Thursday 1 September 2011

Circuitous Ceremonial Free Kick

Avoid the Ampersand … &!

The following incident occurred during the EPL match between Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspurs on Sunday 28 August 2011. The match finished 5—1.

In the 21st minute with the score at 0—0, a free kick is awarded to Tottenham Hotspurs. Referee Phil Dowd takes at least 30 seconds to complete the ceremonial free kick procedure. Here are the freeze frames purposely shown in reverse:

Dowd's Doodle … tracing the Referee's route in reverse


Dowd's circuitous movement (in reverse) is like slowly tracing the & sign.

Draw the Ampersand in the opposite direction to the arrows (orange), and you will get Dowd's Doodle

If anyone who has ever tried to draw the & sign in reverse, they will immediately realize that it is painfully excruciating to execute … let alone watch being executed!

Granted, there is no time limit to setting up walls at ceremonial free kicks but the whole process could have been shortened. For instance, after giving clear instructions to the players in the wall, Dowd could have simply taken the direct route back to his final position but instead he walked back across the wall of players and back towards the left side of the ball and then came back across the ball to his final position.




HKRef Tip: Avoid the Ampersand … & ... (aka avoid attempting Dowd's Doodle)!

1 comment: