AFC Wimbledon v Bristol Rovers - Official Match Thread

Funnily enough, I was discussing this with a friend of mine who is a football ref and officiates at a good standard of non league football. He says that there is a lot of interpretation of that rule and can be down to the circumstances of the particular offence and whether there was a genuine attempt to challenge for the ball. The rule has lots of elements of unsporting conduct and it’s down to the ref whether those offences were committed in the tackle.

For example, a player goes through 1v1 vs the keeper, the keeps goes to save the ball at the feet of the player, misses the ball but gets very close to winning it. There was a genuine attempt to play for and get at the ball. The ref may also see that a defender was closing in on the player or in proximity to the penalty box that could have resulted in a successful defence should the player have missed the goal scoring opportunity. In that case, usually a pen is given and a yellow card issued.

The same situation occurs and the player goes to round the keeper. The ball is played past the keeper, the player would clearly make the goal scoring opportunity but in a last gasp attempt the keeper trips the player to deny the goal scoring opportunity or completely misjudged the attempt at the ball and gets nowhere near it. A red card would be issued and a penalty given.

If a keeper who is the last man rushes out of his area and commits a foul to deny a goal scoring opportunity or handles outside of the area to prevent a goal scoring opportunity then a red card would be issued. I asked about the Will Puddy incident at Wembley. He said in his opinion, that should have been a red card. However he could understand why the ref gave him a yellow due to the majority of and positioning of the Grimsby attackers. Interesting.

This is what my friend says In the Accrington case, although the player won the ball, the ball was going wide of goal for a goal kick, the attacker wouldn’t have made the ball to put it in the net, so it wasn’t a goal scoring opportunity. But he did draw a foul, the ref was correct in issuing a yellow card and a pen. Same too with the second pen. The keeper and the attacker were on the same trajectory towards the ball and the keeper very nearly wins it. Lualua just gets there first and the keeper commits a foul but the ball was not a goal scoring opportunity, so correctly it’s a 2nd yellow card and a penalty.

With a defending player chasing an attacker the referee again must decide whether the attempt to win the ball was genuine. If it is a clear trip from behind to blatantly deny a goal scoring opportunity, red card. If the defender is running back and is in front of the attacker with the ball in close proximity to both players but the tackle is not completed, the ref must judge the positioning of other attacking and defending players and whether it was a clear goal scoring opportunity to issue a red or a yellow card.

Regarding the fairness of the penalty decisions, well, there is no guarantee that the denying of a goal scoring opportunity would result in a goal. Like Reilly on Friday, your attacker could be 1v1 and the keeper make a great save. That is why the penalty kick is given, to restore that opportunity. If the opportunity is not taken, then hard lines and not the fault of the defending team. Chances are there to be taken and if they aren’t taken that is the fault of the attacking team.

I'm sure if you looked at the stats for pens scored v free kicks scored it will give you the answer. A penalty is very much a clear and obvious replacement to the one that was taken away by the foul whereas the very low percentage of free kicks from outside of the box scored will prove you don't replace a clear and obvious opportunity. Seems perfectly fair to me.
i really don't want to be watching football where no defender is able to make a challenge in the box for fear of getting a triple punishment and just waving an attacker through. It seems one of the more sensible rule changes in recent years. 

IMO the new system is fairer than the old and a far better representation of punishment meeting the crime. Of course penalties can be missed but I would bet every penny I have that more penalties get scored than would be scored by the player who was fouled had they been allowed to continue. 

The referee is there to enforce the law of the game. Of course those laws can be open to interpretation of what he sees and what the lino sees together with the split second decision he has to make. In the case of the Accrington game, the keeper committed a foul, but it wasn’t a red card offence. The attacking team were then given a penalty and the keeper saved. What’s unfair about any of the above on either side?

I’m not sure what argument you are trying to build Clive?

A pen is given to replace the denial of a clear goal scoring opportunity (not a definite goal) or to punish a foul which whether is inside or outside the box will result in play being given to the attacking team. Whether you view it as a mistake to give the pen away or to miss the resulting pen is neither here nor there, the balance of play has been levelled.