Declan Rice’s red card on Saturday has divided opinion among the football community.
FA’s policy on it’s website, regarding time wasting reads: “delaying the restart of play – this includes kicking, or carrying the ball away or provoking a confrontation by deliberately touching the ball after the referee has stopped play.’
By the letter of law, Rice does tap the ball away when it’s Brighton’s free kick to take.
Rules say nothing about how far away the ball should be kicked or if the official had been consistent earlier in the game.
While Mikel Arteta acted ‘Amazed’ by the decision, the PGMOL did sit all parties down in the summer and stress this was an area they would have zero tolerance on.
Can the sending off be considered harsh?
Could the ref have had a quiet word with our midfielder instead of insisting on a second yellow card? Of course.
Which begs the question why didn’t that happen?
Once you rule out the idea that Chris Kavanagh is part of a nationwide conspiracy against Arsenal (and it can be proven that’s not the case) then why are we at the point where officials have been ordered to be strict towards ‘time wasting ‘?
That’s the angle Simon Jordan approached the subject from on Talk Sport. The presenter said that it’s been the conduct of player’s for years that has made the sport governed this way.
While Rice suffers in the short term, is it in fact the actions of his peers which led to this past weekend?
Allot of observers have asked for common sense to be utilised at times but that’s only if everyone is on the same page. Players can’t be treated like adults if they going to act like Children.
That’s Mr Jordan’s point, believing that the same individuals who have tried to cheat and manipulate every policy written now want sympathy when there is zero benefit of the doubt.
Once upon a time, a casual word would have been afforded to the player but it’s those same players (not all) who tried to manipulate rules by time wasting.
Clubs can’t have it both ways. They can’t time waste constantly (all do that) then complain when tougher sanctions are introduced.
We had this a couple of seasons ago regarding stoppage time. FIFA were at pains to underline how much time during a match there was little action so ordered each half for the exact time the ball was out of play to be added on.
This was mirrored domestically. Manager’s, players and owners were fuming that double digits were being thrown on to each half, citing player welfare as a concern.
In reality, studies showed that before this tweak, in 90 minutes, the football was on the pitch for approx. 60 minutes.
So, for half an hour the ball is out of play. The audacity, for the same companies who are cheating their customers out of their money’s worth, to act like they are being mistreated.
Mr Jordan uses VAR as a device which contradicts what clubs want.
They wanted video technology to override human error, but have done nothing but complain about the Technology since its introduction. Then, when they were given the option in the summer of getting rid of Video Technology, 19 out of a possible 20, voted for it to stay.
Does the system need to be utilised more consistently?
Without question.
Yet the reason Rugby, Cricket and Tennis don’t have as many controversies is that there is a professionalism which eliminates how many things can go wrong. In those sports you don’t get play acting, diving, time wasting, managers swearing at 4th officials.
When you do, all are aware who’s in charge and understanding the consequences of any verbal abuse.
A second booking was harsh on Rice.
Although the letter of the law was followed, common sense seemed suffice.
I heard many say, “if that’s a red card, where is our sport going?”
Ask yourself though how we got here?
It’s not just incompetent officiating.
Dan
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Just want officials to get it right if following letter of law
Right place for spot kick
Not rolling ball into path of opposition player
Not manipulating situation for referee to get involved not surrounding official
Not waving imaginary yellow card
Not asking for yellow card
Not kicking opposition player
Follow letter of law if you must but follow ALL the rules
For me it’s not even a question of conspiracy. It’s about consistency. And it’s not just inconsistency between different games. In most cases there are inconsistencies within the same game! It goes both ways in my opinion. It’s okay for the referees to expect a certain conduct. Similarly the players and fans expect a level of professionalism and consistency from the refs. Inconsistency is a sign of incompetence and it’s incompetence that forms fertile ground for breeding conspiracy theories.
I do not agree with this consistency point that have been popular since the weekend.
If inconsistencies favour one team than the other isn’t that bias or corruption?
Let’s take last game as an example, the referee inconsistency favored only Brighton and hurt Arsenal.
