Yellow card for taking your shirt off, wtf?

[WTF11]

I think this works for me as I've played with or against a fair number of the players involved in the past and, although it probably shouldn't help, everyone also knows I'm "not American" and so perhaps pay more heed to anything I might say or call. Silly sausages!

It's not uncommon for the referees here to have never played the game in any real capacity and so they often fail when it comes to situations where play should be allowed to continue and get all het up about trivial calls (which I suppose this shirt argument falls under!).

I actually enjoy refereeing, especially when it seems as if I've helped the game flow and not inserted myself into situations where I'm not needed. It certainly isn't for everyone though.

You should become chief advisor to PGMOL!

[Monaco_Totty]

Sportsmanship,players & Refs ?

Bamford on My Mates a Footballer BBC podcast.

Q.Leeds striker Bamford was asked about his recent goal against Rotherham which appeared to go in off his arm:

"At the time, I thought, ‘it’s really close to me, but I can’t quite get it with my body, so I’m just going to nudge it with my elbow’.

"I thought, ‘that’s really subtle, everyone will think it came off my chest’. I ran off and as I’m running off, I tried to make it look normal. Looked back and their players are going mental. The ref’s given the goal. Stupidly, I did a celebration where I tapped my elbow. The goal was already given.

"Afterwards, we’re walking back to the centre circle – one of their players asked me, ‘did you handball it?’ I said yeah. The ref said, ‘did it touch your hand?’, before it had kicked off again. To be fair, it didn’t touch my hand, it touched my elbow, so I said ‘no, it didn’t touch my hand’."

Q.Would he prefer the game with or without VAR?

"For supporters, it needs to be refined a lot to not take the joy out of the game. I think simple things like, with offside, if it’s that close, you’re literally just an inch offside, I think it has to be really obvious. If it’s not obvious to the natural eye, then it’s not offside. I’d keep goal line technology and then I’d just keep it for penalties or red cards."

[cherrypie7]

Coming back to the topic, I agree that celebrations with taking of one's shirt should incur a yellow card. And it must be consistent. Once many years ago, AC Milan were playing in the World Club Championship final (if memory recalls), Kaka scores, takes off his shirt and reveals his undershirt where its written, "I belong to Jesus". The referee was so stunned he forgot to issue a yellow.

[spaldy]

I only cover meaningless games these days (there's a case to say that pretty much all games are meaningless!) but, especially with younger players who might have some sort of future playing career, I make a point of making sure that they know the sort of stupid things that could get them into trouble in higher level games where referee flexibility is more frowned upon.

Totty's point about goalkeepers actively making scuff marks within their six yard box and goal areas to aid with their positioning is definitely one of those I try to ram home. If nothing else, it encourages them to be more subtle, if you get my drift.

I've never been card happy, but like to think active player management (talking to them during the game) goes a long way in keeping tempers down and players remaining on the pitch.

Many moons ago (early 80's) I used to referee in the deep south before Soccer became a true national sport. Ended up doing some SEC games along with some rather nasty long term rivalries. My style was just like yours Orgs. Used to take the time to explain to each of the teams "no no's". One of my big ones involved hitting or interfering with keepers as well as bad sliding tackles from behind. Nothing ratchets up a game faster than those in my experience. I also interacted with players quite a bit in the flow of the game. This was rather important in these games since se many of the players had not grown up playing football (soccer). Even at that level some really did not fully understand the nuances of the game.

The worst was the rabid parents and fans screaming at "fouls and penalties" on well executed tackles or defense. No clue on the rules and many assumed that football was a prissy non contact sport. They'd have freaked out if theyu ever saw one of the old prem league games in the 60's and 70's. I was not big on cards and definitely not big on penalties. I think us Yanks are rather fond of yelling that everything is a penalty.

Had more than a few coaches that had obviously advised their team to "take the body" every chance they got. Since some of them had obviously not played much football their "taking the body" sometimes looked like rugby tackles. A lot of communication involved on those games and more than a few discussions with the coach.

A challenging period but definitely very rewarding. several of the teams i officiated multiple times and you could see some steady progress. One of the problems in officiating in the states is the travel. some long drives involved and not much money. I'm sure it's much better across the pond where distances are much shorter.

after all that long rambling babble I would say "take your shirt off" and it's a card. Let one go and you ramp up the tension level way more than needed. Just a bufoon things to do.