[Football] "Two or more players surrounding a match official in a confrontational manner will result in a yellow card"

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Mo Gosfield

Well-known member
Aug 11, 2010
6,362
Should be the same as rugby. Only the captain can talk to the ref. I'm sure if those huge beasts can respect that so can footballers.

Footie could take a lot from rugger.
Yeah....like mic-ing up the refs......my god....the bleep machine would be working every ten seconds. Can you imagine footballers not swearing? Surely, its the one thing that football could never risk introducing. It would ruin every kid's impression of the game.
 




Harry Wilson's tackle

Harry Wilson's Tackle
NSC Patron
Oct 8, 2003
56,177
Faversham
I'm not sure if my concern is about the referees, really. My concern is them backing down when they get criticised for it, so there is part blame on them. But it more about the ebb and flow of the opinion of the footballing community (easier to type that than 'fans/players/pundits/jounalists/etc' every time).

In my corner example, I neglected to note that they started clamping down on it because the footballing community was complaining about how much it happened. When they started clamping down on it the footballing community complained it was being punished, using 'consistency' as the excuse. The consistency of them applying it was no better or worse than any of the other laws.

It just seems more palatable/effective to let officials take action on something, then complain about the consistency of officials than it is to argue you should be allowed to cheat and the ref's should not clamp down on it in the first place.



For the record, I am in favour of this clamping down on surrounding the ref and time wasting, I can just see the media making an issue out of discontent of the footballing community to the point the refs quietly stop doing it.
A very measured perspective.

Perhaps, in addition to getting the governments we deserve, we also get the football officiating that we deserve. I for one am baffled and bored by the continued screams for a policement about the way 'our game' has been completely destroyed by VAR (its existence, not simply its implementation).
 


Harry Wilson's tackle

Harry Wilson's Tackle
NSC Patron
Oct 8, 2003
56,177
Faversham
Yeah....like mic-ing up the refs......my god....the bleep machine would be working every ten seconds. Can you imagine footballers not swearing? Surely, its the one thing that football could never risk introducing. It would ruin every kid's impression of the game.
The swearing and intimidation would stop overnight. It works in rugby. Albeit perhaps you consider rugby a game for namby pamby types, who wouldn't say boo to a goose? ???

(They'll be giving women the vote next. What a prospect. ???)
 




Thunder Bolt

Silly old bat
Yeah....like mic-ing up the refs......my god....the bleep machine would be working every ten seconds. Can you imagine footballers not swearing? Surely, its the one thing that football could never risk introducing. It would ruin every kid's impression of the game.
It’s already in the rules. I remember Tanno getting a red at Southampton for calling the ref an effing cheat, after he awarded a penalty for a foul outside the area.

Referees have the tools, but don’t use them.
 




One Teddy Maybank

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Aug 4, 2006
22,999
Worthing
It’s already in the rules. I remember Tanno getting a red at Southampton for calling the ref an effing cheat, after he awarded a penalty for a foul outside the area.

Referees have the tools, but don’t use them.
Spot on, it was that bloody cheat………….Lallana.

Loved it when Tanno walked off, pointed at Lallana and then tapped his pocket….
 


HeaviestTed

I’m eating
NSC Patron
Mar 23, 2023
2,130

Apart from the semantics (it is hard to see how two people can 'surround' someone), I can't see them applying this to two players... at a minimum it will take a third person for someone to get booked.
Two of the “big six” players will be shouting and swearing at a ref, one of our players will be standing minding their own business, the group of three will be walking and end up next to our player who will get booked.
 






jcdenton08

Offended Liver Sausage
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Oct 17, 2008
14,562
Actioned the first game week, then forgotten and never mentioned again.
 


warmleyseagull

Well-known member
Apr 17, 2011
4,389
Beaminster, Dorset
Good point. Refs do add extra time for that though, don't they? If a ref signals 5 minutes added, it's usually more like 7.

