Dave_Pougher wrote:Copied from Lincoln City's match report,
After things quietened down, the game sprung into life in the eighth minute when Duane Ofori-Acheampong latched on to a forward ball, flicked it against Nat Brown who was pulled up for hand ball by the referee's assistant. Mr Wigglesworth, after awarding Torquay a free-kick and with Gulls players surrounding him, duly brandished a red card to the City defender.
I don't agree with trying to influence an official but the sad fact is it has now become part of the game, however it seems something that we have been reluctant to do sometimes. Would be interested to hear from people at the match how forthright TQY was in appealing to the ref.
I wasn't there so don't know for sure, but I would say that perhaps the Torquay players surrounded the referee only because he didn't initially give the free kick. I've seen the picture on the Lincoln forum (more on that later) and it is pretty easy to see how the referee would almost certainly be unsighted whereas the lino would be looking straight at it.
As to the offence itself: I've had a look at the LOAF and it isn't a great deal of help, if I'm honest. It confirms nothing more than we already know. Accordingly, it is up to the observer (lino, referee or whatever) to interpret the word "deliberate" within its ordinary meaning.
Deliberate clearly includes intentionally. Indeed, the words are synonymous. To any reasonable thinking, deliberate must also include reckless. If a player puts his hands in a position and is reckless as to whether the ball hits them or not, then he has deliberately handled the ball. He may not have intended specifically for the ball to hit them, but if he places his hands in a position, knowing full well that there is a reasonable chance that the ball will come into contact with them, he has taken that chance deliberately and must face the consequences accordingly.
Having seen the photo, I can say that the defender has deliberately placed his hands in a wholly unnatural position. Both arms are outstretched in front of him. This is not a position in which the arms could inadvertently find themselves. They were put there deliberately. The defender was also making a challenge on a player in possession of a bouncing ball. He was aware both of the position of his hands and the reasonable chance that the ball would come into contact with them. Any other interpretation of the situation in quite without sense. Thus, we can say that the defender has deliberately handled the ball.
Secondly, we must determine whether, in so doing, he has denied an "... obvious goalscoring opportunity". If we accept that the defender was the last man between Duane and the goalkeeper and that, in the photo, Duane is facing the Lincoln goal, while the defender is facing the sideline and that the goal is somewhere between 25 and 40 yards distant and that the players are somewhere within the confines of the width of the penalty area, then it seems on the face of it to be a goalscoring opportunity. The question is how much credence must be given to the more technical elements of the situation. It would be unreasonable to expect that the referee would be able to identify the relevant strengths and weaknesses of the goalkeeper, opponent and and defenders tracking back. It should not be for the official to make a value judgement that the opponent running through on goal has a poor goalscoring record, or that the goalkeeper is especially good at 1-on-1 scenarios. He should presume that each player involved is of ordinary skill for a player in that division. In the situation as I have described it here (using a combination of knowledge of the radio commentary, the picture and a few assumptions to complete the scene), it can be said that Duane, but for the handball, is likely to proceed in possession of the ball towards the centre of the goal with no one but the goalkeeper to beat. In this situation, it is reasonable for a referee to adjudge that a Conference level player of ordinary skill would have a better than 50:50 chance of scoring a goal against a Conference goalkeeper of exactly similar ability. This, but any objective view, is an obvious goalscoring opportunity.
While not inconceivable that a goal would not have been scored, it is, as I have described it, at least as likely as not that a goal would have been scored. We see then, that the decision to dismiss the defender was undoubtedly the correct one. Any argument to the contrary is without basis. Should it transpire, upon a viewing of the video, that the situation was markedly different from that which I have described, then a reassessment shall be in order.
As to Lincoln's forum, it's quite hilarious. They're utterly certain that, 11 v 11, they would have beaten us handsomely. Now, I'm not suggesting that we've walked all over them (I wasn't there and I don't go by the name of Terrence, so I couldn't possibly), but the loss of one player from 11 does not lead to the type of defeat to which I listened on Saturday. Their goal and only meaningful attacking contribution in 90 minutes was a penalty. We scored three and missed, by some accounts, two seemingly unmissable chances. We had some 30 shots, of which 20 were on target and, judging solely from the content of the radio commentary, Lincoln barely touched the ball in the second half. Add to this that, had the defender not committed the foul, we'd likely have been one up before they even scored and I really cannot see how they can suggest that a 3-1 defeat would have turned into a "comfortable" (shall we say 3-0?) victory. I'm sure it didn't help their cause, but from all accounts, we were good value for our victory.
Matt.