Apart from Reading's spirited fight back against Middlesborough, there was another big talking point on the opening day of the Premiership season. It was the one that caused the most controversy of the day and it came at the game between, also newly promoted Sheffield United and Liverpool.
With Sheffield leading one-nil and looking likely to achieve a remarkable victory against one of the sides fancied for the title, Steven Gerrard broke through their defence just inside the penalty area. A Sheffield defender Chris Morgan came in feet first and, although it is not absolutely clear whether he made contact or not, the tackle caused Gerrard to stumble and he was unable to control his shot on goal.
The referee, Rob Styles, pointed to the penalty mark and Liverpool took the opportunity to equalise. The debate that followed
was: did Morgan make contact or did Gerrard merely jump over the outstretched
leg?
The referee, Rob Styles, agreed to appear on television to explain his decision. 'It doesn't matter whether contact was made or not,' was his contention. 'a trip or an attempted trip is the same thing.' Of course he is right. Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct, says that a direct free kick (or penalty) is awarded if a player trips or attempts to trip an opponent. The same goes for strikes or attempts to strike and kicks or attempts to kick. A miss is as bad as a hit.
This is where the pundits on BBC's Match of the
Day, whose grasp of the finer points of the laws has never been too great, started to get confused. 'But the player was intending to play the ball,' they cried, seemingly not aware that what Rob Styles had referred to, was
attempting not intending. The law no longer requires the referee to consider the intention of the player.
This is perhaps illustrated by the sending off of Ibrahima Sonko a few days later at Reading's game with Aston Villa. Few people would consider that Sonko had set out with the intention of bringing down the Aston Villa player but bring him down he did, so the referee gave a penalty.
However, the tackle by Sheffield's Morgan was a little different. Whatever the player's intention, it was a late tackle. If he had clearly made contact and brought Gerrard down, no one would have been able to make the excuse that 'he went for the ball'. By the same token, if a player makes a late tackle and it doesn't connect with the opponent, it is considered in the law to be an attempt to trip and the penalty is the same.
To the ears of the Match of the Day panel, intent and
attempt may sound the same but in the Laws of the Game they are subtly different.
Interestingly enough, Rob Styles was afterwards disciplined by the referee's body of the Premiership and demoted to the Championship for his next game. His 'crime' was not that he gave the penalty but that having given it, he didn't follow it up by sending off the Sheffield United player who by his action had denied an obvious goal scoring opportunity.
With Sonko of course, there are many fans who considered that as it was not an
intentonal foul, although it denied a goal -coring opportunity, a yellow card at the most, would have been punishment enough. The law however says, 'A player is sent off if he denies an obvious goal-scoring opportunity to an opponent, by an offence punishable by a free kick or penalty'. Once the referee has decided that it is a foul in such circumstances, he has no
option in law but to show the offender a red card. As Rob Styles was reminded, the referee has no discretion - it's all or nothing.
Dick Sawdon Smith
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© R Sawdon Smith 2006