LaLiga laws and interpretation
We see this tackle a lot. The attacker heads back into the middle of the park to collect the ball, and then as he waits for it with his foot ready to take a touch and control, the midfielder arrives from behind and catches him on the heel of the supporting foot. It's a foul and we play on. Rarely is a booking even dished out. But this year, the Technical Committee has recommended that LaLiga referees are more severe in the punishment of tackles from behind like these and the result has been the expulsions of Modric and Molina for actions that seemed to all of us as accidental. It is no longer important whether it is intentional or not, they tell us, but memo number four came out which didn't have this. Soon it will be updated, after its initial leak.
Red cards that don't feel right
This year they have amended some rules for minor and useless simplicity, with two correcting those introduced just nine years ago. But this is not a new rule, but instead a new interpretation that has been requested of referees here in Spain. Sending someone off, just like firing from a job, is a serious matter. It is only fair to do it when thier presence and the circumstances cannot be tolerated any longer but this was not the case for Modric or Molina at the weekend, certainly according to the general feeling.
Interpretation should count
For a while here there has been an uneasiness to fiddle with the rules and, when not, to add interpretation to them. Interpreting what is in reality a natural law is worth being guided by common sense, but these new guidelines are turning referees into robots with puzzling instructions that are not appropriate. They are often, fortunately, passengers, like with the outburst from Diaz Vega with the offside positioning, which didn't last a month, but cost Levante a goal. But the tendency is to go further, until gradually the essence of a rule that was conceived and worked for other assumptions, is changed.