Penalty, ref!

How often do you hear that call, however innocent the contact, if there was contact at all? We shouldn’t be too surprised because a penalty should mean a goal. What it usually means for the referee is some sort of problem.

On the face of it awarding a penalty is no different from awarding a direct free kick anywhere on the park, but that is not how people see it, especially if the decision is against their team.

Where and what was it?

The first issue is whether the infringement actually took place in the box and even that is often controversial. Then, was it one of the ten direct free kick (‘penal’) infringements?

Of course, some penalties are obvious to everybody: the blatant trip with no-one else near, the deliberate hand to stop the ball going into the net. Unfortunately, many if not most are not that clear. What about those situations, for example, where the defender takes the ball and then the man - was it the result of a fair challenge or did he leave his leg in to make sure the attacker came down? Did the hand go deliberately for the ball or did the ball strike the innocent hand? Try explaining the last one to an irate attacker when the ball fell neatly to the defender’s feet and was easily cleared.

‘Winning a penalty’

Unfortunately the World Cup 1998 showed that many players at the top level will now routinely cheat to get a penalty decision. Commentators give it away by saying “X has won the penalty” and colleagues underline it by giving X their congratulations. The referee is bound to have problems when, even with numerous video replays, it was still not clear what had happened, so good was the play-acting. Maybe FIFA have to get really tough with those they catch, even retrospectively, and hopefully deter the others. Not yet quite as difficult on the local parks, but how long before it catches on?

And finally . . .

In case you didn’t know already,

• time has to be added on if necessary to allow a penalty to be taken. The game finishes when the goal is scored or missed.
• a player who concedes a penalty does not have to be shown the red or yellow card - it all depends on the nature of the offence
• the goalkeeper is now allowed to move along the goal line but not forward.

Brian Palmer

© B Palmer 1998

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