Capn Gus Bloodbeard
Well-Known Member
Foriegnmariner said:
As the resident bigmouth referee - yes, it's possible, but extremely, extremely unlikely.
On referee's forums we've had unresolved debates over whether you can award a foul and caution the opposing player for diving (say, there's a trip and the player makes a meal of it anyway) - my view is technically you can, but it'd have to be a really, really unusual case to justify this. A player could come in with a late, deliberate and blatant hack (for this sort of thing you'd normally award a foul just to stop the players killing each other) and the opponent takes a dive after the contact..normally you'd probably just caution the simulation or award the FK and warn the player, it'd just be too damn confusing otherwise, but it's possible that the situation arises where both would need to be punished for match control if nothing else.
Simulation is only an act of deceit; the player doesn't necessarily have to be adversely affected for a foul to be called in his favour (though usually it's the case), which is why it would be possible for a foul and simulation.
But if possible, would the refere have sold the decision? If it was the mariners, how would you feel if Wilko clashed into Thompson in the box , Thompson was booked for diving but still gets the penalty? It's a really, really tough one in this game.
In the HAL, players usually muscle through challenges like this; we saw off-the ball charges more blatant than this let go in our game. When the player stops as soon as he comes anywhere near his opponent it makes it real hard to judge whether he really was foulled or not, and if there's any doubt as to whether there was simulation I'll normally give the defender the benefit of the doubt.
However, in this video the first time he runs into his opponent his momentum has already been stopped and he still seems to be making a legitimate attempt there, and he's been foulled (Arguably) at that point He then hesitates, then takes a dive. Tricky one. Now that I've realised that, I'm also in the PK + YC basket (it's great being able to make these tough decisions after dozens of slo-mo replays, and not in the middle of a field with 10 000 fans screaming for your head!)
Disgraceful dive
The commentator argued it should have been obstruction: Obstruction hasn't existed in the laws for about 10 years, and impeding (the closest thing) is supposed to be a non-contact offence.
The MRP is certainly capable of punishing divers; be interesting to see if they step up to the plate or if Hey Arnold is too much of a key player for them to touch.
I put the question up on the ref's forum, and so far the NSW state referee's coach (Actually, I think he's the former state coach, I forget) agrees on PK + YC.
Having said that, it's only on a slo-mo replay you see him completely stop before throwing himself to the ground. At full motion it looks like he bounced off and just exaggerated the fall - still milking it, but doesn't look quite as bad as it actually was.