If inconsistency was a factor we would have seen different decisions favouring and hurting both teams in the same game.
A good point.
Well, they apparently aren’t cracking down on timewasting in every case. That’s the issue. I would be happy if they cracked down on every single case on the pitch, bar none. That’s fair as it gets.
But it isn’t the case, is it? If Kavanaugh had to make a statement about the new time-wasting rules and the following penalties, he had much better chances before the Rice incident to enforce the rule. And afterwards as well.
I’m not against the time wasting, in fact it’s the part of the football I absolutely hate. I want to watch football for 90 minutes, not WWE theatrics and soap dramas. So, I want the refs to crack down very hard on such events, but it has to be for every case.
*I’m not against crackdowns on time wasting
I hope Rice’s red card will deter his teammates from making similar mistake, but Chris Kavanagh should also be punished for his unwillingness to book Pedro and Veltman
Yeah, they need to be more aware of when they have a biased/incompetent ref to deal with and not be so surprised when the opponent tries to play him for a fool.
Exactly my position @Gai. According to the article No one is denying time wasting tactics is good. What I am not pleased with is A refree shouldn’t be partial in dishing out cards offenders should be punished equally.
Another point that occurred to me, as I reflect on Mr Kavanagh’s performance.
If he was so intent on penaliding Rice for time wasting…. why didn’t he book the defender who sliced the ball away in the first place?
Wasn’t that a more blatant attempt at kicking the ball away and wasting time, plus, I assume, wanting to gain an advantage by moving the point of the free kick further forward?
Just imagine if he’d booked the defender immediately it happened, we’d have Rice available for the North London Derby!!
You’re mentioning something that hit me as well. It was amusing to me that as I read Dan’s second paragraph quoting of the letter of the law, I realized that Veltman should have been booked for breaking it (among other things). Veltman was the instigator of the incident not Rice. Cavanagh fell for it hook, line, and sinker.
Your last 3 sentences are bang on the money Dan .
Cheating players and managers have got us to this stage .
Just thinking though…
Given that we have seen yellow card-worthy tackles go unpunished simply because an offside call was made beforehand, it raises the question: shouldn’t the referee of the Arsenal-Brighton game have first addressed the rolling ball and the incorrectly taken free kick? If those issues were dealt with, the yellow card for Declan Rice might not have been necessary.
Furthermore, wasn’t the referee too quick to make such a game-changing decision, like issuing a red card, without fully analyzing the situation? At the very least, he should have taken more time to consult VAR before making such a crucial call.
Following the letter of the law doesn’t always create a perfect environment, because it is not always practical. That is why there is a need for common sense in these situations.
When the Brighton player wasn’t carded, we may have assumed the referee applied common sense. So why wasn’t the same common sense applied in a situation that led to a red card? It is inconsistent to suddenly insist on strictly following the letter of the law in this case, and it is such inconsistencies that fuels conspiracy theories.
So sometimes, we need to take time to analyze the source of such conspiracy theories rather than simply trying to kill the theories themselves by brute force…
Cheers!
It’s addressed in the pgmol questions – I think a lot of people believe the freekick was taken when veltman knocked the ball as he stood up, but I thought at the time, as did the ref, that he never actually took the freekick – he was about to when rice kicked it away. In the pgmol you’d response, Dermot Gallagher said that it wasn’t the first offence because the freekick hadn’t been taken – again, this was my inference at the time. Not to say that makes me right, just find it strange how so many people can see such a simple situation so differently.
*In the pgmol response* (not sure where the “you’d” came from there
Davi, are you saying that the defender, when slicing the ball away, didn’t commit any infringement?
If so, what about him kicking a rolling ball, that was not in the original spot, into the anatomy of Rice.
Was that not two further infringements that Mr Kavanagh ignored or failed to see?
Agree with you in the inconsistency – I will say they were very different situations, but agree it’s not a good look
Davi, are you saying that the defender, when slicing the ball away, didn’t commit any infringement?
If so, what about him kicking a rolling ball, that was not in the original spot, into the anatomy of Rice.
Was that not two further infringements that Mr Kavanagh ignored or failed to see?