In a couple of matches earlier this season, I made disputed decisions in the last few minutes that may well have affected the outcome of the games. Not for the first time of course and I'm sure not for the last time.
The reason I mention these particular decisions is because they illustrate two sides of the same law. One which many players and spectators don't fully understand. Both incidents concerned in a different way, the law on tackling which I always refer to as 'my law'.
In the first incident the score was 2-1 in a hard fought game. With a few minutes to go, a forward of the losing side made a run into his opponents' penalty area. A defender tracking back made a tackle bringing him down. I immediately pointed to the penalty mark, but the defender protested loudly that he had played the ball. It was perfectly true that he had played the ball and it is a cry that referees hear almost every week, 'I played the ball ref. So why was it a penalty?
Law 12 says quite clearly, 'A direct free kick (or penalty) is awarded to the opposing team, if a player tackles an opponent to gain possession of the ball making contact with the opponent before touching the ball'. The player who I had penalised had undoubtedly played the ball but, to get to it, he first made contact with his opponent bringing him down.
The second incident was rather different and was not a tackle as such, but still concerned a defender playing the ball.
It was a cup-tie in which a team who were a goal down spent most of the second half frantically attacking the opponents' goal. In the dying minutes a forward broke through into the penalty area and fired a shot on goal. The goalkeeper, who had come off his
line parried the shot but was unable to hold it and the ball ran loose. The forward latched on to it and was about to shoot when the goalkeeper dived at his feet pushing the ball away and bringing down his opponent. I waived away the appeals for a penalty from the players and supporters.
The difference between this incident and the earlier one was that the goalkeeper played the ball, pushing it away with his hands, before the forward fell over his outstretched arm. He did not make contact with player first.
In case you are wondering, let me tell you why I always refer to this as 'my law'. Some years ago Seth Blatter, the President of FIFA, was demanding action on tackles. I wrote an article for The Football Referee, the national magazine for referees, in which I described how I judged whether a tackle was fair or not. Of course I wasn't talking about tackles which arc violent, with little or no attempt to play the ball, because they must always be treated as serious foul play.
In my article I wrote that even if the player's primary intention was to play the ball, if he makes contact with his opponent first, then in my opinion it was a foul. The very next year the law was changed and the words used were virtually identical to mine. Four members of the International Football Association Board which is responsible for altering the laws come from the home countries, England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Am I being unrealistic in thinking that they read The Football Referee and may therefore have turned consciously or unconsciously to what I had written when considering Seth Blatter's demands on tackles?
It may have been just a coincidence of course but I like to think that it is my moment of fame.
Dick Sawdon Smith