Red v Yellow.
Red are 2-0 up in a fairly heated game. I missed a few alleged 'late' tackles early on in the game, and so am making an effort to watch out for them. Midway through the 2nd half, yellow striker has a shot on target, whilst red defender is on the ground sliding towards him. I keep my eye on the tackle, defender pulls out, and the shot hits a defender inside the penalty area, to a very loud shout of 'HANDBALL REF!!!!!' Ball goes out of play for a goal kick, and I inform the red players that have surrounded me that I didn't see where the ball struck the defender (as I was looking out for the late challenge) and so cannot award the penalty. By the time the ball had struck the defender and i'd turned around to look at him, both arms were by his side anyway.
10 minutes or so later, red attacker runs down the left wing, and crosses the ball into the penalty area, where the GK, an attacker and a defender are waiting. However, the yellow defender that was tracking the attacker that's crossed the ball slides in to try and block the cross. He's about 8 yards away from the ball, and directly in between the crosser and the attacker that is inside the box. The cross comes in at about chest height, but the defender, whilst sliding in, has left his arm pointing directly up in the air. The ball strikes his hand, and drops directly in front of the defender. I blow and point to the penalty spot. Cue a barrage of yellow defenders screaming that there is no way on earth it could have been deliberate. I inform them that the defenders arm was directly up in the air, away from the body in a completely unnatural position and that he has prevented a promising cross from coming in. 'BUT ITS IMPOSSIBLE TO SLIDE WITHOUT HAVING YOUR ARM UP IN THE AIR REF!!!!'After explaining several times, I wave the defenders away, and get on with the penalty. Attacker puts it away.
Overall, I feel like I had a really bad game. I missed things, didn't deal with players well, and got a hell of a lot of abuse for it. I'm in my first season of refereeing, and this is the first game I've really felt this way, but i'm not too concerned. I've had a real think about the things I could have done better, and feel like I've learnt from it. At the time, and even on reflection a few days later, I was really happy with the 2nd penalty decision. I was in a great position to see it, and was satisfied that i'd made the right decision.
However, I logged on to the local league forum a few days later to see if anyone has made any comments about the game, and find one from each side. Yellow player has written a match report that includes 'ref missed a blatant handball for a penalty, only to go and award one that never should have been 10 minutes later.' Red manager comes on underneath and says he completely agrees that I got both decisions wrong. I can understand the Yellow player being unhappy that I awarded the 2nd one, but the Red manager as well?! I heard several players from both teams after the game agreeing that i'd got both decisions wrong, but I can't get my head around it. This guy's arm was STRAIGHT UP in the air. To me, that's a blatant handball, regardless of whether or not he actually meant to handball it. I (perhaps slightly naively) wasn't even expecting any arguments from Red about the decision. But after the forum comments and players comments after the game, I'm starting to wonder.
Is this just a case of players not having a clue, or is my understanding of handball completely off?
Red are 2-0 up in a fairly heated game. I missed a few alleged 'late' tackles early on in the game, and so am making an effort to watch out for them. Midway through the 2nd half, yellow striker has a shot on target, whilst red defender is on the ground sliding towards him. I keep my eye on the tackle, defender pulls out, and the shot hits a defender inside the penalty area, to a very loud shout of 'HANDBALL REF!!!!!' Ball goes out of play for a goal kick, and I inform the red players that have surrounded me that I didn't see where the ball struck the defender (as I was looking out for the late challenge) and so cannot award the penalty. By the time the ball had struck the defender and i'd turned around to look at him, both arms were by his side anyway.
10 minutes or so later, red attacker runs down the left wing, and crosses the ball into the penalty area, where the GK, an attacker and a defender are waiting. However, the yellow defender that was tracking the attacker that's crossed the ball slides in to try and block the cross. He's about 8 yards away from the ball, and directly in between the crosser and the attacker that is inside the box. The cross comes in at about chest height, but the defender, whilst sliding in, has left his arm pointing directly up in the air. The ball strikes his hand, and drops directly in front of the defender. I blow and point to the penalty spot. Cue a barrage of yellow defenders screaming that there is no way on earth it could have been deliberate. I inform them that the defenders arm was directly up in the air, away from the body in a completely unnatural position and that he has prevented a promising cross from coming in. 'BUT ITS IMPOSSIBLE TO SLIDE WITHOUT HAVING YOUR ARM UP IN THE AIR REF!!!!'After explaining several times, I wave the defenders away, and get on with the penalty. Attacker puts it away.
Overall, I feel like I had a really bad game. I missed things, didn't deal with players well, and got a hell of a lot of abuse for it. I'm in my first season of refereeing, and this is the first game I've really felt this way, but i'm not too concerned. I've had a real think about the things I could have done better, and feel like I've learnt from it. At the time, and even on reflection a few days later, I was really happy with the 2nd penalty decision. I was in a great position to see it, and was satisfied that i'd made the right decision.
However, I logged on to the local league forum a few days later to see if anyone has made any comments about the game, and find one from each side. Yellow player has written a match report that includes 'ref missed a blatant handball for a penalty, only to go and award one that never should have been 10 minutes later.' Red manager comes on underneath and says he completely agrees that I got both decisions wrong. I can understand the Yellow player being unhappy that I awarded the 2nd one, but the Red manager as well?! I heard several players from both teams after the game agreeing that i'd got both decisions wrong, but I can't get my head around it. This guy's arm was STRAIGHT UP in the air. To me, that's a blatant handball, regardless of whether or not he actually meant to handball it. I (perhaps slightly naively) wasn't even expecting any arguments from Red about the decision. But after the forum comments and players comments after the game, I'm starting to wonder.
Is this just a case of players not having a clue, or is my understanding of handball completely off?
Means a lot of grey areas at times, lots of interpretations. And everyone else around the pitch has a bias! Sometimes that bias becomes just against the ref as you discovered!
