At one of my matches the weekend before last, I gave a free kick against the defending side, well inside their own half. Three or four defenders started to make a wall but, like most footballers at all levels of the game, their idea of the required distance was about four yards short. I decided to pace it out and fortuitously the ten yards was exactly on the line marking the edge of the penalty area. 'On the line please', I requested and then walked away to take up my position for the free kick.
As I did so, they all moved off the line towards the ball - not only encroaching of course but testing my will. I ushered them back onto the line and issued a warning that if any one of them moved forward again before the ball was kicked, a card would be coming out of my pocket. They retreated but argued that it was the kicker who I should be making go back, as he had moved the ball forward.
This is just typical of the battle of wits referees have to put up with every weekend. For once, I thought that perhaps the Brazilians might have a good idea. Believe it or not, but referees in Brazil go out on the field of play, armed with a small canister. When they give a free kick they put the ball down where the foul had happened, take out their canister and spray a white circle around the ball. Next they pace out the ten yards, draw a straight line across the pitch with the canister and wave the defenders back behind the line. Encroachment at free kicks is much more difficult because it is so obvious. Apparently the spray is a powdery substance and soon fades, so the pitch doesn't become an untidy mess of white lines.
More evidence that encroachment at free kicks is a worldwide problem comes from FIFA, who were given approval by the International FA Board, to conduct an experiment at the World Youth Championship in Holland and the under-17 World Championship in Peru.
The proposal is that when a free kick is awarded, any member of the offending team who deliberately touches the ball, is punished by a yellow card. Apart from the fact that this is already possible in the current laws, if by doing so the player attempts to delay the taking of the kick, it seems to most referees not to be tackling the problem in the best way. By that I mean a way that will not result in more yellow cards for what are really technical offences but also a way which will have an immediate effect on the offending team.
Watchers of professional football will perhaps have noticed this year that referees have not, in any games, taken the ball ten yards further towards the offending team's goal line at free kicks. This is because this sanction was only an experiment, although it was one that went on for a number of years. The reason for not continuing with it as a permanent part of the laws, is, we are told, because it came from rugby and other countries in the world don't have the same empathy with the oval ball game.
The real trouble is that we didn't copy it correctly. It could only be used if a player was cautioned first, which is not how it happens in rugby. Almost every referee believes, that if we could simply move the ball forward when players stand over the ball, or encroach at free kicks and also use it, as they do in rugby, when players dispute a free kick, it would reduce the nonsense we experience at nearly every free kick. Instead we are likely to have yet another mandatory yellow card offence which will in all probability have no effect whatsoever.
Dick
Sawdon Smith