Rules are rules...... or poorly managed?

[jertzee]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-15072327

 

Unbelievable - shouldn't have ade it onto the pitch, surely??

 

Reminds me of a game I played in years ago when the ref didn't turn up (Old Boys league). We agreed that rather than cancel we would ref the first half and they would ref the second. The compulsory shin pad rule had just come in and a few of our players didn't have them. Come the second half their ref walks over to 4 of our players and sends them off for not wearing shin pads.

Pushing and shoving ensues before they agree that the players can wear newspapers instead of pads down their socks. The ref re-instates the four players before sending off our captain for arguing over the decision to send the 4 players off. We lost 4-1 (1-1 at half time) and I scored a 30 yarder own goal to put them 3-1 up....

[Smudge]

All the story illustrates,is the total lack of control by the Bath City Management over their players.The manager set his standards at a low mark,by being booked.THEY FOLLOWED.

[MiddleMan]

Believe me, match officials dislike this as much as anyone else. All managers/coaches/players should be well aware of the Law governing wearing of undershorts and tights. Officials should ask players about this when leaving changing room, along with wearing of jewellery & boot check. The interpretation is that match officals are required to take action should it come to their notice that a player is wearing undershorts/tights that are other than the main colour of the shorts.

 

This actually has nothing to do with 'pants' - we are talking undershorts/tights but don't lets go there - if you get my drift! And I cannot understand any responsible manager allowing youth players to remove their 'pants' by the side of the pitch. So providing the referee reminded the players before hand, afraid little sympathy.

 

So as well as everything else that happens on the FOP, we are now expected to look out for players personal clothing. Happy days!

[Don't Blame Me]

I recall talking to the match officials after a Hellenic League game last season. The match officials have to undertake CRB checks which I think is daft. They also have to check the under-garments of players before the game owing to the colour ruling. An Assessor will deduct 2.5 points for any player identified with the wrong coloured under-wear. 2 players were asked to leave the pitch and change. Just why this has to happen is beyond me.

[Ace1]

Why don't offials implement EVERY rule as per the FA Rule Book instead of the easy to implement ones?

[MiddleMan]

What did you have in mind? FIFA agree the Laws but its left to local officals to apply their opinion and interpretation, and they would be guided by The FA &/or local leagues. Obviously there are significant differences between youth football through to the professional game. The key is to try for consistancy at whatever level you play at. But the reality is that this will never likely be 100% achieved.

[Fat Boy]

Was under the impression that it was undershorts, not underwear. They've made a real meal of this in the papers for me. The club are fools for not knowing this rule, as the refs check before every game, even at CCL level.

[MiddleMan]

Can't beleive we are talking pants! Law relates to undershorts & tights, and NOT pants. Not carried out a survey, you understand, but surely all players wear some form of support wear - jock strap or trunks? The issue is with different coloured undershorts or tights that extend down below the shorts. If you wear a different colour, & the referee notices, you will (or should) be asked to change.

 

Thats enough of this subject - I'm off to try on my new black tights!!

[Ace1]

MM, In my opinion the word INTERPRETATION is the problem!!! It should not be an interpretation it should be simple. We get more and more wound up during games when referees apply interpretation, one minute its a foul and a booking another minute it's a quite word!!!!!

As an example - during a U11 game a player (who is 10 years old) has the ball kicked at his face, player put's his hands to his face to protect (natural reaction for a 10 year old), referee awards a penalty! Asked referee why? It would be a penalty in the Premier League!

[jertzee]

As an example - during a U11 game a player (who is 10 years old) has the ball kicked at his face, player put's his hands to his face to protect (natural reaction for a 10 year old), referee awards a penalty! Asked referee why? It would be a penalty in the Premier League!

 

Having coached my daughter's U12 team for 4 years (U8-U12) I am always amazed by the fathers (never the mothers) that shout penalty when that happens. Unbeleivable the amount of times they expect the rules to be striclty adhered to in the same way that a Premier League game is. Even more so when the games played at U11 and below in Little League are "friendlies" (i.e no league table).

[Gluck_ab]

Re undershirts and undershorts matching the colour of the outershirt and shorts, clubs have a responsibility towards managing this at the outset. For instance, the home team in the Ryman Prem game on which I was an AR last night had two signs displayed prominently at the entrance to the players changing rooms; the first said 'all jewellery must be removed' and the second said 'undershorts and undershirts must match outershirt and shorts.' Common to both signs was the rider that these were mandatory requirements of the players in accordance with the laws of the game.

 

However, referees and ARs can be proactive about this too - during the pre-match warm-up colour clashes of this sort can be identified and the player(s) warned-off about it. Many though choose to ignore this, roll the shorts up very high to get through the pre-match insepction and then are surprised that when the shorts are noticed they are susbequently asked to leave the pitch to remove them.

 

Further to this thread some of the laws of the game are open to a referee's interpretation (opinion) - a foul that is careless, reckless or uses excessive force and the appropriate sanction for that - whilst are others are mandatory and are not open to interpretation (opinion), such as the undershirts and shorts law.

[Mewcenary]

Of course, it could have been worse: