Durhamfootman wrote:It was about the only part of the match that I watched and there wasn't a single Wales player looking at the ball when he took that free kick, becuse the ref hadn't blown for him to take it. I didn't spot any player asking the ref if he could take the kick early, and the ref was busy organising everyone else when he took it. If it had been allowed to stand it would have been a pretty outrageous decision
Save from quoting loads of rules, the short of it is a referee does not need to blow the whistle to restart from a free-kick unless there is an expectation that there will be a clear chance on goal, and that the team defending will form a defensive wall. In this situation, the attacking taker does indeed need to seek permission to restart before the defending team has formed a wall, and often the referee will ask if the player prefers to go on the whistle or take it immediately, and once decided he must wait or take it.....
But in this situation there was no defensive wall and no requirement for Wales to have retreated 10 yards before the free kick was taken. People take free-kicks like this 30 times a game without the referee blowing, the only difference is this was a clever player noticing the keeper had gone awol and chipping it in from miles out into an empty net.
The rules actually state the referee can only stop the attacking team playing on if he quite specifically indicates he wants to hold up play, which at no stage he did. And even if he wants to book a player, he has to give the attacking team the advantage and book him AFTER the next phase if they are ready to play on. So, in short..... the referee didnt follow protocol and disallowed the goal for no reason.
Wales werent ready and the goalie was busy scratching his a*se having a chat on the sideline? Well why should that matter? That's his own unprofessional nature and dim awareness, he deserves to be punished for it.