Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice was sent off against Brighton for picking up a second yellow card for kicking the ball away; as revealed in Match Officials Mic’d Up, referee Chris Kavanagh told Rice he “doesn’t like” the rule of booking players for delaying the restart
Referee Chris Kavanagh told Declan Rice he “doesn’t like the rule” for booking players who delay restarts – as the official sent the Arsenal midfielder off for a second yellow in the Gunners’ 1-1 draw with Brighton last month.
While already on a booking, Rice was adjudged to have kicked the ball away from Joel Veltman’s path after fouling the Brighton defender in the second half of the August 31 encounter.
The sending off was costly for Arsenal, who were leading 1-0 at the time but then conceded to Joao Pedro’s equaliser as the game ended 1-1.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta was left “amazed” by the decision after the game, hitting out at Kavanagh’s “inconsistency” in not booking Brighton forward Pedro for a similar incident earlier in the game.
As part of the Match Officials Mic’d Up programme shown on Tuesday night, the officials’ recording of the incident was published, with Kavanagh telling Rice he had to send him off, as he was put in an “awful position”.
“Dec, you need to go,” said the official at the time.
“I don’t like it [the rule], I don’t like it. But [Rice has] knocked the ball. He’s kicked the ball. Dec, you need to go I’m afraid.”
Chief refereeing officer of the Professional Game Match Officials Limited Howard Webb felt Kavanagh had no other option but to send Rice off, revealing the PGMOL had warned players before the season started that players would be booked for such offences.
Explaining referee Kavanagh’s decision, Webb said: “He’s clearly seen Declan Rice commit a foul, then kick the ball away from an opponent in the process of taking a free-kick.
“We’ve messaged – clearly and strongly – to the players in pre-season about the importance of not getting involved with the ball once the whistle has gone, not delaying the restart in that way.
“We’ve said we would be consistent in the way we have handled this, in the same way we did last season. The number of yellow cards for delaying the restart nearly doubled last season. Because people want to see the game with tempo and flow.
“Once he has seen Declan Rice deliberately and clearly kick the ball away from the position of that free-kick then I don’t think he has any choice but to send him off.”
Arsenal fans were left in uproar on social media when replays showed the ball was rolling before Veltman attempted to kick the ball, meaning Rice’s actions were irrelevant
According to Law 13.2 in the Laws of the Game: “The ball must be stationary and the kicker must not touch the ball again until it has touched another player.”
However, Webb believes Rice’s desire to kick the ball away overruled the rolling ball argument. “It may have been rolling, but Declan Rice still felt the need to kick that ball away,” he said.
“It still has that impact and we have to look at what the player does in that situation. He acts in a way that is very clear, he makes a decision to take the ball away from the opponent.
“It’s the referee’s job to deal with everything else, but in this situation, the actions of Rice were designed to delay the restart so therefore I don’t think he can have any complaints when his actions resulted in a yellow card.
“In that situation, the referee focuses on Rice’s actions and determines he has to deal with him because those actions are intentionally designed to kick the ball away when he had no business going near the ball in the first place.
“Having given away a free-kick, Rice knows he has got to get away and let that free-kick be taken and the referee deals with everything else.”
