Whitey Grandad

I was sat at lunch recently with an ex-owner of a local non-league club. He used to have a box at St. Mary's but when the price rocketed after the last promotion he told Cortese where to stick it.

The Sunday Times yesterday was quite equivocal about it. Personally I don't think it was a dive in the sense of 'simulation', rather a deliberate sprawl in order to move the ball on and avoid any potential damage. The way that both arms go forward in order to allow him to recover and get up quickly would seem to support this. In almost all case of diving/exaggeration/simulation the arms will go up in the air and often the player is looking at the referee before he hits the ground. J-Rod looks genuinely surprised at the outcome. There again, if it was given for a foul on Puncheon it's all academic.

It'll be mostly fluid, both the the gain and then the loss.

Good idea. When does it start?

Loading is different from parking or waiting (though I don't know the exact differences). For 'no loading' there are little yellow lines painted on the edge of the kerb such as near Tescos at Bursledon. Parking is a definite no-no.

Indeed it is, and there does not need to be contact for it to be a foul, nor does contact necessarily make it a foul.

Please forgive my terse reply which was prompted by the word 'tripe' used by someone who appears not to know the details of the Laws of the Game. In truth, we can only guess what motives were behind J-Rod's actions and what prompted Halsey's decision.

Absolutely, yes we do.

Let's not be churlish. As Thatcher once said: "Just rejoice at that news".

What I was trying to say was that the fall may have been an intentional part of moving the ball on to Rickie and at the same time avoiding the tackle and not an intention to deceive. The way that both arms go forward would seem to support this. (Surely post #180 is a spoof?)

Good player, I wish we had more of his quality.

Six wins and a couple of draws should be enough, I reckon, but it will probably go to the last game. Stoke at home to stay up?

Well I've just had several looks at it again and it doesn't look like a deliberate dive to me. J-Rod gets his right toe to the ball first at which point his left leg is trailing. He then moves his right foot out of the way to avoid the challenge by which time it is too late to bring his left leg forward. How about this interpretation? He manages to get to the ball first and toe-pokes it forward to Rickie and then gets out of the way of the challenge by sprawling forward. It does not look dramatic and he does not immediately look towards the referee and is surprised as anybody when the whistle goes.

I know how it feels. Interesting, thanks for that.

A fair assessment. In almost every penalty incident the offended player could make an effort to carry on but they then run the danger of the referee not having to make a decision. As for the overpaid BBC pundits, how many times have they justified a penalty decision by saying 'there was contact' no matter how slight.

Fair enough. It just looked like self-preservation to me.

It certainly looks like a tackle to me. IfJ-rod plants his right foot down without withdrawing it he would be lucky to escape a serious injury.

In this case the left leg doesn't matter. Merely having to take avoiding action with the right can be considered enough for a foul.

It was the clean sheet that won it as much as the penalty.

Not tripe at all. Go and do a refereeing course and then come back.

The wording is: 'trip, or attempt to trip' so there does not have to be contact for it to be a foul.

The wording of the relevant law is 'trip, or attempt to trip'

No charge for change of address. (I think)

I shall reserve judgement until I've seen the incident. Great result though.

A draw wouldn't be the end of the world but we need to pick up some wins sooner rather than later. A couple of wins might even tip the balance if any player is undecided about coming to join us.