https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/av/football/50203398

Happened to me refin a parks game the sub ran on to kick ball away, penalty and caution for entering field of play without referee permission

I was nearly lynched

The rules are the rules jim, if they can't play by them don't play at all

Rules like this don't help anyone. Surely there should be some override saying something like "subject to a common sense approach".

If it's interfering with play then obviously apply the law. In cases like this though, you can see why people lose their rag. Not the refs fault of course, but for me the rule makers should make a change. This is just daft.

The BBC picked this story up because they said that VAR had spotted the infringement, not the ref. Surely, if the ball was going out anyway, common sense should prevail. It appears not.

Law 3 (7) covers an extra person on the field of play. The ref was correct and either a penalty or a direct free kick should be awarded. He also booked the player. Hmm.

Interestingly, a dropped ball is awarded if an 'outside agent' i.e. someone who is not an official, substitute, substited player or sent off player stops play.

pembsexile wrote:The BBC picked this story up because they said that VAR had spotted the infringement, not the ref. Surely, if the ball was going out anyway, common sense should prevail. It appears not.

Law 3 (7) covers an extra person on the field of play. The ref was correct and either a penalty or a direct free kick should be awarded. He also booked the player. Hmm.

Interestingly, a dropped ball is awarded if an 'outside agent' i.e. someone who is not an official, substitute, substited player or sent off player stops play.

Yes I've had a ball hit a dog before

For those saying common sence etc if it happened against us I think Flynny would have something to say about it

The laws of the game are there for a reason don't interfere with play

ref23 wrote:Rules like this don't help anyone. Surely there should be some override saying something like "subject to a common sense approach".

If it's interfering with play then obviously apply the law. In cases like this though, you can see why people lose their rag. Not the refs fault of course, but for me the rule makers should make a change. This is just daft.

The trouble with common sense is what I think is sensible may not be that which someone else thinks is acceptable.

I mean common sense tells me that no Newport County player would ever deliberately try to gain an unfair advantage by taking a dive. Clearly it follows from this that if any County player were to do down in the penalty area a penalty should automatically be awarded.

UPTHEPORT wrote:https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/av/football/50203398

Happened to me refin a parks game the sub ran on to kick ball away, penalty and caution for entering field of play without referee permission

I was nearly lynched

Problem is, that situation is why the law exists, but it's been implemented for an entirely different situation in which no advantage was intended or gained, because VAR insists on the letter of the law... except when it doesn't.

The other major issue with a "common sense" approach is that in my experience, sense is far from common.

njbh86 wrote:The other major issue with a "common sense" approach is that in my experience, sense is far from common.

I used to listen to 606 on Radio 5. Two points about common sense.

Robbie Savage week in week out made the same point. A player goes down in the penalty area. Savage would say it was either a penalty or the forward had dived. The referee would then be criticized because he either should have booked the diving player or the referee should have given the penalty. He claimed that was common sense. For me if the referee wasn't certain it was a foul he couldn't give the penalty but likewise if he wasn't sure the player had dived neither could he book him. So although Mr Savage and me came to opposite conclusions we were both guided by 'our' common sense.

The next point is one of Alan Greene's 606 pronouncements. He demanded two things from referees, common sense and consistency. The problem with that is that in using discretion (common sense) you forced to be inconsistent.

My own view. It's football not life or death. Therefore enforce the rules absolutely. If the ball hits the hand in any circumstance it should be a free kick or penalty. If a player is in an offside position he should be flagged offside regardless of the subjective decision of whether he is interfering with play.

Just common sense really.