Not giving that pen feels like a bit of a re-interpretation of the rules to me

I think the rules on this have been pretty set for years now - if striker and keeper both go for the ball and striker gets there first, then when the keeper touches him he can go down it's a pen. Even if he might have been able to avoid the keep and/or stay on his feet if he'd really tried to.

Interpretation last night is that if the ref thinks the striker *could* have stayed on his feet, then it's not a pen. Even if there is contact, as there clearly was last night, as you say.

So strikers now have to stay on their feet if they can, even if that means stumbling a bit but carrying on, or doing everything they can to leap over the keeper to avoid touching contact, or whatever.

Not saying this is worse - maybe it will be better. Certainly evens things up a bit. Keepers can gamble a bit more knowing that even if the striker gets the ball first, they may get away with it.

But it feels like a different interpretation of the rules to the one we've all got used to.

(Of course, time will tell as to whether other refs follow this one's interpretation...)

Posted By: Tricky Hawes, Jul 2, 09:04:33