Sunderland were beaten 3-1 by Fulham on Sunday afternoon.
Ex-PGMOL chief Keith Hackett has delivered his verdict on referee Craig Pawson’s performance in Sunderland’s 3-1 defeat to Fulham on Sunday afternoon, claiming that the official could have sparked a “mass confrontation” had he abided by one particularly laissez-faire decision.
With Fulham leading 1-0, Pawson pointed to the spot after Brian Brobbey was ajudged to have pulled visiting defender Calvin Bassey back by his shirt in the penalty area. The PGMOL have since publicly explained the call, with Bassey and a number of his teammates seemingly in offside positions when the initial ball into the box was delivered.
At the other end of the pitch, Pawson again awarded a spot kick after Dan Ballard was brought down by Ryan Sessegnon, but despite Enzo Le Fée stepping up to convert with aplomb to drag his side back into the contest at 2-1, the Black Cats would go on to concede a third in the 85th minute, putting pay to any hopes of a dramatic comeback.
There were those of a Mackem persuasion, however, who believed that their team could - and should - have been handed another penalty earlier in the game, when Raul Jimenez looked to have clumsily bundled over Nilson Angulo during the first half. With the Ecuadorian on the turf, and the ball stuck in something of a ruck, Pawson would eventually blow for a Fulham free-kick - much to the chagrin of the home support.
But speaking to online outlet Football Insider, Hackett has sought to explain the official’s thinking on the incident, as well as claiming that a failure to intervene when he did could have led to a more problematic confrontation.
The former FIFA official said: “The learning point is blow the whistle early, and give a foul to the defence. If there’s any doubt, like a throw-in, goal-kick or corner, you go for the easy, common-sense option.
“Give it to the defence. That’s what we were all taught as young referees. That’ll get you out of jail. Half the supporters will be against you, but just sell it. Craig Pawson is experienced now. Most of the time, he wants to stay out of it. But when there’s a player on the floor, that’s a potential mass-confrontation trigger, which is why you need a quick blow of the whistle.”
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Why were Fulham awarded a penalty against Sunderland despite Calvin Bassey seemingly being in an offside position?
The explanation lies in the offside law as set out by IFAB, who determine the laws of the game. Whether the law itself is a good one is a matter of debate, but the view from PGMOL is that it was correctly applied in this instance.
Law 11.2 of the game, relating to offside offences, clarifies that a player is penalised for offside only when they become involved in active play through the following:
- interfering with play by playing or touching a ball passed or touched by a team-mate or interfering with an opponent by: preventing an opponent from playing or being able to play the ball by clearly obstructing the opponent’s line of vision, challenging an opponent for the ball, clearly attempting to play a ball which is close when this action impacts on an opponent or making an obvious action which clearly impacts on the ability of an opponent to play the ball.
So the first step of the process is to establish that Brobbey's foul takes place once the ball has been kicked, as we have learnt from previous Sunderland games that a foul cannot be forgiven beforehand. From there, offside only becomes a consideration if the officials believe Bassey has touched the ball or is challenging for the ball when the foul occurs. In this case, they clearly decided (rightly or wrongly) that this was not the case.
Further guidance is set out in IFAB's Q&A section of the laws, which states the following:
Q: A player in an offside position is moving towards the ball with the intention of playing the ball and is fouled in the penalty area before playing the ball or challenging an opponent for the ball. What is the referee's decision? A: It is a penalty kick. The foul is penalised as it has occurred before the offside offence.
It's this advice that officials will say they were following in awarding Fulham their penalty.
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