Has technology gone too far and will it spoil the beautiful game

Referee correct to award Dutch goal - 10 June 2008 Netherlands' controversial first goal in Monday's 3-0 Group C victory over world champions Italy at Euro 2008 was correctly awarded despite many observers believing it was offside, organisers UEFA said on Tuesday. UEFA general secretary David Taylor told a news conference the officials correctly interpreted the laws of the game when Ruud van Nistelrooy scored, stating Christian Panucci played him onside although the Italian was off the pitch at the time. "The goal was correctly awarded... not many people, even in the game, and I include the players, know this interpretation (of Law 11)," Taylor said.
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Blatter demands action on tackles - 08 March 2008 Fifa president Sepp Blatter has called for lifetime bans and criminal prosecutions for players guilty of making dangerous tackles. He has demanded a "zero tolerance" policy ahead of the International Board's weekend meeting at Gleneagles. Blatter told The Times: "Dangerous tackling is one of the most important issues in football at the moment. "Therefore players who do this kind of thing intentionally should be banned from the game." He added: "Attacking somebody is criminal, whether it happens on a football pitch or elsewhere. It is a crime and should be treated as such." Blatter also suggested managers were not helping the problem and he said: "The mechanism where this happens today is obvious. You do not want football to be a non-contact sport - tackles are part of the game Man Utd winger Ryan Giggs "The pressure on the coach or manager to win is such that he encourages his players to go for victory at any cost. "There is no microphone in the dressing room, so he says, 'go, go, go'. Until when? Until the point where the referee intervenes." Blatter also called on referees to be part of the crackdown, saying: "Some referees have in their mind 'how long can I let this game go without giving a card?' "They think they are good referees if the game flows for 20 minutes without an interruption. But the referees must give yellow cards or red cards in the first three or four minutes if necessary and we will call for them to do so. "Then the referee will have peace on the pitch. At the moment it is just not working. "Before, the problem was tackling from behind, but now players are doing it from the front and from the side. This is a matter we will discuss this weekend. 606: DEBATE Give your reaction to Blatter's comments "We will not only make recommendations to the referees, we will instruct them to be stronger against this violence." But Manchester United winger Ryan Giggs believes such bans would be almost impossible to enforce. "How would you govern that?" questioned Giggs. "It's hard to say in many cases if a player has gone out to injure someone. "You do not want football to be a non-contact sport. Tackles are part of the game. Equally you want them to be fair. "You would need to bring ex-players onto a panel and be the judges as they would know."
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FIFA law amendments - 10 June 2008
The 122nd Annual General Meeting of the International Football Association Board (IFAB) took place in Scotland on 8 March 2008. The attached document details the amendments to the Laws of the Game that were approved. These include very minor amendments and revisions to laws 1 and 2 which in themselves have only a small impact. Under the Directions and Instructions section there is a reiteration of law 5 regarding dealing with injured players. Click here to see the document.

 

Next Meeting is the

August Meeting 2008-2009 Season

 Tuesday 5th 2008

Quiz Team win Last County Quiz Final

Society News

Our Branch President has been successful and now is a Vice President of the County RA. It is a just reward for Jim and the Branch for his service to referees in the County.

Sedgefield will host the 2008 County RA Annual Awards Dinner Dance to be held in February 2009 at the Masonic  Hall Ferryhill.

Where we will have two recipients of the Fifty Years Service Award Jim Smart and Jim Rowcroft.

The date change is to accomodate Jim Smart who is only allegible for 50years from December 2008. The Branch tried unsuccessfully to get special dispensation for Jim to receive his award in October. 

Sedgefield Won the southern section of the County quiz League Against strong opposition from

Hartlepool

Stockton

Bishop Auckland

Bishop Auckland finished runners up  

The New Season

  Referees Instructor Course:

History of the Game

Will we ever get it right