Ref on the list here delivering, as promised, my viewpoint on the Lehmann incident.
Lehmann's actions denied an obvious goal-scoring opportunity to an opponent moving towards the player's goal by an offence punishable by a free kick or a penalty kick (Law 12 Sending Off offence 5) therefore the dismissal from the field of play was correct. However the ball ran to another attacker (a professional footballer to boot, not some Sunday morning clogger) in an onside position who faced an open goal from around 10 yards out and in the opinion of many (included the lovely Sepp Blatter, President of FIFA) this preserved the goal scoring opportunity. As such, play should have been allowed to continue, the goal scored and then the referee had the option on how to discipline Lehmann. He would at least have had to issue a caution for unsporting behaviour because the actions of Lehmann were, without doubt, reckless and had potential to injure the attacker. They did not, in the opinion of this referee, constitute the use of excessive force and therefore did not warrant a dismissal. If Lehmann had committed the same offence in the penalty area with other defenders around him, then he would also almost certainly have received a caution as well as a kick from the penalty mark being awarded against him. So as the referee himself has admitted his actions were hasty and probably by taking a deeper breath before blowing the whistle he would have had the chance to delay his decision until he saw how things were going to turn out i.e. he could have played advantage, a goal for Barcelona and Arsenal continue with 11 men. On other matters relating to the same match/referee This was the same one who sent off Del Horno of Chelsea against Barcelona in the Quarter Finals Poor show by the referee saying that the Lehmann incident occurred within his Assistant's area of influence. If I'm an assistant, referees tell me I have a d-shaped area of credibility of around 15 yards radius from my position. The play took place at least 25 yards from the assistant and to pass the buck like this is v poor. Eboue dive for the free kick leading to the Campbell goal - very obvious, should have been spotted by the referee and/or his assistant and a caution given to Eboue for simulation _______________________________________________ the Leeds List is an unmoderated mailing list and the list administrators accept no liability for the personal views and opinions of contributors. Leedslist mailing list [email protected] http://list.zetnet.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/leedslist
