UEFA instructor delves deeply into laws and regulations of the game

Four days of intensive discussion on the Laws of the Game, the necessity of mental preparation, the relationship between coaches and referees, the way journalists perceive referees and the treatment of injuries were the subjects treated by various speakers last week at the Centenary Hall.

The MFA Referees Board invited UEFA Instructor and Member of the UEFA Referees Board Raeder Bjornstad, from Norway, to guide the Maltese referees through a refresher course of the laws and regulations.

Of particular interest was the offside law and its interpretation.

Clips of actual situations were shown and discussed with Bjornstad pointing out the 'wait and see' attitude that must be adopted by the assistant referee.

It was also made clear that if this official has any doubt about whether a player is offside or not, then the benefit of the doubt must be given to the attacker.

There must be a clear case of offside for the assistant referee's flag to be raised.

Referees were reminded that being in an offside position in itself is not an offence. It is taking an advantage of this position that constitutes an offence.

A very interesting discussion ensued on the advantage clause. When should a referee signal advantage?

There is a wrong impression among the public and journalists that if the player of the team who has an offence committed against it remains in possession of the ball, then automatically the referee must award advantage. This is not the case.

Again with the help of clips produced by the UEFA Referees Committee from actual incidents on the field of play, match officials were able to assess whether advantage should have been given.

As Bjornstad explained that even here referees, if possible, should adopt a 'wait and see' approach in order to assess whether the non offending team really has an attacking possibility.

Split-second decision

One of the most contentious regulations is the one which refers to the sending off of a player for denying a goal-scoring opportunity.

Here UEFA are very specific.

The referee must consider various aspects and remember this must be done in a split second.

The match official's decision must be based on such criteria as the possibility the player had to control the ball, his position at the time of the offence, his direction of movement, the distance to the goal-line and the position of the defenders and the goalkeeper.

Then, perhaps, the most important criteria is whether the attack was very likely to produce a goal had it not been stopped by an offence punishable by a free-kick or in the case that it happened in the penalty area by a penalty kick.

The new law that became operative at the beginning of July says that the removal of a shirt by a player celebrating the scoring of a goal is punishable by a yellow card.

Now FIFA have clarified this to mean that even if a player puts his shirt over his head but does not actually remove it, it is also an offence which merits a caution.

If any of this happens referees have to act. They cannot turn a blind eye.

These are just a few of the points discussed during the seminar.

It shows that our match officials do not take it easy during the summer months. After a short break at the end of the competitive season, they have to get back to work.

The MFA Referees Board organises these courses annually as it believes that only by having experts interacting with referees and assistants will ensure the optimum development of our officials.

It is of the utmost importance that the public appreciates that referees must be thinking continually during the match, interpreting a given situation and awarding the appropriate sanction.

As MFA president Joe Mifsud said in his closing speech at the seminar 'the important thing is that referees strive to take the correct decisions, they cannot be perfect as they are not gods but everyone will acknowledge their efforts if they do their best'.

Richard Stagno Navarra is a member of the Media Sub Committee of the MFA Referees Board