What is it all about? Can
somebody tell me? I jotted down those words last Friday
afternoon, when I decided to make a start on this week's
column. I wanted to write about some odd behaviour you must
have noticed, if you have watched football on television over
the last few seasons.
It has now become almost
inevitable at comer kicks, that there will be a lot of
jostling, pushing, even players wrapping their arms around
opponents in the penalty area. And all before the ball is
kicked. I had one slight concern. Do I, as a referee, look at
the game too narrowly? Did I, as one of my regular readers
accused, have tunnel vision when it came to looking at
football?
On Friday evening I attended
the annual footballers' reunion in Reading. This is an
evening, where ex-Reading FC players, a selection of
ex-non-league players and leading local amateurs get together
to talk football and above all to reminisce. It was therefore
an amazing coincidence that no fewer than three former
players, started off our conversations with those same words,
'What is it all about at comers these days?' As one ex-Reading
player said, 'No one watches the ball, they are all watching
one another'.
It's true. Attackers are
watching the defenders to try and escape from them. Defenders
are watching the attackers and when they run to take up
position; they block them with their arms, push them or pull
their shirts. One player recalled Reading's goal-scoring
legend, Ronnie Blackman, who sadly was not well and unable to
attend the reunion. 'Ronnie', he said, 'would stand on the
edge of the penalty area at a comer and once the ball was
crossed he would run forward to get his head on the ball. He
only had eyes for the ball'.
Centre halves, as they were
then called, throughout the league knew of his prowess and
would try to stop him, not by holding, not by standing in his
way, not by shirt-pulling, but by keeping an eye on the ball
and trying to outjump Ronnie once it came across.
Sadly once again, this
behaviour is something that has spread down from the
professional game to local football. I remember a couple of
seasons ago, I refereed a Berks and Bucks cup-tie at AFC
Newbury ground, where I awarded a free kick to the attacking
team about thirty yards from goal on the left hand side. The
two sets of players in the penalty area were holding, shoving
and generally making life difficult for one another. I delayed
the kick and went into the area to talk to the players.
To the defenders I said that if
they were to manhandle an opponent after the kick had been
taken, they would be giving away a penalty. I told the
attackers that if they continued with their antics, they would
be losing a good opportunity because I would be awarding the
free kick to their opponents.
As it was a semi-final, there
was quite a good crowd at the game but it was to me that the
spectators directed their displeasure. 'Come on ref, stop
messing about, get on with the game'. The problem, as a
referee, is you don't see it all. With so many bodies in the
area, you just can't have eyes everywhere. Not even the best
referees pick up everything. In Euro 2004, Italy's Pierluigi
Collina, considered by many to be the world's finest, missed a
number of offences that were caught on television.
What does it all achieve? One
thing it does create, is a lot more aggression and aggravation
for the referee to control. So I come back to the real
question - what's the point of it? Can someone tell me and all
the other oldies: what is it all about?