Which reminds me of another annoying thing. Refs always add extra extra time for a corner to be taken. Why? If the opposition try to delay the corner, fair enough. Allow time for it to be taken. But if a corner is given a few seconds before the ref is going to blow the whistle, there's some unwritten rule that says the corner must be taken. It didn't used to be like that. I remember the final whistle being blown while the corner was in mid-flight.
Answer: Clive Thomas; Brazil; Zico.
 






Dick Knights Mumm

Take me Home Falmer Road
Jul 5, 2003
19,736
Hither and Thither
It feels like it's all been covered before. And has been pointed out too often these things are adopted then gradually it all returns to as it was. In the first SCFL game I watched last Saturday two players were booked for time-wasting, the first early was an outfield player in the second half after an equalizer. The other after an extended throw-in after the home team had re-taken the lead. So refs will be implementing it. And I hope they stick with it.

I also agree with some other points covered here:
  • only the captain allowed to speak to the ref. No-one is allowed to speak to the linesmen. This includes management.
  • for fourth officials I would also have a nominated contact from each coaching team.
  • Time goal celebrations. Any longer than agreed - book the scorer (think Arsenal at the Amex).
  • post-match interviews - media not allowed to ask about ref or contentious decisions. If the manager/player wants to bring it up and look like a whining twat - fine - but don't invite it.
I have others, but I don't want to give the impression of being a whining twat.
 


Paulie Gualtieri

Bada Bing
NSC Patron
May 8, 2018
10,637
I'm strongly in favour. Yes, there may be semantics about the word "surrounding", but I think the more important phrase in the new rules is "confrontational manner". If 2 or 3 players approach the ref in a calm way I doubt that would be penalised. But if they are screaming their heads off at the ref, punish them. Even if it means a spate of yellows and even reds, if the refs hold firm and actually do this for the first few weekends I've no doubt that the players would get the message. It's a culture that has to be confronted and defeated. Young kids need to understand that it's not acceptable.

As for particularly annoying things, for me it's players not retreating at free kicks. We see it all the time -- a player is fouled. He jumps up to take it quickly to continue the momentum, but the fouler stands there in front of the ball until his teammates get back into position. It's very clear gamesmanship (the polite word for cheating).

The other thing we all hate is time wasting, especially towards the end of a game. I've read that this season, refs will adopt a World Cup-style approach and allow additional time to compensate for extended goal celebrations and too much time taken for free kicks, corners etc. So it looks like double-figure additional time. Again, I'm happy with that. I read the other day that the average actual ball-in-play duration of a match last season was 54 minutes! Thats not far off half the 90. It's got way out of hand and needs addressing.
On your last paragraph I fear many of the early leavers will need to refresh their knowledge of the southern timetable
 






drew

Drew
NSC Patron
Oct 3, 2006
23,629
Burgess Hill
The elephant in the room is actually getting refs to apply these new rules. They're not great at applying existing rules!!
 


NooBHA

Well-known member
Jan 13, 2015
8,592
Good point. Refs do add extra time for that though, don't they? If a ref signals 5 minutes added, it's usually more like 7.

Which reminds me of another annoying thing. Refs always add extra extra time for a corner to be taken. Why? If the opposition try to delay the corner, fair enough. Allow time for it to be taken. But if a corner is given a few seconds before the ref is going to blow the whistle, there's some unwritten rule that says the corner must be taken. It didn't used to be like that. I remember the final whistle being blown while the corner was in mid-flight.
I'm all in favour of dropping the game down to 35 minutes each way and then stopping the clock every time the ball isn't in play. it must be really easy to do now that there is about 395 match officials officiating matches these days.

I know it's a bit harder to do at the grass roots level it would be down to a referee but at the highest level it would be fairly straight forward
 


Colonel Mustard

Well-known member
Jun 18, 2023
2,240
I'm all in favour of dropping the game down to 35 minutes each way and then stopping the clock every time the ball isn't in play. it must be really easy to do now that there is about 395 match officials officiating matches these days.

I know it's a bit harder to do at the grass roots level it would be down to a referee but at the highest level it would be fairly straight forward
I agree with that idea (though there would have to be a proper analysis to agree on the best exact time to allow. It would drastically reduce time-wasting at a stroke.
 






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