today's Guardian references the circumference issue
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2011/nov/21/five-things-learned-premier-league" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog ... ier-league</a>
Obviously Blackburn's second goal should never have stood. With the ball having gone out for a corner (and even that was debatable) Yakubu Ayegbeni placed the ball in the quarter-circle and ran into the penalty area; Morten Gamst Pedersen took the kick to himself, ran to the edge of the area and crossed for Junior Hoilett to bundle home. It was a variation on the routine with which Manchester United created what should have been a goal for Cristiano Ronaldo against Chelsea a few years ago, the variation being that they cheated and United did not. Whereas in 2009 Rooney clearly knocked the ball forwards, ensuring that it was in play before Ryan Giggs arrived to peg it into the penalty area, on this occasion Yakubu did no more than put his foot in the vague vicinity of the ball. The television cameras detected no movement.
But something about Roberto Martínez's post-match reaction piqued our interest. "When I saw it live it gave me the impression that he didn't touch it," he said, of Yakubu's involvement. "He meant to touch it but he didn't touch it. But then you see the replays and it's impossible to tell. Unless you've got magic eyes you can't give that decision. In those situations you have to retake the corner."
Our initial reaction was: you've got at least two laws wrong there, Mr Martínez. For a start, retaking the corner was never an option. As the laws of the game state: "If, after the ball is in play, the kicker touches the ball again (except with his hands) before it has touched another player: an indirect free-kick is awarded to the opposing team, to be taken from the place where the infringement occurred (see Law 13 – Position of free-kick)."
Secondly, surely it was abundantly clear that Yakubu had not made the ball move enough. In the scraggy old copy of Rothmans Football Yearbook that happens to be sitting on my desk (1992-93, since you ask), the law governing the taking of corner-kicks states: "Players of the team opposing that of the player taking the corner-kick shall not approach within 10 yards of the ball until it is in play, ie it has travelled the distance of its own circumference, nor shall the kicker play the ball a second time until it has been touched or played by another player." This is the law as I remember it, with the ball having to move "the distance of its own circumference" before it can be considered in play, but someone has gone and changed it. The latest version states that "the ball is in play when it is kicked and moves".
But movement can be very minor indeed, and surely this amendment has made life more difficult for the referee. Even Premier League match officials, who to judge from some of the penalty decisions made this weekend have a few eyesight issues, can discern whether the ball has rolled its full circumference. Nobody can, from a distance, reliably make out the kind of little wobble that could qualify as movement.
Outraged and confused, I called Dermot Gallagher. "The rule changed some time ago," he confirmed. "It's meant to make things easier for the referee, who previously had to work out the ball's circumference." Mission unaccomplished, Fifa law lords. Change it back, sharpish.
