Whistle of the Month - March

March's Whistle of the Month as chosen by editor Aaron Dine was the article below written by local assessor Ken Hoad on his views of the current "Men in Black" in the Premier League:

An Opinion About Referees’ Decision Making in the Premier League

I have decided to write this article after seeing many matches and incidents on television this season (and in recent seasons too). I mean:

Holding and Shirt Tugging In The Penalty Area

At corners and free-kicks into the penalty area, why are defenders allowed to get away with so much blatant holding, blocking and shirt tugging without being penalised? I accept that we, at home, have the benefit of multiple camera angles compared to the single view of the referee and assistants, but so much of it goes on that they surely must see it and then opt against making a decision.

In open play, shirt tugging and holding back are almost always correctly penalised with a yellow or red card. Why are they ignored in the penalty area?

Is it because, in the penalty area, it seems that a decision against a defender must be 110% before it is given, when the same offence on the halfway line would, almost certainly, be more readily given? Such a distinction should not exist.

My view is (and I write this as a long-retired defender) that if many more penalties were given against defenders for these blatant offences, then they would stop committing them and then any attackers offending would be more obvious and therefore much easier to spot and penalise. The problem could cease in a very short time.

Leading With The Arm/Elbow

Also, while watching the ‘highlights’ (’lowlights’?) of the Portsmouth v Sunderland match recently I was delighted to see the referee give a straight red card to a Sunderland player for leading with his elbow/arm.

How has this dreadful challenge become ‘tolerated’ as much as it is, or at least not dealt with much more severely? It often seems to merit just a yellow card, unless the opponent is obviously seriously hurt.

Do managers really accept that their players can be allowed to commit such ‘crimes’, without penalty? If they took on some responsibility and fined their players heavily (whether the referee had penalised the offence or not) then players would be less likely to perpetrate such dangerous challenges, and potentially severe injuries would be less likely to occur to their own players or their opponents. But that’s wishful thinking, I’m sure!

Or are such challenges, leading with a high arm/elbow, an accepted thing, even quietly encouraged if the game gets a bit ‘heated’, by many in the professional game (which is then copied by players on local parks and by youngsters)? It’s alarming in my opinion.

Deliberately Holding Down

Similarly, (but not so violently), why has the deliberate use of the arm(s), to prevent an opponent from jumping, been allowed to become so widespread? In the past players just jumped to head the ball with their arms seldom above waist height.

Of course, the offence is frequently penalised (unless it is in the penalty area!) unlike the holding and shirt pulling, but it is a (mostly) deliberate non-violent ‘professional’ foul that, once more, if it were penalised with more yellow cards, would be likely to be less frequent and allow more open play and clear-cut goal chances, especially from free-kicks.

Quality of ‘Lining’

Another moan is about the quality of some of the ‘lining’. How many poor decisions have we seen this season, both giving offside when it was not and not giving it when it was. I’m not talking about the close/tight ones, but there have been very many that were given/not given when the players were well on-side/off-side. Everyone makes mistakes and lining is not always easy, but some decisions have been unbelievably bad. Some assistants have even made two or three such blatantly poor decisions in a single match. I’m sure this did not happen so frequently in the past. Has the quality of ‘lining’ gone down? If so, why? Or is the offside law now too complicated and open to opinion?

Unfair Advantage

Finally, in the Everton v Arsenal match, when Everton took a free-kick from about 30 yards, the ball hit Fabregas’ arm that he was deliberately holding up above his head. Why was he holding his hand up there? It was certainly not to protect himself. There was no reason to have it up there apart from hoping that the ball would hit it, be blocked or deflected and his team would benefit, which is precisely what happened.

It would not have been a penalty because the offence was outside the area, but the subsequent free-kick would have been from closer. The referee obviously saw the offence but decided not to penalise him. Why? I repeat – in my opinion there is no legitimate reason to have a hand held above the head at a free-kick. Fabregas was deliberately cheating and should have been penalised.

In an article in the January ‘Whistler’ the writer expressed the view that level 7 referees were commonly too lenient. Well, what about those in the Premier league?

Now that I’ve got these opinions off my chest, what do you think?

If you are interested in contributing to the magazine then please send your articles to the Magazine Editor, Aaron Dine: ajd77@cantab.net