There is an advert that has been featured heavily in newspapers and magazines recently, that starts with the large bold statement, ‘If you lose, blame the referee’. The advert is obviously not doing its job as I can’t remember what it is advertising.
The statement, however, stays with me, because as referees know only too well, it’s what happens all the time. Especially of course, or perhaps they just get the most publicity, by Premiership managers.
I remember last season for instance, Paul Jewell, then manager of Wigan who were close to the drop, claiming because a referee has seen a tackle differently than himself, ‘the referee has cost us £50 million. He was of course referring to the loss of money if the club were relegated to the Championship. He ignored the fact that his star striker, Emile Heskey, had missed three golden opportunities to score and win the game.
A past master at blaming the referee is Birmingham manager Steve Bruce and he was at it again last weekend. His problem is, however, that for the second time this season, when he has been purple with rage, he has found no supporters. No one else, not even the television pundits, when reviewing the video replays, have believed that either referee made a mistake.
On Saturday, he claimed, ‘I head the crack from where I was; how could the referee miss it when he was only three yards away?’ Ignoring the fact that in the dug out at ground level is probably the worst ‘seat in the
house, the slow motion reply proved that the referee was correct.
The law on tackling is clearly written but not always so easy to administer. What it says is this, ‘A direct free kick is awarded if a player tackles an opponent to gain possession of the ball, making contact with the opponent before touching the ball’.
What this means is that if the opponent then falls over the outstretched leg of the player who has played the ball, no foul has been committed. For a referee this is not always easy to judge, he must be in the right position and close enough to see exactly what happened. So what should a referee do if he was not sure where the first contact is made?
There is no way a referee is going to be in exactly the right spot to say with complete certainty what took place at every tackle. Should he let it go because he was not sure or give a foul because it looks bad? If he does the first, he may have made a mistake and evoke the wrath of the team who feel they should have been awarded a free kick. But of course if he does give it, he still may have made a mistake and be criticised by the other side.
We advise new referees to give what they see. ‘If you don’t see it, you can’t give it.’ It means of course that mistakes are made.
There are two exceptions to this law. Sometimes a player will play the ball first but will follow through with his other leg to bring the player down. This often happens with tackles from behind when it is very difficult not to foul the opponent. The other is when the tackle is made with such force as to be reckless or even worse. It doesn’t matter in those instances, which is played first, the ball or the opponent.
None of this applied to the incident in the Birmingham match. If Steve Bruce reviewed it when he had calmed down, I’m sure he would see that the opposing player played the ball after which the Birmingham player slipped, falling to the ground. I doubt however if it will make any difference. As the advert says ‘If you lose, blame the referee’.
Dick Sawdon Smith
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© R Sawdon Smith 2007