When the ball hit Atkinson yesterday....

[richnrg]

It doesn't matter whether we got an advantage or not or how hard the ball hit him, it is the rules as bought in this season. If the ball hits the ref during play, play is stopped and the ball awarded to the team who had possession.

not quite though - there are times when play will not be stopped. The law is as follows:
"If the ball touches the referee (or another match official) and goes into the goal, team possession changes or a promising attack starts, a dropped ball is awarded"

the ball did not go into the goal off the ref, possession did not change, so we have to ask ourselves 'did a promising attack start' as a result of the ref touching the ball?

You could argue both ways I suppose. There was a promising attack, but did it start by the ref touching the ball, or did it start later, when Lerma played the through-ball?

 

[Deleted member 754]

who'd be a ref. would be nice if when things were changed, it was done to make an already difficult job easier, not harder

 

[NWCherries98]

not quite though - there are times when play will not be stopped. The law is as follows:
"If the ball touches the referee (or another match official) and goes into the goal, team possession changes or a promising attack starts, a dropped ball is awarded"

the ball did not go into the goal off the ref, possession did not change, so we have to ask ourselves 'did a promising attack start' as a result of the ref touching the ball?

You could argue both ways I suppose. There was a promising attack, but did it start by the ref touching the ball, or did it start later, when Lerma played the through-ball?

Exactly, it’s not that cut and dry, and the rule is literally written to not be that cut and dry. I’m not sure what the issue is?

 

[JIMNNINA]

who'd be a ref. would be nice if when things were changed, it was done to make an already difficult job easier, not harder

The pgmol and var are funded to assist officials to get it right more than wrong.

 

[Coobster]

Just seen the Man City goal against Sheff Utd so thought I'd bring this one up again.

Which incident influenced the play more?

Is it because the ball didn't actually touch the ref in the Man City v Sheff Utd game?

 

[NWCherries98]

Okay I just saw the Man City goal where the ref does EVEN MORE OF AN ASSIST than Atkinson...wtf? Just as I thought, the referees have no fucking clue what they’re doing with this new directive then!!!

 

[Danny11]

Okay I just saw the Man City goal where the ref does EVEN MORE OF AN ASSIST than Atkinson...wtf? Just as I thought, the referees have no fucking clue what they’re doing with this new directive then!!!

This is one where plain old fashioned common sense should have prevailed. The ball never actually hit the ref so he is under no obligation to stop the game, but because of what happened a few seconds later, in the spirit of the game surely he should have blown up and given a drop ball.