Whenever I recall the reading of advice from the recent article in Soccer America, for whom
incidentally I used to write in the seventies, when Clay Berling was the editor of the magazine he
founded in 1971, I still get...
Thanks to my friend Chuck Stuart in Idaho Falls for the heads-up to an article in Soccer America
(Jan. 31, 2012). To quote him: "When I read it, my jaw just dropped - the advice in the article
just seems...
Port Said stadium, the day after . . .
How many times out on the park have you heard that cry: "What is he looking at?" That and all its
variants: "You're missing a great game!" or "How could she miss that?" and "It was right in front
of...
The pundits all over the place are having a go at Chris Foy for expelling Vincent Kompany for a
challenge on Nani in the FA Cup match last weekend. Their lamentations are everywhere: "It's the
end of tackling as we...
I'll have something to say about the movement and observation by referees this afternoon,
stimulated by this posting from Hong Kong. This site is detailed, carefully written and full of
shots from videos of Premiership games. I heartily recommend it...
A lovely little brouhaha is building in England about the half-a-million new commemorative
fifty-pence pieces in circulation, with an explanation of offside on the backside of the queen's
image. According to a story in this morning's Guardian, a well-known referee...
Since posting yesterday on the commemorative ("Offside") 50p coin from the Royal Mint (UK), I have
had a few requests for more information. I had done a little searching, by no means exhaustive,
after I read some news reports, and...
After publication of my latest blog, which featured an analysis of the error made by one of the
Assistant Referees at the end of the game between Sunderland AFC and Manchester City last weekend,
I was contacted by a gentleman...
You have to love the drama of matches in the highly-competitive Premiership competition. And over
the holidays we had drama a-plenty: massive upsets, last-minute victories, players too hung-over to
train and so fined a week's wages, accusations of players' plots...
Not a day or two ago I commented on the clash between Clint Dempsey (Fulham) and Phil Jones
(Manchester United), that caused Jones to be taken to the hospital for further examination of his
facial injury. The importance of the...
I've been astounded quite a few times to hear instructors or assessors tell referees exactly what
disciplinary action should be taken against a player who commits a bad foul. Astounded, because
they seem to have it down to a formula,...
The red card or sending off is a decision that is very important for referees to get right, but is
often fraught with controversy. This was amply illustrated by four incidents involving red card
decisions this past weekend in the...
Frank de Bleeckere was the referee in the Arsenal v. Dortmund Champions League last week, and his
positioning in that match was much better than in the England/Spain match. He stayed behind the
play, and did not interfere with the...
All that most players want is a good game of soccer, and it is one of our duties to make sure that
they get it. The former International Board Decision number eight of Law Five instructed us to make
sure...
