Circuitous Ceremonial Free Kick

Avoid the Ampersand … &!

The following incident occurred during the EPL match between Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspurs on Sunday 28 August 2011. The match finished 5—1.

In the 21st minute with the score at 0—0, a free kick is awarded to Tottenham Hotspurs. Referee Phil Dowd takes at least 30 seconds to complete the ceremonial free kick procedure. Here are the freeze frames purposely shown in reverse:

Dowd's Doodle … tracing the Referee's route in reverse

Dowd's circuitous movement (in reverse) is like slowly tracing the & sign.

Draw the Ampersand in the opposite direction to the arrows (orange), and you will get Dowd's Doodle

If anyone who has ever tried to draw the & sign in reverse, they will immediately realize that it is painfully excruciating to execute … let alone watch being executed!

Granted, there is no time limit to setting up walls at ceremonial free kicks but the whole process could have been shortened. For instance, after giving clear instructions to the players in the wall, Dowd could have simply taken the direct route back to his final position but instead he walked back across the wall of players and back towards the left side of the ball and then came back across the ball to his final position.




HKRef Tip: Avoid the Ampersand … & ... (aka avoid attempting Dowd's Doodle)!

Player Behaviour: Acceptance and Dishonesty

Let's be honest and state for the record that in the main footballers are dishonest. However, once in a while it is also a delight to observe a player behaving graciously in the face of injustice.

The following incident occurred in the opening minutes of an MLS match between Real Salt Lake and New England Revolution on Independence Day 2011. The match finished 3—3.

In the 3rd minute, Referee Yader Reyes sent off Real Salt Lake defender Nat Borchers for what the Referee deemed to be DOGSO. Here are the freeze frames:

Real Salt Lake's Nat Borchers (red #6) connects with the ball and then New England Revolution's Benny Feilhaber (white #22) kicks Borchers' leg and falls over

And here is the Referee's position at the time of the incident:

Does Referee Yader Reyes (yellow) have a good clear and near view of the incident?

The Referee's position at that moment of the incident should tell us that a decisive call would have been very tricky to make. Unless the Referee was 100% certain of what he saw, a penalty call and subsequent DOGSO decision would always be controversial. The Referee would have had to have had a clear and unobstructed view between the players and to be able to see the ball too.

Furthermore, the least that the AR could have done was to give assistance based on his view of the incident ... unless of course prior to the match the Referee had briefed his AR not to interfere with his decisions in the penalty area.

This means the players involved in the actual incident are the ones who most likely know what happened. Borchers should be commended for accepting the Referee's decision with good grace, calmness (in the face of incredulity) and little fuss. If we compare the behaviour of his teammate goalkeeper Nick Rimando, there is a marked difference between how these two players reacted to and accepted the Referee's decision.

Real Salt Lake's Nat Borchers (red) accepts the Referee's decision graciously, whereas goalkeeper Nick Rimando (black) does not

The other concerned party who knew what happened is New England Revolution forward Benny Feilhaber. Feilhaber knows he dithered too long to take his shot, and because of that allowed Borchers the opportunity to sneak in and kick the ball from underneath him and up onto his face, which then went over the goal line for what should have been a goal kick. Feilhaber, by letting the Referee's wrong decision stand, is therefore guilty of dishonesty. He knew his opponent was wrongly being sent off, and did not say anything to keep things honest and fair. Isn't Fair Play meant to be encouraged? Apparently not.

Benny Feilhaber (white) sympathizes with Nat Borchers (red) but that's as far as he is willing to go in terms of "Fair Play"

NOTE: the prime example of recent times of Unfair Play is Thierry Henry's deliberate handball when France played Ireland in a crucial 2010 World Cup qualifier. At that time, Henry kept quiet so that his team would benefit from his deliberate unsporting act and only the day after, after being put under continuous media scrutiny, did Henry later admit to his unsporting behaviour and apologise for his deliberate handball (which didn't mean much, if you ask any Irish supporter).

Thierry Henry's deliberate handball which helped France qualify for the 2010 World Cup Finals at the expense of the Republic of Ireland (see link here)

Players who cheat and who deliberately allow a player to get sent off should be publicly reprimanded, and perhaps fined by their clubs, as a way to deal with unsporting behaviour that is out of the control of match officials. If FIFA and other competition organisers are serious about promoting Fair Play, then the culprits should be identified and then publicly named and shamed.

I was not able to watch the whole MLS match; however in spite of that, it is not difficult to sense that perhaps the Referee had lost a lot of credibility during the match as a result of that dubious decision. There was 6YC and 2RCs meted out in total.

The only silver lining from this incident was the gracious behaviour of Nat Borchers.

Assistant Referees and Blind Spots

The following incident was missed during the EPL match between Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspurs on Monday 22 August 2011. The match finished 3—0.

