boogaloo
Active member
- Joined
- 14 Dec 2017
- Messages
- 426
This looks like the footballing equivalent of bodyline in cricket. There is nothing in the rules to prevent what Toney did. The rules state "All free kicks are taken from the place where the offence occurred", but no one is going to quibble the ball being move half a metre to the left or right prior to the wall being lined up. If it's moved too far forward, then there's an issue, but a little bit to the side is usually fine, unless you completely take the P**s!
It's not the same as diving or deliberate handball, as they are actual breaches of the rules, both punishable by yellow cards if the ref sees it. If Toney moved picked up the ball and placed it 50cm to the right of where the offence took place BEFORE the wall was being lined up, nobody would have cared or even noticed for that matter.
The issue is that Toney did this AFTER the goalkeeper had lined up the wall, rendering the five man wall useless. That to me goes against the spirit of the game, but then again football doesn't have the same level of honour as cricket (Australian cricket team excepted )
Maybe the answer is for FIFA to amend the rules so that once the ball has been spotted, you cannot move it without the referee's permission, and it is the referee's assistant's role to keep an eye on it while the ref sorts the wall out.
Interestingly Messi has also done something similar, but he gets lauded as 'a genius' for it.
It's not the same as diving or deliberate handball, as they are actual breaches of the rules, both punishable by yellow cards if the ref sees it. If Toney moved picked up the ball and placed it 50cm to the right of where the offence took place BEFORE the wall was being lined up, nobody would have cared or even noticed for that matter.
The issue is that Toney did this AFTER the goalkeeper had lined up the wall, rendering the five man wall useless. That to me goes against the spirit of the game, but then again football doesn't have the same level of honour as cricket (Australian cricket team excepted )
Maybe the answer is for FIFA to amend the rules so that once the ball has been spotted, you cannot move it without the referee's permission, and it is the referee's assistant's role to keep an eye on it while the ref sorts the wall out.
Interestingly Messi has also done something similar, but he gets lauded as 'a genius' for it.