The Hand Of God Strikes Again
Monday, 18th Mar 2013 09:35

This time God appeared to be controlling the hand of Maynor Figueroa as Wigan won the first of their games in hand in controversial style.

The two Sunday televised games saw the old question of Referee's having access to replays raising its head, in the first one Norwich were firstly reduced to ten men when the keeper was red carded for handling outside the area, replays showed that at best it was very inconclusive that he handled and that the real likelihood was that he chested the ball down, having his hands up didnt help the referee, but it looks from the benefit of TV replays that he didnt handle.

But worse was to come for the Canaries, they then had a penalty awarded against them for handball, again initial replays seemed to suggest that he had chested the ball, but from other angles it appeared to have run down his arm, with his arm at his sides though you have to ask the question whether this was accidental, the linesman was only yards away and gave the decision.

The same linesman was again in the spotlight when he flagged for a freekick again for handball only yards in front of him, this time against Sunderland, again replays showed that the offence was well inside the box.

But the days main controversy came at Wigan, you can excuse the referee for missing the dreadful tackle that saw Haidara stretchered off, but how did both the referee and his linesman who must have had a clear view of the flight of the ball, miss the handball from Figueroa, who clearly flicked the ball on when it would have been cleared by the defender behind him resulting in a last second goal that could be the difference between Wigan staying up and going down, certainly if they stay up by a point one team will be very unhappy at this afternoons work by two of the officials.

Im not an advocate of TV replays in the main, it would disrupt the flow of the game, however I am an advocate of retrospective action, for both incidents like this handball and diving, especially diving, its time for the football authorities to act now and stamp out cheating, be it of either type and lets be blunt this is what the handballed goal was cheating.

Its time to stop this sort of thing dead in its tracks, players would think twice about handball like this if they were then handed a three game ban retrospectively and this ban was increased for further offences, although in truth incidences like this are relatively rare, it would take out the temptation to do such things if the player was to face a lengthy ban.

Simiarly for diving, I would hand out one match bans for the first offence and then increase it by a game for subsequent dives, I feel that diving would then vanish from our game virtually overnight, publicly managers say they dont condone diving, but when was the last time you saw a manager discipline one of his own players for diving ? never is the answer, its time this was stamped out, personally im getting fed up with the game being stopped every 30 seconds because someone has thrown himself to the floor because an opponent has brushed past him.

Photo: Action Images

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BlackRod added 12:08 - Mar 18

At least the FA is taking action against McManamon with a three game ban. Malicious or not it was an appalling challenge for which he should have been sent off. That might have affected the result too. It's a shame that poor refereeing decisions may decide who stays up and who goes down.

The use of cameras to verify that a penalty is genuine wouldn't interrupt the flow of the game.

Whatsforpud added 12:30 - Mar 18

For me, Norwich were unlucky both times. The keeper lifted both arms, and the ball hit him in the chest/armpit area. For the second one, it slid off the defender's chest, and on to his arm that he was trying to keep out the way. Surely handball is primarily to stop hands going to the ball in a deliberate act. What are players supposed to do with their arms?

On the question of diving, there are two sorts. One is when there is little or no contact. The other, which is creeping more and more into the game, is when there is a foul, and the player goes down, and maybe rolls around so dramatically, that an ordinary free kick becomes a yellow card, or an ordinary yellow card becomes red. This is worrying.

ItchenNorth added 13:21 - Mar 18 As regards the Callum McManaman incident; It will be interesting to see if Newcastle get fined for failing to control their coaching staff / players. Even though this was a shocking tackle the scenes were ugly at half time. Hope the lad has not sustained long term damage though.
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