In the 87th minute, an offside decision was missed during a Manchester United throw in. Subsequently, a goal was scored (United's third goal by Wayne Rooney) which brings, or should bring, some concern to match officials who wish to avoid such situations from happening in future.

Throw in to Manchester United (red), who are attacking Tottenham Hotspurs' goal

The thower is in an offside position when the ball is played forward by his teammate

ARs should be especially careful when play is close and right in front of them. It is a challenge to keep in line with the second-last defender and to keep a perspective of the situation unfolding in front of them. With play so close, the situation can be likened to a potential "blind spot" … since it is difficult to focus and see clearly when something is happening right in front of our eyes.

HKRef Tip: Perhaps the AR should try to stand a few yards back from the touch line and keep in line with the second-to-last defender.

Many Missed Red Card Incidents In One Match

For many years now, the leniency shown by Referees in the EPL has been and still is unhelpful, and possibly harmful, to all other Referees around the world. Experienced Referees all over the world will roll their eyes and heave a sigh, knowing that their jobs are made more difficult by the leniency shown by EPL Referees and broadcast regularly to all four corners of the world. And it's not just Referees who will suffer.

Players, coaches, fans and commentators will also suffer because they will not be able to understand why Referees from other countries "appear" to be harsher when the English Referees are more lenient. Players themselves will be quickly cautioned and even sent off for the exact same discretions that they have previously got away with in the EPL. See examples here of a Law-abiding decision (Referee in Brazil sends off player in the first minute for Offinabus) and a lenient decision here (from EPL Referee Mike Jones).


The leniency example in this post happens to be associated with Referee Howard Webb, but there are other EPL Referees who also show too much leniency. Remember: Professional Referees set the benchmark for the rest of us.

The following incidents, many lenient, occurred during the EPL match between Sunderland and Newcastle on Saturday 20 August 2011. The match finished 0—1.

Watching Howard Webb "manage" and officiate this North-East derby simply made me think about the plight of non-EPL Referees around the world. In a future post, I will address the stance of ex-EPL Referee Graham Poll who said of the North-East derby that the "game was absorbing and a great advert for the Premier League for which Webb deserves great credit".


Incident One: DOGSO with hand (unseen)

In the 13th minute, Sunderland's Sebastian Larsson stops the ball from entering the goal with his left arm.

Referee Howard Webb stoops to indicate that perhaps he did not have a clear and unobstructed view on the incident

Larsson (red#7) tries to influence AR Scott Ledger by claiming the ball hit his face. This is clearly dishonest behaviour (cheating) and the FA should perhaps consider charging players like Larsson for unsporting behaviour and for failing to uphold the principles of Fair Play

The BBC's Match of the Day has a new feature this season, where they attempt to give the Referee's View. NOTE: This is a great post-match analysis tool (to help match officials), but the software programmers must remember to do things properly ... for example, take a look at Sunderland's goalkeeper (yellow)

Incident Two: Studs up challenge (unseen? Lenient)

In the 25th minute, Newcastle's Yohan Cabaye (Black#4) makes a cynical challenge on Sunderland's Phil Bardsley (Red#2). Webb eventually cautioned Cabaye.

Cabaye's (Black#4) high and studs-up cynical challenge on Bardsley (Red#2)

Webb's position around the time of the incident

Incident Three: Studs up challenge (unseen? Lenient)

In the 89th minute, Sunderland's Phil Bardley makes a cynical challenge on Newcastle's Fabricio Coloccini. Again, Webb only gave a caution (it was Bardley's second caution of the match).

Bardsley (Red) goes over the top of the ball and into Coloccini's (Black) lower leg

Did Webb have the optimum angle? Should he have consulted with AR Ledger?

Incident Four: Elbow Used As A Weapon (unseen)

Newcastle's match-winner Ryan Taylor elbowed Asamoah Gyan. Since this was missed by the match officials, perhaps there should be another review of the evidence by TV replay?

[Apologies, I do not have a Pic of this incident]


Incident Five: Second caution (Lenient)

Sunderland's Lee Cattermole made some crunching tackles throughout the match. There was a reckless challenge on Joey Barton which Webb, rather predictably (even to the BBC commentator Guy Mowbray who said: "If I know Howard Webb, he will just have a word with Cattermole"), only gave a public warning to Cattermole. Later in the match, Cattermole recklessly scythed down Jonas Guiterrez and received a caution. That could have been his second caution.

Cattermole (Red) on Barton (Black)

SUMMARY

Throughout the North-East derby, Webb used his typical lenient approach by being reluctant to give out cards to players, physically man-handling them, and talking to the players (when it is plain for everyone to see that players who are familiar with Webb do not actually listen). Is this technique really what Referees throughout the world should learn to adopt?

Graham Poll says there could have been 4 players sent off with straight reds, and instead says that Howard Webb deserves great credit … presumably for not sending off several players in the feisty North-East derby. Hmmm ... is Poll correct?