Pedagogue wrote:
As Plastic Hawk quite correctly notes, how do you know whether the referee's 10 strides cover 9.15 metres? One of the basic skills that we now attempt to teach new referees is how to estimate 9.15 metres. We lay out a measuring tape on the ground and get each trainee referee to pace out 9.15 metres, USING THEIR NORMAL STRIDE PATTERN. The resulting number of strides varies from person to person. For example, someone like Geoff Whiting might need eleven normal strides to cover that distance whereas Metfan would need only nine.
Regarding last Tuesday's incident, the referee had already taken two strides before the ASBO-TO-GO Stand started counting! I think that the previous evening's festivities may have numbed their brains, a little. :lol: :lol:
I know that I am never going to convince the budding 'Alan Wiley's on this board but that will not stop me trying! :P :D
That may be true Pedagogue, but nevertheless most refs you see WILL count out ten strides. I trust you WILL concede to that, as it happens on nearly every occasion.
This Ref was not one of the taller ones you'll see, nor did he take extended strides, and I would not therefore expect that nine of his strides would cover the ten yards (or 9.15 metres as we have, apparently to stupidly convert into such a meaningless distance).
I can also estimate ten yards mate, and that was nowhere near it. Whatever slant you want to place on it or excuse you want to make for him, he DID NOT move that line back the required distance, and I was in a very good seat to assess that. We have an 18 yard penalty area do we not? That means the free kick distance is a little more than a half of the distance from the goal-line to the edge of the penalty area. When a free kick takes place near or into the penalty area, the box itself is a great guide to that ten yards distance, and the Ref could have used that too as a guide, but he failed dismally to get it right.
In actual fact I believe he was still trying to move the line back and the line was not moving for him, when he suddenly gave up, broke away and ran across towards the centre/edge of the penalty area, before blowing the whistle and Ricketts took the kick.
I thought it had hit the Donny man in the face, but others with a better angle on the kick say it was clearly a hand-ball. If that is true, he missed TWO penalties - great bl**dy performance!