch and the Double Arm Signal

This post is a question about the double arm signal that Referees use.

During the Europa League group match between Tottenham Hotspurs and PAOK on Wednesday 30 November 2011, an incident occurred in the 77' and the Dutch Referee displayed the following double arm signal:

Referee Bas Nijhuis (Netherlands) as mentioned in Incident Two of In one EAR, out the other EAR

During the Europa League group match between Celtic and Atletico on Wednesday 30 November 2011, another Dutch Referee displayed the same signal.

Was this a Foul or an Advantage?

In the 66', Celtic's Samaras (green) is fouled right in front of Referee Eric Braamhaar (Netherlands) who immediately whistles for a DFK. The Referee also makes a double arm signal. Here are the freeze frames:

In fact, had the Referee not whistled then his double arm signal to signify advantage would have been appropriate since it can be seen that Celtic could have continued their attacking move. Hypothetically, after the attacking move is completed and the ball goes out of play, the Referee would then have the right to go back to the offender and caution him before play restarts.

It appears this double arm signal used to signify a free kick is common amongst Referees from the Netherlands. Can someone please confirm? Perhaps Dutch Referee can comment? It is always nice to have some 'cultural exchange', haha!

This double arm signal used to indicate a direct free kick is potentially very misleading because the standard FIFA signal for advantage is also a double arm signal. Why choose to unnecessarily complicate things?

Note: The meaning of the term Double Dutch is "something that is nonsense; gibberish - a language one cannot understand".


The match officials for the Celtic and Atletico fixture were:

Referee
Eric Braamhaar (NED)
Assistant referees
Arend Brink (NED), Wilco Lobbert (NED)
Fourth official
Maarten Ketting (NED)
Additional assistant referees (EARs)
Pol van Boekel (NED), Serdar Gözübüyük (NED)


A correct decision

Also during the Celtic and Atletico match, in the 13' the R had a good view of Celtic player (green 10) using his arms to help climb above an opponent and head the ball into the goal.

Referee Braamhaar spots a foul during a corner kick

The R correctly denied the 'goal' and awarded a DFK to the defending team.