Untold Arsenal: Arsenal News. Supporting the Lord Wenger in all he does » 2010 » August » 13

by Walter Broeckx

In the game against Legia Warsaw we saw once again that some teams don’t know the rules at all. Or better said intentionally try to break the rules. Now that is not a big surprise for me as a ref as I have to see the same attempts every week and hear a lot of rubbish being said about the rules by players and spectators. And even by most pundits who get paid to give their thoughts on the game but know almost nothing when it comes to the rules.

But the worst thing is that many referees don’t seem to know the rules at all and don’t give fouls for something where there should be no discussion. I refer to the second goal Legia scored against us and every corner kick where they packed the goal mouth with lots of players to prevent the keeper to come and claim the ball.

So let me start by quoting the Fifa rule book and guidelines on page 113:

LAW 12 – FOULS AND MISCONDUCT

Offences committed against goalkeepers

• It is an offence for a player to prevent a goalkeeper from releasing the ball from his hands

• A player must be penalised for playing in a dangerous manner if he kicks or attempts to kick the ball when the goalkeeper is in the process of releasing it

• It is an offence to restrict the movement of the goalkeeper by unfairly impeding him, e.g. at the taking of a corner kick

So there it is in clear written and understandable English for all to see. Managers can see it, players can read it and refs should know this by heart. Now I really do think that most refs know this. But the problem is that many refs don’t dare to take action when it is needed.

This is certainly the case when we play away from home and the crowd is breathing in the neck of the ref. Tests have shown that refs are influenced by the noise the crowd makes and so it is more difficult for a ref to give a foul against the home team when they restrict the movement of the goalkeeper. But this isn’t an excuse for a ref for not give the foul. If he can’t stand the pressure of the crowd he has to stop being a ref.

Piling players in front of a goalkeeper is what should be punished according to this rule as it always will unfairly impede the keeper to come for the ball. You are only allow to obstruct a player when you have the ball in your reach. So when the ball is flying from the corner flag to the goal at that moment you are not allowed to impede or obstruct the keeper.

In the past we have seen so many times that other team use this tactics against us and get away with it. So what can Arsenal do about this? What can they do to wake up the referees and remind them of the rules. Now it may look silly that I tell you that we should remind the refs about some rules but I can tell you that it isn’t. As you can see there are a  lot of pages in the rules and guidelines to the rules. And sometimes you lose something. It can happen as a ref that you don’t remember a rule at all or not correct. So how could we help the refs in this?

First of all I think that in the Emirates in the dressing room of the refs Arsenal should make sure that there is a rule book lying around. But they also should make it sure that they paint some of the rules that are used against us in an unfair way on the wall of the dressing rooms. They can copy parts of the rule book and put them on the wall in some kind of art form. You could compare it with the Arsenalisation of the Emirates. Why not call it the referalisation of the refs dressing room. I don’t think there can be any rule against this. How could one forbid displaying the Fifa rules in a football stadium?

So the refs will have to look at them even if they don’t want to do this. When you are a ref and when you are waiting  before a game and there is something on the wall the refs will have the habit or reading it. And if the refs every time read for example the article in the rule book I have written above it could well be that they are more aware of this rule and will apply it on the field. They could have the feeling : hey that’s right it is black on white in the rule book. And on the field they could even tell a player if he is complaining about it: ‘Now look son, it is in the rulebook on  page 113, check it out this evening’. It does make you feel smart as a ref and it will shut every player up for a while. They will be thinking: “wow, this guy knows the rules really well.”

And Arsenal could do another thing about it, on the field. Now when such a team puts 3 players around our goalkeeper we respond by putting also 3 players in there. This is so totally wrong in my opinion for 2 reasons.

First of all by putting your own players there you restrict the space even more. Then there is some kind or wrestling competition between the players and the keeper can be tripped over by his own players. As it happened in Warsaw last weekend. So by pulling the defenders a few yards out you also will create room for your own keeper and make it easier for him to collect the ball.

And the second reason is that if there are only attackers surrounding the goalkeeper it is clear to see for the ref that they obstruct the goalkeeper at the taking of a corner. If the keeper moves himself to go for the ball and an attacker impedes him the ref can see it clearly and blow the foul. But if there are as many body’s from both teams in there it is much more difficult for the ref to see who did what.

So I would suggest that Arsenal does the writing on the wall thing in the refs dressing room at the Emirates. When away they could give the ref a short reminder on those things and we know which teams apply those tactics and if the Arsenal official meets the ref before the game he can tell him: “don’t forget the rule book page 113 about impeding the goalkeeper when a corner is taken.” And as you catch a bear with honey and not with vinegar you can also add: “but we know that you will apply those rules as we know you are a good ref”.   

So if Arsenal reminds the refs and the pundits of these rules every game it could well be that the refs do apply those rules far better. I know that there are some rules that you tend to become negligent after a while as a ref. But if they don’t do their job then Arsène Wenger should come out at the press conference, take a paper out of his pocket (page 113) and tell the journalists that you don’t get it that a ref is not knowing these simple rules at all. Give the paper to the journalists and ask them why these rules are not followed even though they come directly from Fifa.

It sure will add some live in to the press conferences and if you act like this you cannot get fined for giving a bad name to the ref. You just can say you are dissapointed about the ref seemingly not knowing the rules who are available for all.

Football has a rule book and all the rules must be followed and when they are not the ref should act. That’s all we can ask. But will the refs do this? Come and see from next week. I will be having a close look on it.