Did you enjoy the European Nations Cup this summer, apart of course from England's inglorious early exit? Personally I enjoyed the refereeing performances.
Earlier this year I attended the farewell party of someone who used to work for me before going on to better things. Talking about her time with me, she said that I was the only person she knew who, when I went to a football match, watched the referee instead of the game. Everyone laughed but I plead guilty. Euro 2000 was no exception and I was particularly impressed with the continental referees' use of the yellow card.
Most people in refereeing already know, through my articles in The Football Referee magazine, that I think English referees, aided and abetted by the EA. often get it wrong when it comes to cautions for tackles. Their theory is that if a free kick is careless it is penalised by a free kick only; if it is reckless then it also results in a caution; if there is undue force then it is a sending-off offence. It may surprise many people to know that nowhere in the Laws of the Game does it say that a caution should be given for a tackle of any kind.
So why do tackles produce a rash of yellow cards? It all comes under the heading of 'unsporting g behaviour'. That's the sort of clause that covers any misdemeanour that's not mentioned anywhere else. If we take it that tackles can only be subject to a caution if they are unsporting, it makes it easier to understand why and when they should be used.
First of all I think it should be for the intimidatory foul. Let me give you an example from Tony Adams's autobiography 'Addicted'. He recalls manager
George Graham in a pre-match talk telling him that the opposing goalkeeper was not good at crosses. 'At the first corner Tony, I want you to put him in the back of the net". In intimidatory. Unsporting behaviour. A Caution. The sort of thing that Vinny Jones was known for and rightly so. He still holds the record I think for the quickest caution, three seconds from kick off. Players used to rely on referees not cautioning the first such foul but referees have got wiser. Tony Cottee the veteran striker puts his extended career down to this. He says 'the referee has become the striker's friend because they don't allow you to be whacked four times now before booking someone'.
The second type of unsporting tackle is where the player is happy to give away a free kick because it prevents a dangerous situation developing. A classic example of this was in the European Nations Cup when a Dutch player on the wing heading towards his opponents' goal line was rugby tackled. Other defenders were between him and the goal but to the defender it was better to foul than to allow the attacker a clear run and set up an attack. Clearly unsporting behaviour where a free kick was not penalty enough so a yellow card had to be shown.
Of course I didn't see every game or every decision but I think the European referees got their cautioning policy just about right. I can't believe that I'm the only one who watches referees at football matches, so I hope this is a lesson which will spread throughout the game.
Dick Sawdon Smith