by shrimpsontoast » Tue Mar 12, 2024 2:14 pm
Unless the “dark arts” involves hypnotising the referee into making certain decisions, I think this one is entirely on the referee. Whether or not he actually tripped him, it shouldn’t have been a yellow card unless he tripped him deliberately and cynically. It certainly doesn’t look like it nor does it seem likely given who was on the ball and where he was going. You would usually expect as well that if a player is on a yellow card already, he will be given the benefit of the doubt, especially if the first yellow was a relatively innocuous one.
If I was a referee assessor, I would have serious concerns about this referee based not only on the decisions he actually made but on the time he took to make them (red card and penalty). He was obviously well aware that Max was already on a yellow as well given how promptly he pulled the cards out and yet he didn’t give himself a moment to think “hang on, I gave him a soft booking in the first, is it really fair to give him another soft one now” which is the sort of thought that could go through your head if you gave yourself say 5 seconds.
The handball law is a total farce isn’t it. It says something like “if your hands are in an unnatural position (whatever that is) when you touch it, that’s handball”. But I’d say that it’s a pretty natural position for them to be in if (a) you put them up to protect your face or (b) you put them up in an attempt to get them out of the way of the ball (the meaning of “natural position” surely has to be taken in context which is that you are playing a game of football and if the ball hits your hand there is a risk of hand ball because the interpretation of the law by referees is so unpredictable). The ball was going over the stand and can only have been going over the stand on that trajectory, so I’m pretty sure David didn’t put them up there except for one of the two reasons above (but only he knows the answer to that…). Anyway, if I am right about that, then it’s not handball, 100%.
On Alex Neill’s comments, if the player had been in a scoring position (past the last man) that presumably could have warranted a red card.