Southampton v Coventry City

[Tim Punter]

A penalty was taken by a Coventry player on 30 seconds on the clip. Slips over makes contact with the ball and hits the crossbar. Ref then gives an indirect free kick to Southampton. Can somebody please clarify what law has been applied here, as I cannot see anything obviously wrong with the kick.

 

[RefereeX]

It's not clear from the video but I can only assume that the player must 'double touch' it (make 2 contacts on the ball as he slips over). Hence the second touch in a row would result in an IDFK.

 

[Tim Punter]

Yes, not clear he did that on the video, but the ref was closer and pretty certain if that's the case .

 

[RustyRef]

I'd say there is a much bigger question as to how on earth that was a penalty, the attacker has just thrown himself over under very minimal contact.

But on the penalty itself, that's the classic double touch scenario, their planting foot slips and they end up kicking it with both feet. Not sure I can remember a situation where they slip like this and don't play the ball twice.

 

[bloovee]

 

[Tim Punter]

I'd say there is a much bigger question as to how on earth that was a penalty, the attacker has just thrown himself over under very minimal contact.

But on the penalty itself, that's the classic double touch scenario, their planting foot slips and they end up kicking it with both feet. Not sure I can remember a situation where they slip like this and don't play the ball twice.

Yes was a bit of a soft one. Good to see referees in the CL games this week applying more common sense to tackles like that. I did a game at the weekend and players seemed to think I was letting a lot go, but I genuinely thought a lot of players were diving and making meals of tackles. I fear that as I go up the level of refereeing promotion the ability to apply common sense goes out of the window and he have to give everything, otherwise, your assessor will mark you down.

 

[RefereeX]

Yes was a bit of a soft one. Good to see referees in the CL games this week applying more common sense to tackles like that. I did a game at the weekend and players seemed to think I was letting a lot go, but I genuinely thought a lot of players were diving and making meals of tackles. I fear that as I go up the level of refereeing promotion the ability to apply common sense goes out of the window and he have to give everything, otherwise, your assessor will mark you down.

The latter is not necessarily the case, as long as you're credible and consistent with your decision making and your threshold of what constitutes a foul.

 

[Tim Punter]

The latter is not necessarily the case, as long as you're credible and consistent with your decision making and your threshold of what constitutes a foul.

That's good to know, as hopefully I will be going for level 4 next season

 

[Russell Jones]

Yes was a bit of a soft one. Good to see referees in the CL games this week applying more common sense to tackles like that. I did a game at the weekend and players seemed to think I was letting a lot go, but I genuinely thought a lot of players were diving and making meals of tackles. I fear that as I go up the level of refereeing promotion the ability to apply common sense goes out of the window and he have to give everything, otherwise, your assessor will mark you down.

On the contrary, especially with regard to upper body contact, there is a recent increase in emphasis on allowing NFC (Normal Football Contact or, more colloquially, No Effing Chance!). Assessors these days are as likely to mark you down for giving too many 'soft' decisions and stifling the game as for missing fouls. That said, player safety remains paramount, so failing to sanction reckless or excessive force challenges is a particularly bad idea

 

[Tim Punter]

On the contrary, especially with regard to upper body contact, there is a recent increase in emphasis on allowing NFC (Normal Football Contact or, more colloquially, No Effing Chance!). Assessors these days are as likely to mark you down for giving too many 'soft' decisions and stifling the game as for missing fouls. That said, player safety remains paramount, so failing to sanction reckless or excessive force challenges is a particularly bad idea

That's great advice. I love the term NFC (normal football contact), and will use that when allowing play to contact. I have used the term 'this isn't netball' on occasion, which I don't think is wise going forward!