Exiled in Texas

After working through the scenario.......no. No real problem

Absolutely. When the ball is not in play, it's a misconduct but not a foul. Defender punches a forward in the Penalty area as a corner kick is inswinging and it's a Penalty kick and a Red Card. Defender punches a forward in the Penalty area while waiting for a corner to be taken and it's only a Red Card - restart with the original Corner Kick. That might be a possibility to deal with this type of infraction. If a misconduct happens during a period of time that is retro-actively not part of the game, then treat it as if the ball were not in play. So in the instance that a foul/misconduct occurs in play during the "review period"......if the goal scores. Then goal stands and player is Carded for Misconduct (time of misconduct is time when clock would have been stopped). If no goal, then foul awarded and player Carded for Misconduct.

OK - another possibility. Ball cleared from defender in the goal (but will soon be shown to be a goal). Ref waives play on, meanwhile there is an immediate foul worthy of Yellow Card. Can you still card a player for a foul that cannot have taken place in the game because that part of the game will be replayed?. The game is retroactively put back to the time of the goal.....so can the foul actually have taken place? What if more serious.... as ball is cleared Keeper takes a swing and punches attacker in the mouth. Red Card. Meanwhile 4th official says goal. And game resets to time of goal. What do you do with the Carded Keeper. I would say that the game should be stopped for replay, and then restarted with either GK or IFK to Defending team, but that might impact a teams ability to take a second shot or make a new play.

Video review is easy when play has stopped (i.e if a goal has been scored), but what if it's the reverse situation where a goal is NOT given and play continues. Then how do you review the goal. If play continues (while the 4th official turns on SkySports) and something happens in the game, what do you do if the missed goal is really a goal. Suppose, ball is hooked off the line by the defender and Ref says play on. (4th official starts reviewing video) meanwhile play goes end to end and the other team scores. During celebration Ref hears from 4th official that the other play was really a goal. Therefore play should have stopped and anything that happened afterwards should be disregarded. You'd have a riot if a team thought they had saved a goal and then scored themselves only to have their goal taken away and the other goal awarded. Another issue - Even if goals like Henri's were reviewed.....how long before a goal should you consider the play reviewable. Henri's handball was 2-3 seconds before the goal....what if it was 5 sec or 10 or 30sec. At what point does the Statute of Limitations run out. In game Video replay is perfect for NFL due to it's stop/start nature, or even MLS Baseball. I don't think it's workable in a game that does not have regular breaks in play when a review can be performed without impacting the game that is in progress.

NFL and NHL (I think) players who are suspended have their wages garnished. Would quickly eliminate dissent if it penalised the team. Maybe the team captain would then take some responsibility for their teammates.

My change would be applying the "Away Goals" only to the original 90 minutes - and excluding them from any extra-time. The purpose of the Away-Goal rule is now redundant, and it hands the away team an unfair advantage during the Extra-Time period. Home team must win on agregate, away team can win or tie on agregate.

Youth Soccer in the US has this. You get 6 pts for a win, 3 for a tie and zero for a loss. You also get bonus points for each goal scored to a max of 3. So a 3-1 win is 9 points for the winner and 1 for the looser and a 1-1 tie is 4 points each. Tournaments offer a 10th point for a shutout. Sounds utterly, utterly s***. I think it's designed to separate teams in standings for short youth seasons of 8 or 10 games. It also rewards the scoring of goals, as winning 3-2 gains a team more points that winning 1-0.

I heard a similar suggestion - Have the Ref ask the player [henri] if they did something illegal [handled the ball], if they say no then award the goal, if yes then deny the goal. BUT If video replay shows that the player lied, then they are suspended/fined etc. I can see a million holes in that concept though. I would be in favor of Post-Game review and action taken against offenders by a league panel.

Youth Soccer in the US has this. You get 6 pts for a win, 3 for a tie and zero for a loss. You also get bonus points for each goal scored to a max of 3. So a 3-1 win is 9 points for the winner and 1 for the looser and a 1-1 tie is 4 points each. Tournaments offer a 10th point for a shutout.

