For the Integrity of Soccer

The Torres goal should make you rethink the DOGSO . . .

    The exciting match between a depleted Chelsea and a Barcelona team determined to assert their supremacy in their own home, ended in high drama.  Barcelona wanted to be the first team to repeat as European champions, but could not break down the top-of-the-penalty-area resistance, the manning of the castle walls by the surviving ten players.  Then this happened: A pass did not find its target, and a defender wellied the ball upfield to a lone player who had drifted towards the halfway line.  With a delicate first touch, Fernando Torres controlled the ball and was over the midfield stripe ten yards before the nearest opponent started chasing him.  See it at http://youtu.be/yd9UeNsdZCo?hd=1.

The Goal That Never Was! (from Ed)

In the Tottenham v. Chelsea FA Cup semifinal last weekend we again had the issue of a close goal line decision. This time the decision of the referee was to award a goal to Chelsea even though it appeared that the entire ball had not crossed the entire goal line.

In our recent post on this subject, and in previous ones, we have discussed instances of when the ball had crossed the line but the goal was not awarded. While that type of decision, a false negative, can often be understood, the false positive, such as occurred in this match, is one that should NEVER happen in any circumstances.

Master of the Whistle (from Ed)

An interesting article on the referee Abraham Klein was recently published in The Guardian, a British newspaper. You can read it here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/b...-klein-referee

We found this article be very revealing about the politics (that we always knew about anyway!) that go into the selection of referees for World Cups and for matches during those tournaments. The article also included accounts of the strenuous efforts Klein went to in order to keep fit, back in the days without personal trainers and all the other high-tech equipment, monitoring and supervision that present day top-level referees enjoy.

Too Many Cards? (from Ed)

Many of the articles and subjects we write about on this site concern events that occur at the higher levels of the game, i.e. professional leagues and International competitions. However we surmise that many of our readers never will referee at these levels, and most of their games are in youth soccer.

The article I wrote a few weeks ago about an incident in the Dallas Cup jogged my memory about another match I had observed at the Dallas Cup. This was in the  U-14 division and it occurred to me that writing about it might be helpful to the readers I mentioned above.

Goal-line Decision, Redux. (From Ed)

Regular readers of this blog will recall that we have discussed the issue of goal line decisions in two previous articles, posted on October 28, 2010, and May 18, 2011. We are now induced to revisit the subject due to an incident in the Bolton v. Queens Park Rangers match in the EPL yesterday.

 

This was a very critical match since both teams are facing the dire prospect of relegation and the consequent loss of millions of pounds in revenue should relegation occur.

In this match, as can be seen from the photo, QPR (red shirts) had the ball over the line legitimately for what should have been a goal. However no goal was given because neither the referee nor the AR was able to see and verify that the ball had indeed crossed the line. This was crucial incident since it directly affected the outcome of the match, which was won by Bolton 2-1.  As expected, this incident has brought up the thorny concept of some sort of goal line technology to assist the match officials in incidents of this type, which was discussed at the most recent meeting of the IFAB earlier this month.

But is it really needed? Let's examine the particulars of this incident.

One Season Too Late! (from Ed)

The Dallas Cup is a prestigious international youth soccer tournament (U13 to U19) held every year since 1980 in Dallas, Texas. Founded by Ron Griffith and the Texas Longhorns Soccer Club, it has grown in stature over the years, and has featured teams from the World’s top clubs such as Liverpool, Manchester United, Arsenal, Real Madrid, Sao Paulo, Eintract Frankfurt to name just a few. Many now- famous players have participated in previous Dallas Cups, including David Beckham, Wayne Rooney and Landon Donovan.

(Actually it is not in the City of Dallas any longer, the games are played in Frisco at Pizza Hut Park, the home of MLS team FC Dallas, and in Richardson, but that is neither here nor there.)

How to deal with an unwanted offside flag

    Whenever I recall the reading of advice from the recent article in Soccer America, for whom incidentally I used to write in the seventies, when Clay Berling was the editor of the magazine he founded in 1971, I still get a little steamed, like my daughters' dogs:

          

    It is incomprehensible to me that someone could referee for more than thirty years, through more than 8000 indoor and outdoor games, and still not absorb a principal tenet of officiating.  How did he miss that refereeing is based upon enforcing a set of rules which are the same for all participants?  How did he come to believe that he could make up his own laws?

    No matter, I have written to Soccer America suggesting they correct the egregious error, and I promised you I would explain how you can deal with a flag that you don't need or want.  The technique is still sound, even in these days of radio communication among the three or four or six or however-many officials (when is the increase going to end?)

An Error can lead to Bad Advice, and possibly to . . . Unethical Behavior.

    Thanks to my friend Chuck Stuart in Idaho Falls for the heads-up to an article in Soccer America (Jan. 31, 2012).  To quote him: "When I read it, my jaw just dropped - the advice in the article just seems to go completely against what I would expect to be the correct actions of the referee."

    Chuck's instincts are accurate.  The article offers bad advice that violates the LOTG, and if that advice is allowed to be widely publicized, it could lead to widespread corruption of the game and its laws.  And it is all to do with the simple act of a referee overruling an assistant about a flag raised to indicate an offside infraction.  [I have written to Soccer America suggesting they publish a correction.]

This is "Giving Blood for the Team" ?

  Port Said stadium, the day after . . .

What is the referee looking at?

    How many times out on the park have you heard that cry: "What is he looking at?"  That and all its variants: "You're missing a great game!" or "How could she miss that?" and "It was right in front of him, and he did nothing!"  As an instructor I have dealt with this problem many, many times, and tried various themes as a way of impressing referees that knowing where and when to look is as important as knowing the laws.  And after watching the Premiership these last few months, I have to say that the problem doesn't exist only in the amateur game.

    So before I go on to the subject, let me ask a few questions of you . . . and then we'll have a practical demonstration from the eight-year-old daughter of two skillful soccer-playing parents, with whom I have had the great pleasure of playing.