The Laws of the Game - what's the point

[NS Herald]

So last night at the Arsenal game there's an Anderlecht player so offside for the first goal my blind dog could have seen it. For their pen, one of their players was encroaching so much he could almost have touched his team mate as he kicked the ball and the ref was looking STRAIGHT at him?

Monday night Phil Dowd is looking straight at a Sunderland player hack an opponent down in the first minute for a stone-walled pen and didn't see it?

There are so many examples of officiating which would be acceptable in any other sport that this is becoming a joke and undermining the credibility of the game. Yes everyone makes mistakes but such big mistakes on such basic situations in such high profile games is unacceptable?

 

[withdeanwombat]

So last night at the Arsenal game there's an Anderlecht player so offside for the first goal my blind dog could have seen it. For their pen, one of their players was encroaching so much he could almost have touched his team mate as he kicked the ball and the ref was looking STRAIGHT at him?

Monday night Phil Dowd is looking straight at a Sunderland player hack an opponent down in the first minute for a stone-walled pen and didn't see it?

There are so many examples of officiating which would be acceptable in any other sport that this is becoming a joke and undermining the credibility of the game. Yes everyone makes mistakes but such big mistakes on such basic situations in such high profile games is unacceptable?

All easy to say, but the Anderlecht player had borrowed Harry Potter's invisibility cloak or the Klingon masking device, and Phil Dowd is a law unto himself. Fortunately it's unlikely that either of these refs will get an Albion fixture, and all the officials in OUR games will be totally perfect in every decision they make.

 

[Munkfish]

So last night at the Arsenal game there's an Anderlecht player so offside for the first goal my blind dog could have seen it. For their pen, one of their players was encroaching so much he could almost have touched his team mate as he kicked the ball and the ref was looking STRAIGHT at him?

Monday night Phil Dowd is looking straight at a Sunderland player hack an opponent down in the first minute for a stone-walled pen and didn't see it?

There are so many examples of officiating which would be acceptable in any other sport that this is becoming a joke and undermining the credibility of the game. Yes everyone makes mistakes but such big mistakes on such basic situations in such high profile games is unacceptable?

Calm down Arsene.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

I think you've come to the wrong place if you're hoping for an informed comment on what happened yesterday evening in a match involving Arsenal and Anderlecht.

At least, I hope you've come to the wrong place.

 

[BensGrandad]

Who cares what happened between Arsenal and Anderlecht we all prefer proper football, The Championship?

 

[TonyW]

Makes me wonder what results will come out of Interpol's current investigations into the, alleged, tens of thousands of suspected match-fixing incidents across Europe.
Surely all refs can't really be as bad as they look to be at the moment can they?

 

[Easy 10]

That encroachment rule on penalties is NEVER enforced. I'd be interested to see if a ref would actually overrule a goal if an encroaching player tucked away the rebound - you'd hope it would be, but I wouldn't bet on it. Just as if a defender managed to get to the rebound and clear it after encroaching, you'd hope the ref would order the pen to be retaken...but otherwise, if the pen is scored it just seems anything goes as far as encroachment is concerned. Its a rule that is simply ignored if a goal is scored - quite honestly, we might just as well get rid of the D on the edge of the area. Whats the point of it.

Another one that winds me up is keepers at penalties coming off their line. I remember a penalty Forster had at Withdean (south side) which was saved - the keeper rushed about 5 yards off his line to block it, he almost charged the bloody thing down. Ref did nothing, lino did nothing, the save stood, the game carried on and I think we went on to lose.

Officials are often VERY lax when it comes to enforcing the rules on penalties, which is criminal really being as they actually define results.

 

[NS Herald]

I think you've come to the wrong place if you're hoping for an informed comment on what happened yesterday evening in a match involving Arsenal and Anderlecht.

At least, I hope you've come to the wrong place.

The match itself is irrelevant - the point is that wherever it happens, the laws are seemingly often ignored by officials which can make the outcome a lottery.

When we have a pen against us in the last min for the oppo to score from such a situation or a blatant hack is ignored on KLL or CMS or whoever for a possible game winning pen - will I be in the right place to discuss the topic?

I ref another sport and if my performance mirrored some of the ones we see in football I wouldn't be a ref anymore even at junior level.

 

[BensGrandad]

That encroachment rule on penalties is NEVER enforced. I'd be interested to see if a ref would actually overrule a goal if an encroaching player tucked away the rebound - you'd hope it would be, but I wouldn't bet on it. Just as if a defender managed to get to the rebound and clear it after encroaching, you'd hope the ref would order the pen to be retaken...but otherwise, if the pen is scored it just seems anything goes as far as encroachment is concerned. Its a rule that is simply ignored if a goal is scored - quite honestly, we might just as well get rid of the D on the edge of the area. Whats the point of it.

Another one that winds me up is keepers at penalties coming off their line. I remember a penalty Forster had at Withdean (south side) which was saved - the keeper rushed about 5 yards off his line to block it, he almost charged the bloody thing down. Ref did nothing, lino did nothing, the save stood, the game carried on and I think we went on to lose.

