I'm sure that most people will remember the controversy created earlier this season by Manchester United goalkeeper Fabien Barthez. He decided to clean the mud off his boots by kicking them against the outside of his goalpost whilst Muzzy Izzet of Leicester was waiting to take a penalty kick. In fact the kick was taken but the goal disallowed.
At the next two penalties I awarded after that incident was shown on television, both goalkeepers imitated Barthez's tactics. No, I didn't caution them for unsporting behaviour because like Andy D'Urso I didn't feel that I could stop a goalkeeper making sure his boots were clear of mud in such a situation. What it does show is the power of television. Any new tactic, good or bad, which appears at a televised match will quickly be repeated in local football.
One problem we have refereeing at local games, is that our esteemed colleagues in the higher echelons of the game allow players to get away with minor infringements of the laws, which then manifest themselves as the norm.
Take for example the kick off. The law says that players will start the game in their own half but we see at every televised match one player standing about a yard inside his opponents half This is so they can more easily receive the ball from kick off and pass it back to another colleague. In my matches I ask the player to stand back in his or her own half This so confuses them that sometimes they kick the ball backwards at kick off when of course the ball must be kicked forward.
One player (a university undergraduate) queried how they could possibly kick the ball forward if they weren't allowed to stand in their opponents' half. Don't you sometimes wonder about the money we spend on education?
As referees we are bound by the FA Code of Conduct not to criticise our fellow referees and that includes those we watch on television. However, I would be failing in my duty if I didn't mention that, in my opinion, the otherwise excellent Portuguese referee in the Liverpool v Galatasaray Champions League match, made a mistake by allowing certain behaviour at throw-ins. Law 15 (The throw-in) says that 'If an opponent unfairly distracts or impedes the thrower he shall be cautioned for unsporting behaviour and shown the yellow card'.
Liverpool have a couple of players who can throw the ball a considerable distance, certainly the equivalent of a corner kick. To try and lessen the effectiveness of this tactic one of the Galatasaray players started to stand in front of the thrower. This does not constitute unsporting or unfair behaviour because the player can still take the throw without hindrance. However, as the game went on the player started to jump up and down in front of the thrower just as he went to take the throw, with his arms flailing in every direction.
To me that quite clearly constituted impeding or at the very least distraction. The referee, however, completely ignored the incidences, perhaps because the throwers were still able to get the ball into play. The difficulty will arise if professionals watching the game in this country decide to try it out in their own matches. If they do so, I hope that referees will take action, perhaps first a warning and then, if that fails to dissuade the player, impose the full severity of the law with a caution and yellow card.
If not, we will have local footballers thinking what is good enough for the professionals has got to be good enough for us. They will believe that it is perfectly acceptable behaviour, creating more difficulty for local referees trying to apply the law as it is written.
Dick Sawdon Smith