The Frankfurt coach Oliver Glasner allows himself to be carried away to an unsportsmanlike conduct, for which he only expects a yellow card, but rightly gets the red card. After the exciting game between Mainz and Schalke, the referee explains why he awarded the guests a penalty at the last minute.
When the football rules were changed for the 2019/20 season so that team officials could also get yellow and red cards, some coaches were very angry. It grew even more when it was announced that after four cautions they would be suspended for a game, meaning they would not be allowed to watch their team’s game from the bench. Some trainers expressed the fear that from then on they would be punished personally for even minor things and that their work would be restricted too much as a result.
However, the excitement soon subsided, the coaches came to terms with the new catalog of penalties, the referees did not sanction the coaches in an inflationary manner, and yellow card suspensions were rare. Perhaps that’s why, even in professional football, not all team officials seem to know what the rules provide for which personal punishment for which misconduct. In any case, Oliver Glasner, the coach of Eintracht Frankfurt, admitted after his red card in his team’s game at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim (1: 3) that he had not expected such a severe sanction from referee Harm Osmers.
Glasner had kicked a second ball onto the field in stoppage time in the first half and was referred to the stands by the referee. “It was my silent protest against the referee’s performance,” he later said. “I didn’t want to be insulting and I didn’t know there was a red for that. I thought I’d accept the yellow card. But ignorance is no defense against punishment. And if it’s red, then that was justified.”
With Glasner’s red card, the referee has no leeway
Indeed it was, as Rule 12 (Fouls and Other Misconduct) clearly lists “deliberately throwing/kicking objects onto the field of play” among the offenses that result in a red card for team officials. “There’s no leeway either,” Osmers explained after the game. In this situation, the referee would have had another reason to expel Glasner from the interior. Because “delaying the continuation of the game by the opposing team” also leads to a red card. And with Hoffenheim about to take a free-kick, such a delay was in place.
Incidentally, a substitute or substituted player sitting on the bench would only have seen a yellow card for the same offence. Other violations are listed in the rules for which a player or reserve player is only warned, while a team official receives a red card. Apparently, not all coaches are aware of this difference. It is based on the special role model function that team officials have. As a result, some offenses – such as leaving the coaching zone to protest a referee’s decision – are punished more severely than, for example, substitutes.
The red card for Oliver Glasner was preceded by a decision by Harm Osmers that was completely correct: Frankfurt Buta had jumped Hoffenheim defender Angelino in an aerial duel, which is why TSG got the free kick, the execution of which was delayed by Glasner’s ball throw. Shortly before the referee was able to interrupt the game with a whistle due to the foul, however, he accidentally collided with Frankfurt’s Djibril Sow. Eintracht apparently assumed that there would be a referee ball with one of their players. But the guests were wrong, so their protest was unjustified.
Kramarić’s feint from the penalty spot is legal
“Collina’s heirs” – this is Germany’s first referee podcast, founded and run by Klaas Reese and Alex Feuerherdt. It deals with the football rules, the decisions of the referees and the background and shallows of refereeing. “Collinas Erben” write every Monday on ntv. de about the referee performance of the Bundesliga matchday Our author is Alex Feuerherdt referee since 1985 and officiated games up to the Oberliga. He is responsible for training and further education in Cologne, referee observer in the area of the DFB and works as a lecturer and freelance journalist.
This also applies to the complaints about the way Andrej Kramarić took a penalty for Hoffenheim a few minutes earlier and converted it to make it 2-0 for the hosts. Kramarić paused briefly during the run-up before taking another step and finally kicking the ball into the goal. Harm Osmers gave the goal, Mario Götze protested against it, for which he was warned by the referee. Frankfurt goalkeeper Kevin Trapp also expressed slight doubts in an interview after the game that the penalty was taken according to the rules.
It’s a persistent myth that the run-up for a penalty kick must be performed in one go. The shooter may delay, interrupt, even stop during the approach – all of these are feints that the rules allow. On the other hand, after the run-up is complete – i.e. when the shooter has put one foot next to the ball and swings the other leg back – it is not allowed to fake the shooting movement or to interrupt it in order to swing again. Here the law enforcement officers have drawn the line between permissible tricks and unsportsmanlike deception. So there was nothing wrong with Kramarić taking the penalty.
Some may be critical of the fact that the rules here give the shooter far more freedom than the goalkeeper, who must keep one foot on or behind the goal line until the kicker has kicked the ball. But this imbalance is exactly what the rulers want. Because the penalty kick is a compensation for a rule violation by the defending team in the most dangerous area of the field. Therefore, the team taking the penalty shot should have a greater chance of success than the team that committed the offense in the penalty area.
Jöllenbeck makes his penalty whistle transparent
The day of the game started on Friday evening with the game between 1. FSV Mainz 05 and FC Schalke 04 (2:3), which ended with the guests winning the game very late thanks to a penalty kick converted by Marius Bülter. Discussions continued on Sunday as to whether referee Matthias Jöllenbeck’s decision to give Schalke a penalty after the duel between Bülter and Anthony Caci in the Mainz penalty area and the subsequent on-field review recommended by VAR Günter Perl was right. The referee himself made public statements about this several times: after the game in television interviews, on Sunday in the talk show “Doppelpass” and also on his Twitter account.
In the course of the duel, both players had held their opponent’s jersey, but Caci was the first, much longer and in the end also clearer. Bülter had no more opportunity to challenge the Mainz keeper Robin Zentner when catching the incoming ball. The sticking point in the debate was how to assess Bülter’s interim grip on Caci’s jersey. The referee described this mission, like Caci’s previous one, as a “positional scramble” typical of football.
Comprehensible decision in a difficult situation
When the player from Mainz stopped Schalke’s attempt to approach Zentner by clearly holding on to his jersey, Jöllenbeck, on the other hand, exceeded the limits of what was permissible. “It was a long, clear hold” that “went beyond the scope,” he explained. However, he did not notice it on the field, so VAR Günter Perl advised him to do an on-field review. A wise recommendation, also in view of the heavy criticism of the referee and VAR after the game between VfL Bochum and Borussia Dortmund a week earlier – and bearing in mind the special consequences of the decision.
Matthias Jöllenbeck made a well-founded and understandable decision in a difficult situation. Bülter’s use was on the limit of what is permitted, but Caci was the more active part overall, in which a violation of the rules could not be dismissed out of hand. In the “double pass” Oliver Ruhnert, managing director of 1. FC Union Berlin and himself an referee in amateur football, not only described the penalty whistle as correct, he also praised the entire game management of the referee. Rightly so, because Jöllenbeck had this exciting and explosive encounter well under control, he ensured the flow of the game with his line in the duel evaluation and also kept an overview in the hectic final phase.