Subs and restarts

I know, 2 posts in two days is not something you see often. Well, consider me inspired. This post is in regards to probably what was my son's last travel match ever. Next season he will (hopefully) be playing in college and has already committed to a school in Virginia for soccer. Nostalgia aside, we had a couple of interesting points for the match. The center was a man I know and respect a lot. Love his no nonsense reffing style. Don't always agree with his calls, but he is one of those "old guard" type of referees. You know, honor and all that.

The two interesting things were that in about the 13th minute and with my son's team already down 2-0, a teammate of my son does a great move and gets his support foot swept right out from under him in the penalty area. Clearer PK would have been hard to conceive. Yet my friend makes no call. So he is conditioned for the next call and unfortunately gives my son's team two PKs after that missed PK call. I could justify one of the two, but it was tough to see him rattled after the first non-call. My guess is that he knew he owed the team a PK and ended up finding two.

And those things happen. You replay a call in your head at a stoppage, or at half and then "find" calls that kind of make up for the missed call. It would be easy to make each call an isolated event, irrespective of the previous call or the score of the match or any of the other million factors that we weigh every time we decide to blow or not to blow that whistle.

The other interesting thing, and one that I would love some feedback on, is the inability of some of us to not be able to shed some things that we learned way back when. Almost myths, even. Like my friend. After he made the PK call (the one that he actually decided to award), a sub was waiting at midfield and he let him in. Rules of the competition did not actually permit this, but he was going with any stoppage and no one decided to correct him. Then he states to my son's coach that the PK cannot be taken by the sub. And I have heard that before. In fact, many of us have used that before. I know that I have probably thought of it, but it is rare to have the scenario, so I cannot recall if my previous self has ever denied a sub a PK restart before.

But truth be told, the laws of the game don't say anything about that. If that were true, a sub really shouldn't be allowed to take a throw in either. Or a free kick, or a corner kick, or partake in a dropped ball, because all of these scenarios is where he or she is the first to touch it after coming off the bench. So, it is my understanding that this is a myth or a misconception that has been passed down from generation to generation and from referee to referee, but I have really yet to find it written down anywhere. Perhaps some day,  I will find it, but for right now, I think a PK restart is just the same as any other restart. At least that is what I believe. Let me know your input and I will post the results in the coming weeks or months. Also, don't expect another post tomorrow.