Sunderland manager Steve Bruce terms Kuyt's goal ‘a joke’
The 2010 Premier League season has already seen some freak goals, such as the 40 yard rebound one from Cesc Fabregas of Arsenal against Sunderland. The Black Cats once again conceded an unusual goal against Liverpool. As their center back pushed the ball
back to his goalkeeper, Torres latched on to it and laid the ball off to Kuyt to slot it in.
Sunderland’s manager, Steve Bruce was clearly not impressed as after the match, he said that the referee Stuart Attwell’s decision to allow the goal was nothing less than a "joke". The man in the spot light was Michael Turner, who was judged to have taken
the free kick from which the freak goal came. Turner explained his side of the story and said that he didn’t take the free kick and instead passed it back to the keeper to take the long kick.
Bruce maintained that the referee clearly knew that the kick wasn’t taken by Turner but he still hesitated in blowing the whistle, which showed his lack of ability to make decisions and that is not acceptable. Bruce remarked, "The first goal is a joke. The
only person who knew it wasn't intentionally taken was possibly the referee. However, I watched him. He went to his whistle three or four times and even looked for the linesman. Everybody in the ground knew Turner was kicking it back to where the free-kick
should have been taken from”.
Still, the manager applauded his team for their resilience as despite falling behind the Black Cats, they did well to get back on level terms courtesy a penalty kick from Darren Bent. Steve added, "But to respond the way we did I couldn't be more pleased."
Regardless of what Bruce feels, the organization which represents the Premier League referees insisted that the goal was legitimate and there was no error of judgment by Stuart Attwell.
A statement from the Professional Game Match Officials argued: "According to the laws, having stopped the game for any infringement the referee is required to ‘indicate the restart of the match’. In practice, in the majority of cases, referees indicate for
the re-start by gesturing to players to take the kick. These gestures can be minimal. For the more important 'ceremonial' free-kicks which also involve control of the defensive wall, referees can indicate by using the whistle. However, there is no requirement
by law to use the whistle to make the indication”.
The statement further clarified that the rules clearly state that when the ball is stopped for a kick and sent into motion, it means that the kick has been taken. "The ball is then in play when it is kicked and moves. So, in this case the ball was in play
as soon as it was kicked by a Sunderland player. Also, the laws state that the free-kick must be taken from the place where the infringement occurred. Again, in this case, the referee correctly determined that the free-kick was played from the right place."
Steve Bruce, looking least concerned by this statement, continued to insist that his team was dealt an unfair hand by the official. He should have pulled the game back while the keeper should have been allowed to retake the kick. While looking at the bigger
picture, it could have been a 2-1 win for Bruce’s team instead of a 2-2 draw.
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