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It's such a fucking stupid rule. Or would "vague" be more apt than "stupid"? Maybe I'm not being "clear" here... hmmm...

What the fuck is "clear" anyway. And clear to who? Does "clear" mean it has to be clear to everyone or just the ref? Does it involve telling the future a tiny bit as well?

Every time it crops up it bugs the shit out of me... as does the fucking silly debate that follows in the studio. Four grown men arguing over the definition of the word "clear". It has nothing to do with football, it's just a debate over the word "clear".

And to top it off today, at the end of their silly debate, they showed the results of their poll and something like 75% said it wasn't "clear"... so it was clear to 25% then?

I could go on with this for a while, but I hope you are catching my drift here - having a rule that has the word clear in it is fucking ridiculous. If the last man denies a goal scoring opportunity then he has to be punished. Forget this "clear" crap. It is horseshit that breeds further horsehit debates.

I'm not going to get into a debate about whether I think the punishment is correct, because I've been down that road before - the punishment is irrelevant here. There can be little arguing over a goal scoring opportunity. The player "may" have gotten to the ball and "may" have scored. And that is all we will ever know every time this happens.

It will never be "clear" to everyone. So fucking drop it from the rule. Please.

Clear could also take into account who the attacking player is, some have been known to clear the bar from inside the six yard box. I agree with you that there is no absolute definition for a clear goal scoring oportunity. Look at today, two players couldn't beat a keeper from 12 yards with a dead ball which is surely a clear goal scoring opportunity. The rule needs more clarity.
Today the red was right to send off the Spurs defender because as soon as Kaboul missed the ball the next person into it was going to be Aguero until he was spun round.

Ref was piss poor today , missed loads and what a fat cunt ? How and why are the premier league allowing fat useless cunts take center stage ? Spurs could easily have had a couple sent off today but plenty went unpunished , think Lamps got away with a two footer aswell ?

Can't argue with what you wrote Dub but the problem is, couldn't exactly the same be said for the term 'goal-scoring opportunity'?
What classifies as that, how many goals does Aguero for instance get that you wouldn't even call half chances? Like the two he got today where he didn't seem to have any room to work with, would that class as a goal scoring opportunity? How about if it was Soldado or Heskey in that position? If someone is fouled, you could still have the same debate about whether it was a gso, even if you take the word 'clear' out.

You're right though, it's a stupid rule.

'Clear' to me, and it seemed the ref agreed. Notice how the ref took a few seconds to see if the ball would have run through to Aguero, and when the defender missed it and it was ripe for picking, he went for the sending off as well.

'Clear' as day mate.

Subjectivity is at the core of referees' jobs.
"Is that foul worth a yellow?" "Is that too many fouls so now its a yellow for accumulation?"
"Is he already on a yellow? Should i send him off fore a second yellow or try to keep it 11 v11?"
"Should i start the match by calling alot of fouls to set the mood of the match or should i keep my cards in my pocket?"

Denial of a clear goal scoring opportunity is exactly the same. What is clear to one ref may not be clear to another, even within one crew.

Theres no way to eradicate it.

I see where the OP is coming from. But, many rules can be a bit vague and subject to opinion. I have no problem with this rule. Being an old git I remember when defenders would, not just foul but clean out an attacker - it was deemed a "professional" foul and earned a sneaking admiration from those within the game. The things was that the fans, and eventually the media saw it for the cynical negative tactic that it was, hence the change.

City64 wrote:Ref was piss poor today , missed loads and what a fat cunt ? How and why are the premier league allowing fat useless cunts take center stage ? Spurs could easily have had a couple sent off today but plenty went unpunished , think Lamps got away with a two footer aswell ?

Agreed. how did the guy who kicked the ball off the penalty spot at the first penalty not get booked? First there was three of them stood in the penalty area preventing play when they had no right to be there, the debate over if it was a penalty had finished, then he walked over and moved the ball after it had been set for the penalty. All the way through the game they were kicking lumps out of our players, the free kicks were awarded so seen but no action taken

sweenyuk wrote:

City64 wrote:Ref was piss poor today , missed loads and what a fat cunt ? How and why are the premier league allowing fat useless cunts take center stage ? Spurs could easily have had a couple sent off today but plenty went unpunished , think Lamps got away with a two footer aswell ?

Agreed. how did the guy who kicked the ball off the penalty spot at the first penalty not get booked? First there was three of them stood in the penalty area preventing play when they had no right to be there, the debate over if it was a penalty had finished, then he walked over and moved the ball after it had been set for the penalty. All the way through the game they were kicking lumps out of our players, the free kicks were awarded so seen but no action taken

And when Silva had studs scraped down his achilles with only a freekick yet when Fernando (I think) trips a player there's a yellow card issued.

The ref was poor in many senses but I'm not sure he was too wrong with the penalties given.

Beefymcfc wrote:

sweenyuk wrote:

City64 wrote:Ref was piss poor today , missed loads and what a fat cunt ? How and why are the premier league allowing fat useless cunts take center stage ? Spurs could easily have had a couple sent off today but plenty went unpunished , think Lamps got away with a two footer aswell ?

Agreed. how did the guy who kicked the ball off the penalty spot at the first penalty not get booked? First there was three of them stood in the penalty area preventing play when they had no right to be there, the debate over if it was a penalty had finished, then he walked over and moved the ball after it had been set for the penalty. All the way through the game they were kicking lumps out of our players, the free kicks were awarded so seen but no action taken

And when Silva had studs scraped down his achilles with only a freekick yet when Fernando (I think) trips a player there's a yellow card issued.

The ref was poor in many senses but I'm not sure he was too wrong with the penalties given.

That fat cunt of a ref was dragged out of the Dog and Duck pub surely ?

sweenyuk wrote:

City64 wrote:Ref was piss poor today , missed loads and what a fat cunt ? How and why are the premier league allowing fat useless cunts take center stage ? Spurs could easily have had a couple sent off today but plenty went unpunished , think Lamps got away with a two footer aswell ?

Agreed. how did the guy who kicked the ball off the penalty spot at the first penalty not get booked? First there was three of them stood in the penalty area preventing play when they had no right to be there, the debate over if it was a penalty had finished, then he walked over and moved the ball after it had been set for the penalty. All the way through the game they were kicking lumps out of our players, the free kicks were awarded so seen but no action taken

It was a really good game of football but the ref got so much wrong we are still talking about him and not the game ........... just shows how shit he was , Spurs could and should have been down to 9 men with 20 mins to go.

City64 wrote:

Beefymcfc wrote:

sweenyuk wrote:

City64 wrote:Ref was piss poor today , missed loads and what a fat cunt ? How and why are the premier league allowing fat useless cunts take center stage ? Spurs could easily have had a couple sent off today but plenty went unpunished , think Lamps got away with a two footer aswell ?

Agreed. how did the guy who kicked the ball off the penalty spot at the first penalty not get booked? First there was three of them stood in the penalty area preventing play when they had no right to be there, the debate over if it was a penalty had finished, then he walked over and moved the ball after it had been set for the penalty. All the way through the game they were kicking lumps out of our players, the free kicks were awarded so seen but no action taken

And when Silva had studs scraped down his achilles with only a freekick yet when Fernando (I think) trips a player there's a yellow card issued.

The ref was poor in many senses but I'm not sure he was too wrong with the penalties given.

That fat cunt of a ref was dragged out of the Dog and Duck pub surely ?

I'd have thought a bloke from the D&D who'd spanked 10 pints with whiskey chasers would've done just as good.