On sportsintel NPFL Ref Watch, matchday One encounter at the Lafia City Stadium saw the Referee award a Penalty Kick (PK) to the home team Nasawara United in what seems to look like a foul committed by Shooting Stars Sports Club defender against two Nasarawa United attackers.
It is important to note that this review is done using the available video.
#NPFL25 MD1 – NASARAWA UNITED VS SHOOTING STARS PENALTY AREA INCIDENT REVIEW
From a first glance, it looks like the defender fouled the first attacker. However, on a second look, the defender played the ball and made no additional movement that could amount to a foul. Yes, there was a contact between the defender and the first attacker but this contact is a normal football contact.
Pix 1 shows the position of the legs of both the defender and the first attacker just before contact with the ball.
Pix 2 shows the positions of both players after kicking the ball.
From both pictures, it is clear that the defender played the ball even though it came from behind but he didn’t commit any offence.
NPFL REF WATCH: WHAT WENT WRONG
Pix 3 shows the referee’s position at the beginning of the video.
With Football Understanding, the referee should have known that the most appropriate position at this point would have been moving to the left to get a proper angle of view considering the number of players within the playing area (Gate 1) and not moving towards the right (Mini-Gate 1).
Moving towards the left would have given the referee a clear view of who played the ball and, also, if there was an additional movement by the defender to foul the attacker. This position would have shown the referee that the 2nd attacker falling was a clear act to deceive him.
Based on the above, I will submit that the poor decision of the referee contributed to his low knowledge of FOOTBALL UNDERSTANDING, and, ANTICIPATING the right direction to get a clear angle of view.
Positioning and, Reading is an important area the referee needs to focus on before the next game.
