That penalty - What the Football League say

[Barry Izbak]

My letter to the FL

I would be grateful if you can advise whether the public can expect to hear an explanation from referee Danny McDermid for his decision to convert a free-kick 15 yards from the halfway line into a penalty kick during the game he officiated in on Saturday afternoon?

His decision is clearly contrary to the laws of the game, and I would welcome an explanation how he came to make his decision. I would be content with any feedback, other than a denial to respond, whether he can explain his decision, or even if he can say he made an honest mistake.

From the Football League's position, I would be interested to learn what role the assitant officials play in an incident like the one that occured on Saturday. The referee has clearly brought the integrity of the game into some degree of disrepute, and whether an assessor was present or not, I would be interested to know whether this triggers a mechanism that might mean Mr McDermid faces some type of internal sanction within your organisation or the referee's.

Yours Faithfully,

The FL reply arrived today

Thank you for your email.

As procedure I passed on your comments to the Referees department who made contact with Brighton to receive their comments.

In this instance Gordon Greer was sent off for violent conduct which Brighton do not dispute and accept.

The Referee then had to make a decision as to whether the incident occurred after the Rochdale player had played the ball, thus putting it into play, or not. He deemed that it had and therefore the ball was in play. This was not an easy decision as a referee has to look towards the incident as well as look at the free kick from his peripheral vision. He ruled it in play.

The League have spoken to Gus Poyet, who accepts that his player was totally in the wrong, but disputes whether the ball was in play. He accepts that this was not an easy decision for the Referee. It is the referee’s opinion which counts on the day and hence this was not in breach of the Laws of the Game. The Referee will not be sanctioned by the Referee’s Department.

Your comments are noted and whilst this response may not be what you were hoping for we do appreciate your patience while we have looked into this further for you.

Kind Regards

Amanda

Amanda Craig | Customer Services Administrator
The Football League Limited

 

[Aldo]

Reasonable response

 

[Seasider78]

Well at least they responded!!

 

[Barrel of Fun]

Amanda.

How does a referee look at the point when the ball is struck and clearly see what occurred in a completely separate offence miles away from the ball?

 

[Easy 10]

Thats a reasonable reply, and well done for taking the time to write to them (unlike the rest of us who just moaned and bitched about it).

For what its worth, I'm pretty sure the ref blew for the Greer incident BEFORE the ball was played. But its water under the bridge now, and nobodies fault but our own for not winning that game. Hey ho.

 

[Da Man Clay]

Reasonable response

Indeed. I thought it was in play at the time as well. Difficult decision but can't really say any fairer than that.

 

[Southstandseagullsfan]

i still believe there shoul be more ref assesors at games and if a ref makes a game changing mistake he should be suspended, pay a fine and make a public apoligy

 

[The Large One]

Reasonable response, but the one I would have been expecting to be honest.

There isn't any way for anyone to prove the referee DIDN'T think that the ball was in play, so it is the line of least resistance, and the best way to conveniently close the matter.

 

[Everest]

For what its worth, I'm pretty sure the ref blew for the Greer incident BEFORE the ball was played. But its water under the bridge now, and nobodies fault but our own for not winning that game. Hey ho.

For what its worth, no, no he didn't.
He blew for the taking of the FK, the FK was taken, then he blew again.
It's quite clearly heard on The FLS when Steve 'I know the rules' Claridge was summing up (wrongly).

Makes a change to get quite a decent response from the FL though.

 

[Easy 10]

For what its worth, no, no he didn't.
He blew for the taking of the FK, the FK was taken, then he blew again.
It's quite clearly heard on The FLS when Steve 'I know the rules' Claridge was summing up (wrongly).

Makes a change to get quite a decent response from the FL though.

OK. I was probably deep in CONVERSATION at the time.

 

[Everest]

Is that what it's called nowadays?

 

[Deleted User X18H]

Same sort of response I got from the FL re Nicky Forsters penalty against Stockport last season. When Fon- Williams was almost in Hove as the ball was struck.

 

[Marc]

"In this instance Gordon Greer was sent off for violent conduct which Brighton do not dispute and accept"

says it all, if we're not gonna dispute is then is it worth pursuing? It happened, get over it, its a long season!

 

[mcshane in the 79th]

Bloody Nora, was it really worth writing to them about it? There's no proper video evidence and it's a completely subjective issue. It really is time to forget about it.

 

[One Teddy Maybank]

Good response.

However, given by their own admission the referee could not see 'peripherally' if the inicdent occurred before or after he had blown, surely he should be consulting his team of officials to see if they had a better view?

 

[lighthouse]

Good response.

However, given by their own admission the referee could not see 'peripherally' if the inicdent occurred before or after he had blown, surely he should be consulting his team of officials to see if they had a better view?

That is what I would have thought. If there was doubt, then surely you go with the free kick, not give a penalty.

 

[Fungus]

However, given by their own admission the referee could not see 'peripherally' if the inicdent occurred before or after he had blown, surely he should be consulting his team of officials to see if they had a better view?

Yeah, the ref was walking and facing AWAY from the ball, so he would have needed eyes in the back of his head! He may have HEARD the free kick being taken, though.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

I think I pondered on an earlier thread whether the referee genuinely thought the ball was in play. I presume he does know the rules, being a referee, therefore it was a fair assumption. It may well have been a mistake by him, but I'm sure it was an honest one- plenty of decisions are probably made by officials only catching a fraction of a second of an incident but making a call based on what their mind is telling them happened. It may not suit the Sky Sports "we must have 100% accuracy at all times" generation, but they are only human after all.

I am more than prepared to accept an honest mistake by the referee (after all, our players probably made plenty more than he did in that game) and I, like most reasonable people, just wanted to know what the actual rule was.

Steve Claridge, on the other hand, was just ignorant, and he can poke his opinion right up his arse. I'm SURE he will be correcting his error next Saturday...

 

[Scoffers]

Nice work sending that, and a decent enough response.

I tell you what though, I bet the ref knows he cocked it up, sure it was not a straigt-forward decision, but I have this mental image of Mr McDermid re-reading the rules every night before bed

 

[drew]

There is of course the explanation that he made a mistake and subsequently only realised that the only way out was to state he believed the ball was in play. In view of the radio mikes they have we have no way of telling whether he consulted the other officials.