Time to change the penalty rule?

[Jimothy]

Interesting article by Paul Doyle in the Guardian. Link

I can't see the rules changing, but I sort of agree. Only thing is we all complain about refs now, it'll only get worse if they are given more descretion.

Emmanuel Eboué's witless stoppage-time barge of Lucas Leiva on Sunday has been held up as a classic demonstration of Arsenal's inability to think straight when push comes to shove. It is also a prime example of something else: a foul in the box that should not be punished with a penalty. The referee did not get it wrong on Sunday. Rather, the law is wrong and should be changed.

Here's why: a spot-kick — ie a prime invitation to score a goal — was excessive punishment for an offence that merely denied Lucas the chance to retain possession long enough to wait for a team-mate to manoeuvre himself into a position to receive a pass and perhaps cross the ball. A direct free-kick in the box would have fit the crime better. But that option was not available to the official, who for fouls in the box must award either a penalty or, in very limited cases, an indirect free-kick.

This is too extreme and, indeed, incites players to tumble like a shopper in a supermarket who spots a tomato on the floor and "slips" on it, then writhes in torment while speed-dialling his laywer. Referees implicitly acknowledge that a penalty is too severe a sanction for some infrigements in the box, which is why they often overlook fouls for which they would have blown if they had occurred elsewhere on the pitch – perhaps that was Lee Probert's reasoning on Tuesday night when he decided to ignore Anderson's lubberly tripping of Peter Lovenkrands?

Rather than be lambasted for tweaking the rules to better serve justice, referees should be formally given the right to use their discretion when it comes to fouls in the box, awarding either a direct free-kick or a penalty, depending on how likely it was that a goalscoring chance would have ensued (as well, perhaps, as on the degree of malice).

Just as many fouls in the box should not result in penalties, there are fouls that take place outside the box for which spot-kicks should be awarded. When Irishman William McCrum lobbied for the introduction of penalty kicks in 1890, he was not seeking to punish defenders who inadvertently handle the ball or bump into a forward who's going nowhere, he was striving to foil players whose cynicism or recklessness thwarts obvious goal-scoring chances.

McCrum was lambasted for daring to suggest that Victorian Englanders would be so immoral as to resort to such chicanery, CB Fry famously protesting: "The lines marking a penalty area are a disgrace to the playing fields of a public school. It is a standing insult to sportsmen to have to play under a rule which assumes that players intend to trip, hack and push their opponents and to behave like cads of the most unscrupulous kidney."

Nowadays, of course, we accept that fields are awash with cads of the most unscrupulous kidney – and they don't confine their caddishness to the penalty area. In fact, they make a virtue out of pursuing their vice just outside the area.

For a defender who has no chance of getting the ball to thwart an almost certain goal by felling a forward before he reaches the box, a la Ronald Koeman against England in 1993 or Willie Young on Paul Allen in the 1980 FA Cup final, is a triumph on a par with that of a barrister who successfully exploits a loophole to keep a drunk-driver on the road. Koeman and Young would likely be shown a red card now (assuming the referee is competent, which he was not in that Holland game) but that is not sufficient deterrent, particularly if the game is reaching the closing minutes, when being reduced to 10 men is an irrelevant hitch rather than a handicap.

If the offender was sent off and the goal-scoring opportunity was restored to the victimised team via a penalty kick (rather than a free-kick for which the fouler's team can erect a wall) there would be less incentive to foul, no loophole to wriggle through.

[DB11]

Wow. I disagree totally.

Football is about entertainment and goals. How much more exciting is a 4-4 draw than a 0-0 draw?

[Jimothy]

Wow. I disagree totally.

Football is about entertainment and goals. How much more exciting is a 4-4 draw than a 0-0 draw?

Well how would it make football less exciting? How would it reduce the amount of goals? How would this law have meant Newcastle v Arsenal finished 0-0 instead of 4-4?

The Eboue incident is prime example as Doyle says. I know he'll know the rules and shouldn't foul Lucas in the box, but how does that foul where he committed it warrant giving Dirk Kuyt a free shot on goal? Whereas if he'd brought him down, last man 30 yards from goal, Liverpool would have been denied a sure goal scoring chance, but would have to take a free kick 30 yards out with the 10 remaining Arsenal players behind the ball.

[Houdini Logic]

Let's not get rid of the only thing we do right at the moment

[Maybes]

People would moan even more about referee's with this ruling. It would end up even more of a joke than it is now!

[Dickie Greenleaf]

Can see it both ways. On the one hand I agree that in principal that its harsh to give a penalty for simply knocking someone over in the box regardless of direction/position. This also encourages layers to go down as easily as possible.

But, with reffing in its current state, is adding even more ambiguity to rules the best decision? Food for thought nonetheless. Not that Fifa would ever touch it with a shitty stick

[Haydos]

I'm inclined to agree with the reasoning but it just increases the grey area associated with refereeing decisions already.

[RobHawk]

I have very mixed views on this! I honestly think that a foul in the penalty area is a penalty!! thats just the way the game is, to change that would be a huge step! however i agree that if someone is clear through on goal and hacked down 30 yrds from goal how is only a red card fair? especially if the incident was to happen right at the end of the game when the other team had no chance to make the extra man count!

Maybe if a player is sent off in this sort of scenario a penalty should also be given! It would make defenders think twice about doing it and make it a little fairer. The decision is already there as the ref needs to decide whether its a red card so its just an added extra punishment!

[The Doctor]

no, there's already a lack of consistency in reffing and increasing the grey area by doing something like this won't help.

[ScouseFox]

Who's to say before being barged over Lucas wasn't preparing to bicycle kick the bouncing ball into the top corner? Improbable? Yes. Impossible? No.

Referees clearly cannot say for certain what would have happened after a foul, so nobody would ever know whether to give a freekick or a penalty. They'd just be guessing and it'd make their jobs so much harder than they already are.