Anybody see the Blackburn-Bolton game?

[SirFozzie]

There's a picture on soccernet now.

Will avoid spoiling it Just In Case.. but

Me thinketh a certain player is gonna have some splanin to do to a tribunal..

[ISiddiqui]

That was utterly shameful. FIFA REALLY need to crack down on this sort of thing. It's been ruining the game for quite a while.

Can the ERL fine a player (does it have a central governing body?), or does it have to come from FIFA directly?

[CHEMICAL SOLDIER]

I hope he gets the book.

[SirFozzie]

The English FA can call him in.. the problem is, I don't know if they can unless the ref mentions it in his game report. But even if he avoids punishment for this one, the second he tries anything similar, he'll be written up so fast it'll make his head spin..

I wouldn't doubt also that he doesn't get anything that's not totally blatant the rest of the season.

[Ragone]

They should red card obvious dives... problem is.. refs are too gun shy to do it.. and are never in the posistion to call it

[daedalus]

I'm under the impression that, since he was *not* booked for it during the game, he can be called in. That was how Van Nistelrooij was punished on his supposed attempt to step on Cole.

[bhlloy]

Simple solution... get convicted of diving get banned for 3. Do it twice, get banned for 5. Once more and you sit out a season. None of this "ref didn't include it in his report" BS, a panel watches each and every game and calls out offenders. Then a disciplinary panel would meet.

It would never sit with players reps or FIFA, but I bet it would stop diving in it's tracks. I don't think it's overly harsh - this is RUINING the game.

Having said that, the ref must have been in dream land to miss this one. Watching it on TV with sky sports high above the pitch cam, I and everyone in the room with me immediately called dive. He went down waaay too late and in a funny twisting kind of way... how the ref on the pitch and close to the incident missed it I will never know. He should be taken off Premiership games for a while for his mistake.

[lighthousekeeper]

As an outsider's (i.e. dumb american) perspective, why aren't people blaming the ref? It was his missed call. Maybe if the ref only gave out cards for things he actually saw (meaning actual trip in action...not guy falling to the ground), then these things wouldn't happen.


I feel like anytime I watch a soccer game, I see guys overacting, writhing on the ground - and to me most of the time it looks like it was minor contact. And I'm always thinking to myself..."get up you Europussy". It's one of the main things that turns me off about soccer - it's hard to look up to these guys when they're constantly crying on the ground and whining to refs.

Maybe rugby is the sport for me.

[Poli]

I haven't seen the photo, but I read the article.

[FrogMan]

yeah, anybody got a link to the picture?

FM

[KevinNU7]

He's a real class act too
http://www.itv-football.co.uk/Features/Readers_Views/story_135675.shtml

[Critch]

A real class act...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/europe/2849009.stm

(not that there's anything wrong with spitting at Celtic fans, right enough :D )

[Calis]

(not that there's anything wrong with spitting at Celtic fans, right enough :D )

Bah!

And moreso, it's not like Diouf has exactly been a pillar of the community, guy has always been a prick.

Haven't seen the photo yet though.

[ISiddiqui]

As an outsider's (i.e. dumb american) perspective, why aren't people blaming the ref? It was his missed call. Maybe if the ref only gave out cards for things he actually saw (meaning actual trip in action...not guy falling to the ground), then these things wouldn't happen.
Well, it happens so fast that there may be some minor contact and then the guy hitting the floor. If you see it at normal speed, a lot of times it looks like a foul. Sometimes this happens in American football where you get pass interference calls for nothing because at normal speed, where the ref was, it looked like there was enough contact. Though this one was a bad call.

[SirFozzie]

http://cache-1.sportinglife.com/pictures/general/allsportdioufwinspenalty.jpg

Note he hasn't even started to go down.. but he's clear of Brad Friedel.

[lighthousekeeper]

Well, it happens so fast that there may be some minor contact and then the guy hitting the floor. If you see it at normal speed, a lot of times it looks like a foul. Sometimes this happens in American football where you get pass interference calls for nothing because at normal speed, where the ref was, it looked like there was enough contact. Though this one was a bad call.

But then shouldn't refs know this and not call it unless they are absolutely certain? Is there any talk of instant replay in soccer? Or coaches challenges?

[bhlloy]

No, it would interrupt the flow of the game too much. The only sports replay works in are the ones with frequent planned stoppages (football after a down, cricket after a ball etc...

They are however thinking of putting it in for ball crossing the goalline decisions after the Man United debacle a couple of weeks ago. I'm in favor of that, but not for every decision. Bear in mind you can't even challenge penalties in football, just things that are clear judgement calls. Using a video replay to decide what is and isn't a foul gets very cloudy IMO

This time the ref just blew it. It should have been an easy no penalty decision if he saw it clearly, and if he didn't the benefit of the doubt should have gone to the defender (or he should have asked the linesman)

[SirFozzie]

Instant Replay: There has been some talk about doing it, but A) No way the refs will do it, B) Some of the bigger teams don't want it, because they feel the refs look at it a bit more sympathetically for the bigger teams.

Coaches Challenges, technically unfeasible.

And the refs are really stuck in between a rock and a hard place. If Diouf had gone down, and the ref waved it off or booked Diouf for diving, you'd see a 3 minute routine from Diouf that he couldn't BELIEVE that he didn't get the call.

It's one man on a very large field, with two assistants running up and down the sidelines.. it's not exactly very easy, a ref can only call what he sees, but unfortunately, sometimes he has to call what he THINKS he sees.

[Huckleberry]

And the refs are really stuck in between a rock and a hard place. If Diouf had gone down, and the ref waved it off or booked Diouf for diving, you'd see a 3 minute routine from Diouf that he couldn't BELIEVE that he didn't get the call.
Great, so give him the second yellow for the red and tell him to get the hell off the pitch.

Problem solved.

[Desnudo]

As an outsider's (i.e. dumb american) perspective, why aren't people blaming the ref? It was his missed call. Maybe if the ref only gave out cards for things he actually saw (meaning actual trip in action...not guy falling to the ground), then these things wouldn't happen.


I feel like anytime I watch a soccer game, I see guys overacting, writhing on the ground - and to me most of the time it looks like it was minor contact. And I'm always thinking to myself..."get up you Europussy". It's one of the main things that turns me off about soccer - it's hard to look up to these guys when they're constantly crying on the ground and whining to refs.

Maybe rugby is the sport for me.

Faking happens more than I'd like to see, but a lot of the knocks people take on the pitch hurt a lot more than they look like they might. Soccer is actually a very physical sport, especially in leagues like the EPL. If you've ever had your foot stepped on by someone wearing cleats running at full speed or been kicked hard in the ankle by someone, you'd see it's not as easy to get up as it looks.

[ISiddiqui]

It's one man on a very large field, with two assistants running up and down the sidelines.. it's not exactly very easy, a ref can only call what he sees, but unfortunately, sometimes he has to call what he THINKS he sees.
Yep, and then you also have the problem of that it MAY have been an obvious penalty, which will be showed ad infinitum on replay every day, leading to a heap of abuse on the ref from every quarter. Like you said, rock and a hard place.