Mindless Center Back passing. You see it all the time....CB passes to CM, but they are facing the CM and pass right back to the CB. CB then passes to other CM who is also facing the CB and passes right back to them . CB then passes out to outside mid, who passes right back to him. Not sure if it crappy decision making by the CB who passes to players who are already being closed down, or bad skill by the Midfielders who cannot take posession. And then to make it worse....the commentator Ooohs and Ahhhh over the fabulous string of passes. Meanwhile they have made no progress up the field, haven't beaten anyone and then hoof it up field as they are out of ideas.

I read that Krul came on in 2nd half - what happened to Harper?

Too funny.

That's absolutely fair enough, its when they're 10 yards away in a great position and make ridiculous decisions. Same goes for linesmen. Assistant Referees OK - I'll stop now. I'm just kidding.

Clearly, you've never refereed a game. Try it, because it's really an eye-opener. Not picking a fight, just saying that until you try it, it looks much easier than it really is. I meant in the grand scheme of things. As in like comparison to I dunno, working in Primark on the Saturday before Christmas. I've never done that either mind, but I imagine it's harder than refereeing a Premier League match. Maybe, but Primark workers don't have instant replay with national coverage when you get the price wrong or drop an item. Even for me only doing youth games (U10 through U19) and high school games here in texas you always have moments where you think "what is the exact call and restart that I need to make", did I really make the right call. Lot's of judgement calls about what it/is-not a foul, offside or infringement. Should you, shouldn't you, call it, don't call it, what if I do, what if I don't. It's really fun to get some good games in, but there are lots of times when you know that "everyone" hates you no matter what you call. That's why the referee always back's into their parking spot, so they can have a quick get-away.

Clearly, you've never refereed a game. Try it, because it's really an eye-opener. Not picking a fight, just saying that until you try it, it looks much easier than it really is. {edit} need better smilie :-)

Maybe as a certified ref, I see things differently. My pet peeves.... Commentators (well, mainly Tommy Smythe) calling for every ball touching a hand in the Penalty area a hand ball. No concept of judging the "Intent". Pundits who don't know the laws of the game. Nothing worse than them ranting and raving about something, that is completely wrong in LOTG.

Think once, think twice, think......

Everton FC did a similar event in Canada. It was on Fox Soccer Channel, and was typical reality TV fare. Showed them having open trials in Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa, selecting their call back list, then picking 30 or so players to enter the training camp. They whittled down the players, with several games (both intra-squad, and against local opposition) before selecting their winner. The winner was offered a scholarship to the Everton Youth Academy in England. It probably ran as a TV series for 6 or 8 shows. Quite interesting show for those interested in the game.

"Pet" stars in tribute to Sir Bobby - From BBC.co.uk http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/tyne/8342961.stm Stars of the television programme Auf Wiedersehen Pet have reformed to make a charity record in aid of the late Sir Bobby Robson's cancer charity. Jimmy Nail, Kevin Whately and Tim Healy have recorded a new version of the Geordie anthem The Blaydon Races. It has a new verse in honour of the County Durham-born former England, Newcastle United and Ipswich Town manager, who died in July aged 76.

Nike or Puma. I don't think that Adidas kits suit Newcastle because of the clash of stripes. Adidas are desperate to put their three-stripe trim on all their kits, and it clashes with our own stripes. I think that's why the Nike "inter" style kit was such a big hit here, because it was a really clean looking design.

Well played offside trap Being a referee

Bar Newcastle United, who is your favourite team? Arsenal, Juventus and Boca Juniors Which team do you hate the most? Chelsea Who is your favourite player? Camoranesi and Amauri Which player do you have the most hatred for? Drogba

The passion of the city towards it's team, and the matchday buzz that affects the whole town on a Saturday.

Done. Well worth it.

As for celebrations....was always a big fan of Mick Channon's one arm windmill. Of course back then there wasn't much footy on the TV so you didn't get to see too many, and there certainly wasn't all the planned "look at me" celebrations. I did like my son's celebration when he was first playing footy in Texas aged about 4. Broke through, sloted home and without breaking stride peeled away in a nice aeroplane. Got a nice laugh from the parents that day.