For the Integrity of Soccer

EURO-2012 Officiating: Contrasting Styles (from Ed)

We have seen several different styles of referees in the opening weekend of the Euro 2012 tournament.

In the first match, the referee, Velasco Carballo of Spain, called a lot of minor fouls early on and then sent off a Greek player after two cautions in the first half. Neither of the incidents looked to be cautionable, especially the second one, where the Polish player simply slipped as he turned in front of the Greek defender.  He also sent off the Polish keeper in the second half for a clear DOGSO. The interesting point in this incident is that the Greek player was running diagonally across the penalty area when he was tripped by the keeper, and he may not have been in full control of the ball. By a strict application of US Soccer DOGSO guidelines, known as the 4Ds this incident would not be considered a true DOGSO. However it was very obvious that the Greek forward would have reached the ball, with an open net at which to shoot if he had not been tripped. There was little protest from the keeper nor his teammates. As it was the substitute keeper came on and saved the PK. But the Poles had to play with 10 men so now the sides were even and the Greeks eventually scored to tie the match 1-1.

EURO-12 Blogging (from Ed)

Tomorrow marks the start of the European Nations Championship, held in Poland and Ukraine, known as EURO-12. Once again we in the USA are fortunate that all the matches are being shown live on a major sports network that most people probably have access to at home, or can go to a pub or sports bar to watch.  Because of the time difference between the US and central Europe, the games are on during the day. However they are also available by internet streaming to computers, so enthusiasts at work can watch also (provided the boss doesn’t notice or is a soccer fan!)

 As we have done previously, with the World Cup and other major matches, we will be blogging on aspects of these matches, in particular with special attention to the officiating.  The games will be officiated using the additional assistant referees stationed on the goal lines. This is to avoid errors such as those that occurred during the 2010 World Cup and in some high profile matches in England recently, concerning the scoring of a goal and whether or not the ball had fully crossed the goal line which we have discussed at length in previous blogs.

One of the items we will be watching for concerns the techniques used by the assistant referees.

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.]