#refereeing

#refereeing

"After review, the ball hits the arm of the Wolves player, which is in a natural position so the on-field decision will remain," he announced over the tannoy. Former Premier League assistant referee Darren Cann said it was "without doubt the correct decision". "Hallam, officiating in his first Premier League match, made an excellent and courageous call to stick with his on-field decision of no handball," Cann told BBC Sport.

Celtic are among a growing list of clubs showing an interest in highly-rated Hibernian midfielder Josh Mulligan. (Daily Mail), external Lawrence Shankland was in no mood to take any credit for Hearts' attempted fightback in the weekend derby defeat at Hibernian. (Edinburgh News), external Luke McCowan admits Celtic must find a way to plug their leaky defence as they cannot always rely on outscoring teams. (Daily Record), external

Imagine a world in which you could reinvent football. It's a dream, of course. Just a bit of fun. But stick with us. What if you had the power to change any of the game's laws and potentially bring to an end countless hours of discussion about handball, offside, video assistant referees, or anything else you want?

takes a risk because he pushes him from behind.

[He was] over fussy, I felt to give two minutes at the end of the game was incredible given the number of substitutions and stoppages,

"expectation of perfection"

We couldn't get the last goal and it was frustrating in the second half, he told TNT Sports. They were trying to slow the game down at times. I've never seen a player in my whole life get booked for taking a quick free-kick. I don't know where that rule has come in. Even the stoppage-time, three minutes and one minute I've never seen that in the Premier League in the last two or three years.

According to the International Football Association Board (Ifab), who determine the laws of the game, there is no law that states taking a quick free-kick is punishable with a card. However, under Ifab's law 12.4, a player can be booked for dissent by word or action, or even for displaying unsportsmanlike behaviour such as showing a lack of respect for the game.

If we believe that he could arrive and challenge for the ball, the adequate punishment should be a yellow card, for a promising attack. If, as the referee interpreted, the distance makes it impossible for him to challenge for the ball, it's a clear goalscoring opportunity, punished by a

Martin Breheny begins his countdown of the best men in charge since the modern age of the county boss began back in the 1970s. They didn't enter the GAA lexicon until the mid-seventies, they aren't mentioned in the rule-book and, unlike players, they don't have their own union. They wear gaudy bibs, emblazoned with 'Bainisteoir', surround themselves with multiple assistants, say they never criticise referees before proceeding to lambast them and keep their players well clear of the media.