Feel free to delete or direct me to another discussion if this has already been questioned, but I have to agree with the guy here. How is this not a backpass? I caught this while scrolling through Facebook and don't really know much more beyond this clip. The backpass rule doesn't apply to England 🤔🤔 pic.twitter.com/2jzA9iki8J— CaughtOffside (@caughtoffside) June 10, 2017
It looks like the referee whistles (you see his hand go to his mouth) before the ball is played back. And Hart nonchalantly plays the ball to his hands, rolls it out to a defender immediately, and then--maybe--the defender just takes the free kick from a spot way back in his defensive third? That's all I've got. Not sure what he foul would be but that's the only good explanation I can come up with. But that's all contingent on him actually whistling. Short of that, either the referee crew shut down and didn't notice OR they did notice and deemed the violation trifling because there was no attacking pressure and it clearly didn't matter. If they opted for the latter, this forum might blow up in debate!
There did seem to be something in the CC where a Scottish player fell into an English player, so it might have been that... However, I must point out that the "latter" was advocated by a FIFA referee instructor at a high-level instructors course a couple of years ago, much to the shock and chagrin of most attendees! Whether or not this is now actual instruction to FIFA referees, I have no idea. PH
I didn't watch the game but on an other forum I wist regularly there quite a few people (non-refereeing England fans) expressed surprise that neither a foul nor a backpass was called. And as I can't find any live-text that mentions a foul at that time I have to guess that nothing was called so it looks like they ignored it.
Concentrate on the hand gestures that the defender who receives the ball from the goalkeeper makes. It seems to first be hands up, in the universal sign for "whoa, that wasn't really a backpass, ref!" But then he immediately moves his hand to his ear, almost as if he's straining to hear the referee, presumably either to tell him that "yes, I did whistle so take the free kick" or "no, I didn't, but people clearly thought I did so just keep going." And then the one Scottish attacker you see right at the end, in the foreground, seems to also look at the referee to say something, too. Maybe questioning if it's a free kick. Maybe questioning the position of the free kick. But seemingly not protesting the lack of a backpass call. My impression is the referee definitely acknowledged what happened and didn't just miss a backpass. And no one was upset, so no harm done.
Also look at the keeper after he tosses the ball out. He turns his back to the field and casually walks back toward the goal. Not something I would expect him to do if the ball was in play. But, if it was a free kick for England, it wasn't taken from anywhere near the correct position...