Question Number: 29312

League Specific 4/14/2015

RE: Adult

keith ramsay of north shields, tyne and wear england asks...

can lee mason tell me why he did not award a penalty to newcastle against liverpool when PEREZ was clearly taken down in the box

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Keith
No doubt you are a Newcastle supporter.
Anyway Referee Lee Mason decided not to award a penalty kick. There can be a number of reasons for this which can include that the referee felt that the contact was not sufficient for a foul and that the attacking player went down easily on contact looking for a penalty.
One of the blights of the modern game is that players now simply fall down all too easily in the penalty area and that puts huge pressure on the referee to make a decision. Players rarely try to stay on their feet anymore and the advice is to go down under challenge so referees are extremely wary of awarding penalties.
I have looked at this a number of times and it is a foul. Lovren realises he is not getting the ball and he tries to pull his leg back. Perez though makes no effort to keep going and goes down. Referee Mason gets one go at this and he would be equally slated if it was shown that the contact was not present.
I might add that Referee Mason has awarded 4 penalties this season which is mid range with the highest numbers of 8/9 of penalty awards and the lowest per referee is around 2. That suggests to me that his tolerance level is reasonably high and if perhaps he has a doubt the penalty is not given.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Keith
well, you best ask him! lol You can be sure in the post game break down that incident will be talked about. Missed decision or a controversial presumed missed decision? The referee gets one split second to see what he sees, from the angle of view he has! Players tend to exaggerate contact. From the multiple replays slow motion rewinds it certainly does look as if Lovren is making contact and Perez is tripped. That said, Newcastles performance was poor overall. I would compare their playing mistakes in numbers to the referees' decisions as many versus a few by the referee.
Cheers