Keith Hackett exclusive: ‘No way officials can lose their temper’ as ref lashes out in Ligue 1
Considering that handball decisions have dominated the headlines for the last few weekends, one might imagine that handball is a particularly difficult thing to officiate. This weekend alone, Watford’s Abdoulaye Doucoure scored a goal with his hand, Mo Diame shouldered away a goalbound header and Alex Iwobi handled in the area with impunity, though Arsenal went on to lose to Bournemouth anyway.
Handball is not especially difficult or ambiguous – quite the opposite – according to former referees’ assessor Keith Hackett, however. “Handball is actually very simple in terms of the Laws of the Game,” he says. “The fundamental point is very simple: always think of the word deliberate.”
For Keith’s view on those controversial handballs, Darren Ferguson’s comments on ‘shooting’ Football League officials and the incident which saw Ligue 1 referee Tony Chapron lash out at Nantes defender Diego Carlos, read on.
Doucoure, Diame, Iwobi
“Invariably, the first thing to look for in a handball decision is the movement of the hand towards the ball,” says Keith. “So in the case of Roger East where the ball was propelled into the back of the net [by Watford midfielder Abdoulaye Doucoure], that is very poor officiating from the team of officials, not just Roger East.”
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Keith adds that the refereeing team should work as a unit to identify handballs, as opposed to relying solely on the man in the middle to spot the infringement. “I would have expected, in that situation, his assistant referee to have come in and helped Roger East to make a decision. It was a deliberate handball, it fulfils ‘ball to hand’, and [Doucoure] has propelled it in the goal. That is also a cautionable offence under the banner of ‘unsporting behaviour’.”
In the case of Mo Diame, meanwhile, Keith says that a red card would have been the appropriate sanction. “That again was deliberate, his actions denied a goal, and that’s a red card offence missed by the referee. Really, though, that is about Graham Scott failing to get a viewing angle.
“The difficulty for referees in that situation is that players’ bodies get in the way of their line of vision,” he adds. “That’s why when we’re coaching referees we tell them to veer off the angle or veer off the diagonal, the reason being that referees traditionally run from one corner of the penalty area diagonally to the other corner. All they have to do is to branch off that traditional flow path, left or right, in order to make certain that they see those sort of incidents.”
Asked about whether the Iwobi handball mitigates Arsene Wenger’s claim of a “concerning coincidence” in refereeing decisions going against Arsenal, Keith says: “Yes, absolutely. The reality is one of human error.” Ultimately, though, he notes that all of these incidents could have been easily cleared up by VAR.
The Darren Ferguson debacle
Further down the league pyramid, referees have been having an ever harder time of it. After Doncaster’s 1-1 draw with Plymouth in League One on Saturday, Donny manager Darren Ferguson claimed his side were denied a “blatant penalty” and when asked what the FA should do with referees, replied: “Shoot them”.
Though Ferguson has since issued an official apology, Keith calls his comments “very disappointing” and expects him to be issued with a fine and a suspension. “Managers will always get frustrated by refereeing decisions and I do know, from the reports, that two games have not been officiated well and that has further frustrated Ferguson,” Keith adds.
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“However, the scenario is this: the PGMOL [Professional Game Match Officials Limited] have provided plenty of channels for a manager to vent his frustration about specific decisions.
“I have seen a number of refereeing performances at Football League level where I too would question their movement, positioning and sprinting speed around the field of play. I’m not going to say they’re not fit – they have to pass a fitness test at the beginning of each season – but the important thing is the application and motivation on the field of play.”
Tony Chapron’s temper tantrum
If there was one truly wild decision made by a referee this weekend, it was that of Ligue 1 referee Tony Chapron to kick out at Nantes defender Diego Carlos. Not only did Chapron lose his temper after being barged over from behind – the collision seemed entirely accidental – he also sent off the Brazilian centre-back to add insult to injury.
“There’s absolutely no way that a referee can lose his temper in the course of the game,” says Keith. “I had under my management one referee who would argue with players and his body language would be aggressive. What I had to do was push him to visit a sports psychologist, to help him manage that anger in his performance.
“In this case, though, the authorities have got to come down on the referee because it’s totally and utterly unacceptable.” Reports from France suggest that Chapron has now been suspended, unsurprisingly.
Keith Hackett is a former Premier League referee and referees’ assessor as well as a director for You Are The Ref.