Officials are often VERY lax when it comes to enforcing the rules on penalties, which is criminal really being as they actually define results.

That is so true and another one that infuriates me is players stopping opponents getting to the ball as it goes out for a goal kick, if that is not obstruction what is.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

That is so true and another one that infuriates me is players stopping opponents getting to the ball as it goes out for a goal kick, if that is not obstruction what is.

There is no longer any such offence, as obstruction, in the rules / laws of the game.

You can be penalised however, for 'impeding the progress of an opponent'. The difference between "impeding" and "shielding the ball" is a bit subjective, but basically - if the defender has the ball under control, or within reach, then they are well within their rights to shield it.

 

[BensGrandad]

That is the whole point the ball is within playing reach but no attempt is made to play it so it is stopping the opponent playing it so surely the rule should be amended to allow an opponent the opportunity to get the ball. Everybody agrees we want attacking football but allow this to stop attackers, strange.

 

[Reagulls]

I'm Still trying to work out what happened yesterday toward the end of the game, a long ball was hit for CMS to chase and the ref blew for what looked like a head injury on a Wigan player who got up rubbed the back of his head and continued playing.
Shouldn't the Wigan player be sent to the touch line for treatment if needed and then allowed back on when play commences?
To add insult to (non existent)injury the ref then gave the ball back to their keeper...?
Or did I miss something?

 

[BensGrandad]

I agree, if the ref in his view deems it necessary to stop the game because of an injury then surely he should insist on the player leaving the pitch for medical treatment.

As regards giving the ball to the keeper this has become much more prevalent in recent years what happened to the old fashioned dropped ball which could quite easily be done on the centre spot giving no team an advantage or disadvantage

 

[Vegas Seagull]

I'm Still trying to work out what happened yesterday toward the end of the game, a long ball was hit for CMS to chase and the ref blew for what looked like a head injury on a Wigan player who got up rubbed the back of his head and continued playing.
Shouldn't the Wigan player be sent to the touch line for treatment if needed and then allowed back on when play commences?
To add insult to (non existent)injury the ref then gave the ball back to their keeper...?
Or did I miss something?

Worst decision ever to not play the advantage when we were 10 yards clear of a couple of taps

 

[kevo]

I'm Still trying to work out what happened yesterday toward the end of the game, a long ball was hit for CMS to chase and the ref blew for what looked like a head injury on a Wigan player who got up rubbed the back of his head and continued playing.
Shouldn't the Wigan player be sent to the touch line for treatment if needed and then allowed back on when play commences?
To add insult to (non existent)injury the ref then gave the ball back to their keeper...?
Or did I miss something?

I wondered about that. I think refs are under instruction now to stop the game if they suspect a head injury. Fair enough, but like you I couldn't understand why the ref then ran half the pitch to give the ball to their keeper. The advantage had been ours (I think) - at the very least it should have been a drop ball.

 

[drew]

There is no longer any such offence, as obstruction, in the rules / laws of the game.

You can be penalised however, for 'impeding the progress of an opponent'. The difference between "impeding" and "shielding the ball" is a bit subjective, but basically - if the defender has the ball under control, or within reach, then they are well within their rights to shield it.

Impeding, obstruction, what's the difference?

Worst decision ever to not play the advantage when we were 10 yards clear of a couple of taps

Agree, Bennett escaped some close attention and was well clear and we had a good attacking situation. If you are going to stop the play then it should be because you are going to book someone and, even then, you can still play advantage and come back and book the player.

 

[BensGrandad]

In fairness to the ref I dont think he expected Joe Bennett to ride those 3 tackles and still carry on. I agree obstruction/impeding it is just terminology the essence and end product is the same the attacker is stopped getting at the ball.

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

So last night at the Arsenal game there's an Anderlecht player so offside for the first goal my blind dog could have seen it. For their pen, one of their players was encroaching so much he could almost have touched his team mate as he kicked the ball and the ref was looking STRAIGHT at him?

Monday night Phil Dowd is looking straight at a Sunderland player hack an opponent down in the first minute for a stone-walled pen and didn't see it?

There are so many examples of officiating which would be acceptable in any other sport that this is becoming a joke and undermining the credibility of the game. Yes everyone makes mistakes but such big mistakes on such basic situations in such high profile games is unacceptable?

Phil Dowd evened it up by taking no action over Bolasie's deliberate elbow to the face and letting Jedinak commit another 4 bookable fouls before giving him a second yellow. It was Bolasie who elbowed Orlandi in the ribs in the game at Smellhurst when Dunky was sent off.

 

[Mattywerewolf]

I wondered about that. I think refs are under instruction now to stop the game if they suspect a head injury. Fair enough, but like you I couldn't understand why the ref then ran half the pitch to give the ball to their keeper. The advantage had been ours (I think) - at the very least it should have been a drop ball.

I think it was a silly drop ball...uncontested since they had the ball anyway (if memory serves me)

 

[Gazwag]

I think it was a silly drop ball...uncontested since they had the ball anyway (if memory serves me)

The defender had passed the ball back to the keeper so he would have had to kick the ball. The ref handed the ball back to the keeper who pick it up. Technically we slightly lost out.