Recent content by ARF

I can't even answer that - maybe it should be done like Ask the Audience on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? with everyone in the stadium having an app on their phone with multiple choice answers, the highest %age answer comes up on the big screen and the referee has to act accordingly? 🤷‍♂️

Only because people on social media like to criticise every referee decision. Had the referee shown red, I think there'd have been twice the number of comments (probably including some of the same people) posting that it's never a red, the referee's ruined the match, he doesn't understand the...

He's seen the foul, signalled advantage, and then the keeper stays down for about 12 seconds. Just blow the whistle and give the free kick! 🤦‍♂️

IMO it's pretty easy to fondle balls non-violently - if your personal experience doesn't agree then I can only suggest you have a conversation with your significant other.

IMO the holding did not impede the opponent's movement, so no foul.

To be honest, when I first watched it I thought the whistle was blown before the cross, but having watched it again it appears the whistle goes just as/very slightly after the ball is kicked. As @MDempster points out above, it seems bizarre that he had the opportunity to blow (and looked like he...

Forest player takes a touch a split second before the whistle goes - I imagine that the referee was looking at the Liverpool player who stayed down and hasn't seen the touch. The ball goes out of play twice between the dropped ball and the goal, and Forest regain possession after the corner only...

8:40 had been played, of a minimum 7 added. Real Madrid had already just had a corner which got flicked on and went out of the penalty area. It isn't fair on the defending team to extend time beyond what you are intending to play simply because the attacking side were just about to cross the ball.

With the benefit of watching replays of it, I think that's a foul - foot comes up and carelessly trips the opponent after playing the ball. In real time I'd have said no foul though.

Depends on the circumstances - if the foul occurred before the attacker interfered, then it would be a caution and a direct free kick to the attacking team. If the foul occurred after the attacker has interfered, then defensive indirect free kick for the offside offence, and caution for the...

No idea, entirely hypothetical. You'd have to ask Attwell, the two ARs and the fourth official. You could look at it and say he should have predicted that a player would run across at the exact same moment the player chose to dive in, obscuring his view of the foul. Without the luxury of...

The referee's view is blocked by a player running across. One AR is 50 yards away and the contact is blind-side of them, the other AR is 70 yards away, looking through a crowd of players, and focusing on the offside line. What, pray tell, do you suggest should have been done differently?

I'd be going with an email report to your county's discipline department, copying in the safeguarding department and the league.

If the foul denies an obvious goalscoring opportunity but is an attempt to play/challenge for the ball, it is 'downgraded' to a caution (unless it's serious foul play, in which case it's still a red). If it would have been stopping a promising attack, it is 'downgraded' to no card (unless it was...

Feel similar myself at the moment. It's 15 years this month since I did the course, this is my eighth season at L4 and I feel like I'm never going to get promoted. I've been having recurring issues with my calf/knee/heel after suffering a minor calf tear a couple of years ago, and I'm on the...