A&H

Awful mistake

The Referee Store
The explanation given was in fact that the referee ruled it went in directly from the FK, which was a mind numbing ruling as in the video you can see the R watching the ball kicked sideways from the right spot.

Yeah, watching the video he has no excuse. Switched off, or is...

Anyway, I was going to say replay the game because it's a serious error, but I guess I'm too late now. :)
 
Social Lurker has been spot on in his comments. Some of you guys clearly do not understand the distinction between error in facts and error in Law. An error in Law is only committed if the referee displays a lack of knowledge of the Laws of the Game.

Let's be clear, just making a mistake is not the same. A referee who books a player three times; or gives a corner when a player scores an own goal has made pretty bad errors, but not errors in Law. The American example should not have been replayed, the referee showed in his later comments that he knew the Law, just goofed in thinking that the free kick went in directly (this seems incredible given that he watched the free kick taker pass the ball, but who knows what goes through a referee's head in the heat of the game). Replaying games like this is opening up the authorities to replay games for every wrong decision. The reason why this almost never happens is that FIFA try to insist that only games where the referee demonstrably show a LACK OF KNOWLEDGE of the Law (and this also needs to affect the final result) need to be replayed (in whole or part). .Just getting the Law wrong is NOT an error in Law as FIFA understand the phrase.
 
The American example should not have been replayed, the referee showed in his later comments that he knew the Law, just goofed in thinking that the free kick went in directly (this seems incredible given that he watched the free kick taker pass the ball, but who knows what goes through a referee's head in the heat of the game).
You raise an interesting point - the authorities may not have believed the referee when he said that he simply got the facts wrong and concluded the he bottled it and fluffed his lines on the law. Not necessarily from lack of knowledge, but from a warped sense of fairness, or from freaking out
 
There is a saying among lawyers that "bad facts make bad law." I can't think of a mistake of fact worse than that one that I have ever seen. (A couple maybe as bad, but those were in youth games, not professional ones.)

My sense is that the mistake was so unbelievably awful that the powers that be were twisting things to find a way to justify a replay. And in their statements, they referred to it as misapplication of law--presumably to squash efforts to say that mistakes of fact can justify a replay. Given how astonishingly bad the mistake was, it is hard to see the replay as unfair in anyway.
 
My sense is that the mistake was so unbelievably awful that the powers that be were twisting things to find a way to justify a replay. And in their statements, they referred to it as misapplication of law--presumably to squash efforts to say that mistakes of fact can justify a replay. Given how astonishingly bad the mistake was, it is hard to see the replay as unfair in anyway.
Actually I fully agree with this. I think they wanted to set right an awful mistake, but had to twist it to sound like an error in Law, since replaying over an error in fact would have opened a terrible Pandora's box.
 
Awarding a goal when the whole of the ball did not cross the goal line in between the posts and below the bar is an error in law. Yes, it's factually wrong, but a goal can only be awarded, in law, having met the above criteria.

Not sending off after a second bookable offence, again is an error in law.

I think the only ones that aren't errors in law, are the ones where they are subjective and opinion of ref. Anything that's objective most likely a law issue.

Games won't always get replayed due to law errorx that's a fact, proven or unproven and we have seen it at the highest levels with the Keith Stroud penalty... I am sure there are plenty more examples where games haven't been replayed.

They usually get replayed as a result of competition rule breaches, eg sin bin when not in operation, player eligibility (a team got removed from the Vase this season falling foul of comp rules and losing team reinstated).

There has been instance of law errors being replayed but also the same situation not being so Newcastle Pen Vs England women U19 pen so I don't think there is hard and fast
QPR v Sunderland! - and there have been countless other offside 'wrong' decisions down the years - as you say, call it fact or law, start replaying games and there would be no end to it!
 
The OP recently happened in the US in the USL--except that I mistakenly put in goal kick instead of corner kick--they got that part right. I don't know if this link will work outside the US, but this is the play: https://streamable.com/64myee

The explanation given was in fact that the referee ruled it went in directly from the FK, which was a mind numbing ruling as in the video you can see the R watching the ball kicked sideways from the right spot. How 4 referees that reached that level failed to realize it was not from the FK is one of those great mysteries of the mind and group think. (Though an error by the whole team in thinking it could be a "no goal" if touched by a second player on the team would have been no less mind numbing.)

The game was ordered replayed from that moment on the grounds that there was a clear misapplication of law. (I disagree with that characterization--the referees properly applied the law to a clear and egregious mistake about what happened. That said, I'm not truly offended by the replay of such a blatant, obvious, inexplicable error of fact, but I do worry that it could be the thin edge of wedge. But the powers that be framed the order to pretend that it was same-old, same-old in correcting an error of Law.)

Here's a newspaper story. https://triblive.com/sports/riverhounds-game-to-be-partially-replayed-due-to-officiating-error/
The newspaper article had the video of the FK, pass, and then pass to keeper and goal.
 
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