Question Number: 28867

League Specific 10/20/2014

RE: Adult

Steve of Maidstone, Kent UK asks...

I'm interested to know your opinions on whether a red card was the correct decision on Saturday when he Spurs player Fazio pulled Aguero back in the area while Nevas still has the ball. Whils the ball did subsequently come across the area and Aguero would have very likely scored. There was no guarantee this would happen at the time the offence was committed. A definite penalty but a red car too?

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Steve
It was an interesting decision and the referee was entitled to interpret that had Aguero not been pulled back he would have had a goal scoring opportunity. As that potential opportunity was denied the correct decision is a red card.
Okay there is an element of interpretation of what would have happened without the foul. I recall on BBCs Question of Sport there was a question round where a video was stopped and the participants had to describe what happened next. If the video was stopped just before the foul there is every likelihood that the answer would be that the ball was passed into the goal area to Aguero who would have tapped the ball home. That is not an unreasonable assumption and a very high probability of occurring hence the red card. I also believe that was interpretation of Fazio as well as he knew that without the foul there was every chance of a goal.

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

It presents an interesting challenge for the referee. The 'big picture' is fairly certain, if there had not been a foul, would there have been an obvious goal scoring opportunity. That depends on a 'small picture question: would he have been able to gain control of the ball?

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Steve,
it was correct because
(a)it was the referee's decision as a fact of play
(b) it was upheld by the league who could choose not to in the review
ITOOTR will always put some doubt into any close decision, however, as my colleagues Ref Wickham and McHugh sagely point out, the full picture is often a composite of smaller ones!
Cheers