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I had the privilege of visiting the new Tottenham Hotspur grounds in London last week.
It is truly a magnificent stadium that reportedly cost £1 billion (R18.7 billion) to build. If it did, it’s worth every penny.
I was there to watch the home team take on current Premier League leaders Liverpool with my son, who is a huge fan of the Reds.
From where we were seated, we could clearly see Spurs manager José Mourinho and Jürgen Klopp of Liverpool.
Referee Martin Atkinson had an excellent game, as did his assistants.
However, his fourth official, Andre Marriner, was not doing his job.
Let’s first discuss law 1(9) of the laws of the game.
The technical area relates to matches played in stadiums with a designated seating area for team officials and substitutes as outlined below:
- The technical area should only extend 1m on either side of the designated seated area and up to a distance of 1m from the touchline;
- Markings should be used to define the area;
- The number of persons permitted to occupy the technical area is defined by the competition rules; and
- Only one person at a time is authorised to convey tactical instructions from the technical area.
- They are identified before the start of the match in accordance with the competition rules;
- They must behave in a responsible manner; and
- They must remain within its confines except in special circumstances, for example, a physiotherapist/doctor entering the field of play, with the referee’s permission, to assess an injured player.
The most important thing is that occupants must remain within the confines of the technical area except in special circumstances.
It does not say that a coach or manager can stay on the edge for as long as they like. It does not say that two or more people can issue instructions to players from the edge of the technical area. It does not say that a coach or manager can stray outside the area to issue instructions or, in some cases, to berate the referee because of some decision or other.
Why am I concerned about this?
Well, during the Liverpool-Tottenham game, I witnessed on several occasions Mourinho not only outside his technical area, but standing on the touchline and almost on the pitch. At one point, he was down the touchline to his right and at least 10m from the confines of the technical area.
On another occasion, he had crossed the halfway line towards the Liverpool technical area and, during all this time, the fourth official did nothing.
It has to be said that he returned to his technical area, but that’s not the point.
Why are some managers and coaches allowed to deliberately flout the law and others are not?
Why are some fourth officials allowing managers and coaches be a law unto themselves?
What is the purpose of having a technical area at all if the rules related to it are not enforced?
The laws of the game are there for everyone so that all can get a fair crack at winning, regardless of their standing or position within football.
There cannot be any exceptions if fair play is to operate optimally. It certainly wasn’t on this occasion.
Please feel free to make comments or ask questions.
Happy whistling!
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