I am always gratified with the support readers give this column, but sometimes I wonder how much good it's doing. My esteem therefore received a considerable boost last week when I received a phone call from the BBC
Match of the Day producer.
I had sent him a copy of my column of a couple of weeks ago, when I suggested that the BBC should give some training on the Laws of the Game to their new football pundits. He said they appreciated my comments and at their team meeting they accepted there were some misconceptions of the laws. They agreed to approach Keith Hackett, Supremo of the Premiership referees, to discuss items, which they could feature in the programme.
This of course would serve to educate not only viewers of the programme but also their own staff. I hope Keith Hackett agrees and look forward to the featured items with keen anticipation.
Whilst on the phone, we discussed at length the comments by Gavin Peacock on
Match of the Day2 about the dismissal of Chelsea's Arjen Robben. In case you didn't see it, Robben, after scoring the winning goal against Sunderland, jumped the advertising hoarding surrounding the field of play and into the crowd.
The referee treated this as a cautionable offence and as Robben had already been cautioned, he was sent off. Gavin Peacock, speaking with authority, said 'Leaving the pitch is not a cautionable offence'. Well actually it is. In Law 12 it says ' A player is cautioned and shown the yellow card if he leaves the field of play without the
referee's permission'.
Of course, referees do not get the yellow card out every time a
player sets a foot outside the pitch, this is reserved for extreme cases, which is how FIFA sees this type of behaviour. There are many, including Nick Ive, the Evening Post's football reporter, who believe it is a ridiculous law.
Personally I think some of the goal scoring celebrations are unnecessary and ridiculous but here we have a question of safety. When a player goes into the crowd, they all rush down to get in on the act and we have seen the result of spectators being crushed in the past. The reaction from Jose Mourino, Robben's Chelsea boss was enlightening. 'He's a young man,' he said, 'he will learn that, when you have one yellow card, it's stupid to commit another cautionable offence.'
That's a lesson I would have hoped that Sam Allardyce would have spelt out to his players. Anyone watching the match against Blackburn would have been aware of the blatant baiting of Blackburn's Robbie Savage. Bolton's Hidetoshi Nakata had already been cautioned for a foul on Savage and then got sent off after another reckless tackle.
Instead of castigating his player for his stupidity, Allardyce chose to accuse the referee of bias against his team. Another manager who criticised the wrong person the same weekend was Sir Alex Ferguson.
In the Manchester derby, his Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo, perhaps with some justification, felt that he had been fouled by City's Stephen Jordan but the referee only gave a throw-in. His let his temper get the better of him and he made an ill-conceived lunge at another City player Andy Cole. It is just as well for all concerned, especially Cole, that he didn't make contact but referee Steve Bennett still sent him off, quite rightly as there could be little doubt Ronaldo's action was intended to injure or hurt his opponent. Sir Alex blamed the referee, instead of reminding his player that he who retaliates almost always pays the price.
After my success with Match of the
Day, perhaps I should send copies of this article to Sam Allardyce and Sir Alex Ferguson. Somehow I suspect that they wouldn't be received with quite the same consideration.
Dick
Sawdon Smith