Pages

Monday, August 10, 2015

Bicycle kick endangered a player, so ref was right to disallow Norwich goal

FIFA very kindly offers an 80-page document as an add on to the Laws of the Game which is called "Interpretation of the laws of the game and guidelines for referees.
Included under Law 12, "Fouls and Misconduct" is a section that referee Simon Hooper clearly learned by heart and used when he was given a rare opportunity to referee a Premier League game on Saturday, Norwich vs Crystal Palace at Carrow Road.

 When Norwich striker Cameron Jerome tried a daring bicycle kick and thought he had equalised, Hooper blew for a foul on the Palace defender who had been trying to head the ball when Jerome launched his acrobatic move that saw him connecting with the ball at head height.
And there seems to have been broad criticism of Hooper, including from ex-referee Dermot Gallagher, on Sky, who said the referee was wrong to disallow Jerome's goal.
Let me just quote from the guidelines for referees. Don't forget these are the laws of football.

"Playing in a dangerous manner is defined as any action that, while trying to play the ball, threatens injury to someone. It is committed with an opponent nearby and prevents the opponent from playing the ball for fear of injury.
 "A bicycle kick is permissible provided that, in the opinion of the referee, it is not dangerous to an opponent,
 "Playing in a dangerous manner involves no physical contact between the players."

That translates as the following for me. Bicycle kicks are fine but not if they mean you come close to kicking an opponent in the face.

In this case, the defender was threatened and so the goal was rightly disallowed.

Norwich goalkeeper John Ruddy summed up the mood of the home team when he said: “I think that’s where common sense comes into it. If you’re in the middle of the box and you’re trying to score a goal, and you’re improvising in that manner, it’s common sense (to allow the goal)"

Well sorry John, but it's not common sense. One of the referee's main jobs is to protect players and that's what M r. Hooper was doing by chalking off the goal, even if it did end your chances of a point.

No comments: