Was Leeds United's second goal offside against Derby County?

In the 62' a crucial goal was scored that took the Championship playoffs semifinal 2nd Leg between Leeds United and Derby County on 15 May 2019 to a 3–3 aggregate score. The playoffs do not have an "away goal" rule, which means the next team to score a winning goal within the normal duration of the match would triumph; otherwise the match would go into extra time and then, if the aggregate score is still tied, a penalty shootout would determine the winner.

Fortunately, it did not come to that since Derby County scored in the 85' minute and secured their place in the playoffs final against Aston Villa. The winners of that final will gain the 3rd promotion place to the English Premier League (following already-promoted Norwich City and Sheffield United).

However, imagine if Derby County had lost their match against Leeds United ... there would then probably have been a very public spat into Leeds' second goal.

Here is the incident in the 62' minute.

Leed's Stuart Dallas (white 15) scores to make the aggregate score 3–3

Here is the view directly opposite the AR:

This post is just to raise awareness of some difficult and/or tight decisions that ARs may experience. To emphasize again, as fellow match officials we must support others and also learn from these incidents.

LOTG and Laws of Physics: Part 2

This post adds supplementary content to LOTG and Laws of Physics [in response to comments from PrimeTime and dubhe. Thanks for the comments.]

Howard Webb is a good competent Referee (see The Big Decisions, my previous comments about him in Webb's Weak Woeful Week). And probably a nice bloke from Yorkshire too; a Sheffield lad, I'm told. What concerns me is that he is a full-time professional, and has received excellent training, tools and resources, and yet for the Elite category of Referees he appears to fall short of what is expected.

My take on Howard Webb's foul decision in the Liverpool v Spurs match is that it is a difficult call to make unless the Referee also considers the movement of the colliding bodies after impact. That is, try to use the Laws of Physics to help. Granted, this is difficult to do in real-time but it is reasonable to put full-time professional Referees at a higher standard; also, the intense interest and scrutiny in the professional game demands it. I believe full-time professional Referees set the benchmark for the rest of us.

There was a similar incident in a recent MLS match between Colarado Rapids and DC United on Saturday 14 May 2011 [Week 9]. The match finished 1—1. In that incident, the Referee called the foul, which happened to be inside the penalty area, and therefore a penalty was awarded to DC United. Here are the freeze frames:

In the back!

Before that penalty decision in the 61', DC United were trailing 0—1 and were understandably feeling aggrieved about an earlier penalty appeal that was not given. Here is that earlier incident:

DC United player Joseph Ngwenya (black) is fouled in the box, but the Referee played on

This foul occurred in the 56'. For whatever reason, the Referee missed the penalty decision and subsequently the fouled DC United player, Joseph Ngwenya, ran up to the Referee shouting and seemingly charged the Referee. Because of this, the Referee was perhaps affected and influenced.

DC United player Joseph Ngwenya getting up close and personal

[Note: If needed (and requested by readers), I have yet another example of the importance of using the Laws of Physics when considering body collisions. In that example, two different camera angles give two very different views and highlights the need for everyone to accept the Referee's decision at the time it is made. After all, there is only one Referee of a football match.]



Regarding Emile Heskey

Following up after Heskey's outburst, in the Aston Villa match away at Arsenal, caretaker coach Gary McAllister benched Heskey and subbed him on in the 90+1' to help run down the clock.

News reports have also made noises about Sven Goran Eriksson claiming to move for Heskey, who they say appear to be unsettled. Eriksson is currently manager at Championship side Leiceister City, Heskey's first professional and boyhood club. During his time as England manager, Eriksson was an admirer of Heskey, regularly pairing him with Michael Owen.

English FA Condemns Referee Intimidation

It's good to know that the English FA appear to be serious about their new rules governing pre-match comments. They will be asking Roy Keane, manager of Ipswich Town in the Championship, to explain his comments about match officials when his team played host to Crystal Palace a few days after Crystal Palace were disallowed a goal. On 16 August 2009, Crystal Palace were denied a goal when referee Rob Shoebridge inexplicably did not see the ball cross the goal line between the goalposts and under the crossbar.

[Roy Keane may be charged with improper conduct]

Here's what Keane said:

"We might have to remind the officials before the game that it is a new game. I usually go in an hour before with the team-sheet. Hopefully I won't need to remind them because they are professional and weren't involved in that [Bristol City v Crystal Palace match] over the weekend. It shouldn't be an issue."

Having captained teams for Sir Alex Ferguson, Keane will know the value of giving officials a psychological nudge. Ferguson would regularly call for a 'strong ref ' ahead of big games. Others have done it too and David Moyes even suggested referee Mike Riley might be a Manchester United fan.

Intimidation of referees, be they psychological, physical or otherwise, is to be condemned. This is why referees are highly skeptical in believing what anyone (managers, coaches, players, football fans, etc) says to them.


Related Links:
Alex Ferguson on Michael Ballack: Revisited
Alex Ferguson on Michael Ballack


References:
FA cracks down on referee intimidation as managers banned from talking about officials before games
Roy Keane in trouble for remarks about referee ahead of Palace clash
Blunder ref Rob Shoebridge gets a few weeks off after Crystal Palace 'goal' fiasco