Football is not a gameshow, and referees should not stage-manage the action to ensure a more ‘entertaining’ productIt was a bright, clammy afternoon in August, and the clocks were striking one hundred and thirteen. Midway through the second half at Stamford Bridge on Sunday, with the score 1-1, Chelsea engaged in a spell of concerted forward thrust, and with Liverpool adjusting to a double substitution, Trent Alexander-Arnold pressed the damper pedal for a moment.The whole thing took about 10 seconds. Alexander-Arnold walked backwards, looked around, feigned a couple of throws, using the moment as a peg to reset his team’s shape, to let the lactic acid fade a little, to alter the balance of energies. The only really notable part...
Jack Grealish was penalised for inadvertently touching the ball with his fingers, giving United the chance to equaliseAs it turned out, it didn’t affect the destination of the FA Cup or deny Manchester City a chance at the treble, but it might have done. Manchester United had created very little when suddenly VAR gave them a penalty for something almost nobody appealed. Assuredly, under the laws, as they are now interpreted, the decision was correct. Jack Grealish’s hand was raised almost to shoulder height as Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s header struck it, and that these days is an offence. But really, why should it be?Why should games be decided not by skill or heart, by organisation or improvisation, but by 75% chances...
Six female officials from five confederations will take part at the tournament in Qatar and hopefully this marks just the startWomen will officiate at a men’s World Cup for the first time in Qatar – and that is a positive step for female officials across the globe. Three referees and three assistant referees will form part of the 129 match officials who will cover the 64 matches and their selections are nothing to do with gender and all about merit.The 36 referees, 69 assistant referees and 24 video match officials have been selected on their performances during Fifa fixtures and at other international and domestic competitions. Continue reading...
In obsessing over the minutiae of refereeing, the game has sacrificed its spontaneity, narrative coherence and sense of funConfusion reigned on Wednesday night. In the white-hot heat of the moment, players, pundits and fans at Tottenham filming reaction videos on phones failed to grasp the intricacies of the offside law. Even the person helming the Guardian’s Champions League clockwatch – me – was very far from sure.Could Harry Kane be adjudged offside if Emerson Royal nodded Ivan Perisic’s excellent deep cross backwards? Could Kane be offside if the ball flicked off a Sporting defender before being tucked into the net, seemingly earning Tottenham a stirring comeback victory and a place in the last 16? Continue reading...
Perhaps the inability to admit ignorance is a direct consequence of the binary nature of social mediaThere’s every chance that Ice-T wasn’t talking about football when he wrote “Don’t hate the player, hate the game” in 1999. Twenty-three years later there’s still no sign of his eagerly awaited follow-up, “Don’t hate the referee, hate the Law”, but it would be useful if someone wrote it.To hate the laws of football, you have to know what they are and it appears an increasing number of people paid to talk about the game don’t and can’t admit it when that’s the case. Fikayo Tomori’s foul on Mason Mount and red card at San Siro on Tuesday was the perfect illustration. Continue reading...