Recent content by Gary F

Great comments guys!! My question is what the hell were the assistant linesmen doing when the ref was surrounded by the players. This is serious intimidation of the ref and it would have helped if the ARs stepped in to show support.

Other than my weekend 11 a side matches, I've been refereeing competitive 5 a side leagues in Cape Town for the past 5 years in which we have a sin bin. The games are 18 minutes each half and a player receiving a yellow (for any yellow card offence) has to leave the field for 5 minutes and his...

"A player must stand to take a throw-in (kneeling, sitting etc., not permitted" What about a player crouching? In my game yesterday a player crouched and threw the ball in to a teammate who was standing a metre or so away from him in order that the receiving player could control the ball far...

I'm not overcomplicating the issue. It is all about interpreting the laws correctly. As you know the laws are written in numerous different languages which then leads to slight differences and nuances depending what your mother tongue is. (the bible has the same problem!). Despite whether or not...

Ah Law 18 - Common Sense! I agree with all of the comments. I simply get frustrated because there is a lot of ambiguity in the way the laws are written and, therefore, can be easily misinterpreted.

Kicks from the penalty mark are taken after the match has ended and unless otherwise stated, the relevant Laws of the Game apply That's the problem, nothing "otherwise" is stated. During normal play if a player misses a penalty, and the ball remains in play, the player taking the kick cannot...

The kick is completed when the ball stops moving, goes out of play or the referee stops play for any offence; the kicker may not play the ball a second time. I'm playing the Devil's advocate, what happens then if the ball strikes the crossbar and rebounds out of the area to where the 2nd...

Thanks for your response. The problem I have with this is that Law 14 doesn't cover penalty shoot-outs, just penalties in normal play. This needs clarifying by the powers that be. Whilst I accept that a goal should be awarded as the law stands, it doesn't make sense that, in a penalty shoot out...

At what point is the ball dead in a penalty shootout? Saw a penalty hit the crossbar and then hit the goalkeeper on his back and rebounded in. Ref gave a goal but my understanding is if the ball changes direction from towards to away from the goal, it shouldn't count. Any thoughts?