Footballers and their celebration II

Started this Topic two days back, you can check the first part through this link.

...The introduction of Video assistance referee (VAR) has seen a great change in football. Footballers now hit the ball even after the ref blows the whistle for an offside. They know there’s the probability that the VAR will overturn the referee's decision, so it’s better to be safe than sorry. Some years back doing this might get a player a booking. I can remember how van Persie got a second yellow card for hitting the ball even after the ref blew the whistle. It was in a match against Barcelona and he was accused of wasting the time by kicking the ball. The red card changed the course of the game.

The same thing can’t be said today, it’s more reasonable to ignore the ref's whistle if you feel you are on-side, VAR will do the rest for you.

Another pressing issue with VAR overturning goals or decisions made by the referee is the yellow card given to a player after taking off his shirt. Imagine a player scores and off his shirt in celebration, he receives a yellow card for this but unfortunately, VAR cancels the goal. The big question is “Should the yellow card be cancelled too?”

Milik’s case

About two weeks ago Arkadiusz Milik thought he had scored a last-minute winner for Juventus and took off his shirt in celebration, earning a second booking, and receiving his marching orders in the process. I’m sure what people will say is since he was on a yellow card already, he shouldn’t have off his shirt but remember two days ago I talked about how spontaneous celebrations are sometimes. The situation, time, and condition in which the goal is scored do contribute to the emotions one feels after scoring.

Image from goal

Juventus were closing 2 goals to nil at home against Salernitana and got two goals back in the last minutes of the game, scoring what he thought was the winner in the 94th minute is worth celebrating but it wasn’t to be.

His goal got cancelled after the VAR check but his booking stood. Fair?

Richarlison’s first goal denied

Just like Milik, Richarlison scored a last-minute goal, though it was a winning goal, it was a special one for him. The Brazilian moved from Everton to Tottenham in the last transfer window and was desperately looking to impress his new club and the best way to do that is by doing what he knows how to do best- score goals.

The goals didn’t come not for lack of trying but it seems luck wasn’t on his side. Finally, against Fulham with his team 2-1 up he got the goal he so much desired. He took off racing to the corner flag, pulled his shirt off, savouring the feeling of putting a big smile on the spurs faithful face but he got a shocker.

Image from thesun.co.uk

After the VAR check, his goal was cancelled for an offside but he was booked for removing his shirt. Fair?

Why is removing one’s shirt an offence?

I won’t go deep into this, because I still have Vini’s dance celebration (Which isn’t new for Brazilians and some other players), the racist attack and the support he received from his countrymen and others.

Removing one’s shirt wasn’t a bookable offence at some point until the year 2004. As I mentioned in the pre3vcious episode, players sometimes reveal in prints below their shirt that might lead to controversies, political chaos and fan war. All of these led to the rule, also some players waste time with this. The time it takes to wear the shirt back or get another shirt is sometimes long, this is so because after pulling off their shirt some player throws it into the crowd and have to go get another when the match resumes.

So whether VAR cancels a goal or not, the offence is still committed and must be punished. Whether this is fair or not is left to the public.

There are various other reasons but that's a story for another day, let’s go back to players' celebration and the implication, and we will continue that with Vinicius Junior’s recent issue.

Thanks for Reading! ⚽️💚⚽️