When can free-kicks be given?

IT is odd that people can be involved in football all their life and can still misunderstand its laws. I’m thinking about Jose Mourinho and the recent North London derby, Arsenal v Tottenham, of which he is the present manager.

Being interviewed after the match, Mourinho made a special point about the penalty, awarded by referee Michael Oliver to Arsenal late in the game.

It was given after one of his players clashed with an Arsenal player who had sliced the ball in the penalty area.

The Tottenham player, Davinson Sanchez, came from behind with his foot high and caught Alexandre Lacazette’s ankle bringing him down. ‘Where was the ball? Mourinho asked. ‘The ball had gone,’ said the interviewer. ‘Gone where?’ insisted Mourinho.

‘In front of the players’, was the reply, ‘Exactly’, said a smug Mourinho.

What on earth did he mean? Did he believe that a player can only be fouled when he is actually playing the ball?

Let’s look at what the Laws of the Game say, ‘Direct and indirect free kicks and penalty kicks can only be awarded for offences committed when the ball is in play’. Did Mourinho think that the ball had gone out of play?

‘The ball is out of play, says the Law, when it wholly passes over the goal line or touchline on the ground or in the air’ or is stopped by the referee’. The ball in this case had not gone outside the field of play, in fact, it was still inside the penalty area when Oliver blew his whistle.

Prospective referees when in training, are often tested with the question. ‘What action would they take. if after a corner, the ball is booted upfield but two opposing players, still in the penalty area, clash and the defender strikes the attacker’. The answer is that although the ball is in the other half the referee would give a penalty.

The Arsenal v Spurs incident is the same. The ball is still in play and the infringement takes place in the penalty area.

How could Mourinho think it could be anything except a penalty?