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No kicks to touch on that side?

Ciaran Trainor


Referees in England
I'm sure I've come across this before but first time as a Ref.
I was approached by home team before game who said that they'd been losing a lot of balls in the adjacent stream so have agreed with teams that if either elect to kick to touch one side the resulting line out will be 10M up the field.
I and the opposition were happy to comply and everyone just got on with it but just thought I'd ask.
Is there any clubs who have similar local variations?
 
I had that request once. It related to PK to touch only, the agreed distance was (IIRC) 25m.
I wasn't very keen, tbh, but both teams were happy with it

We still lost two balls from kicks from open play, rather proving the point of it all
 
im not following.

so whats to stop the ball being kicked in the stream anyway? whether its a 60m spiraller or a 10M stab? irreseoctive of whether that gains 10m or 60m ?
 
im not following.

so whats to stop the ball being kicked in the stream anyway? whether its a 60m spiraller or a 10M stab? irreseoctive of whether that gains 10m or 60m
In my case it was a high fence
They just wanted to reduce the number of balls kicked over it , as they couldn't easily get them back, so the logic is to at least stop the PK to touch
 
In my case it was a high fence
They just wanted to reduce the number of balls kicked over it , as they couldn't easily get them back, so the logic is to at least stop the PK to touch
Same here, they have a fence about 12M high and a gate to the stream and it's often quite windy in Cumbria blowing towards the stream.
The club just want to avoid unnecessary costs which I hope we can all understand.
Obviously you can't prevent open play kicks but the penalty situation seemed pragmatic.
Not sure 10M is sufficient however for me it should be 20M or in 22, directly to 5M line
 
I sometimes encounter fences behind the DBL and the height of the fence is usually proportional to the desirability of the ball not going over the fence.
I'll ask the goal kicker if he can get the ball over the crossbar but not the fence. Often they like the challenge.
 
Why's that?
becasue eg
i am attacking near oppo goal line, on "that" side of the pitch . I can risk everything for that edge and the worst that can happen is defenders get a PK and cant get even out of the 22m area with any clearing kick. They are now defending inside their own 22 . Not on the 10m line. QED the "worst case scenario" isn't actually that bad. I still have huge territorial pressure. Even more so if their own lineout is flakey
 
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becasue eg
i am attacking near oppo goal line, on "that" side of the pitch . I can risk everything for that edge and the worst that can happen is defenders get a PK and cant get even out of the 22m area with any clearing kick. They are now defending inside their own 22 . Not on the 10m line. QED the "worst case scenario" isn't actually that bad. I still have huge territorial pressure. Even more so if their own lineout is flakey
Not sure that is cheating though. It’s just playing the conditions.

The attacking team could also be disadvantaged if they have a half-decent kicker but can only progress 10m.

Either way, just another variable for both teams to manage.
 
Not sure that is cheating though. It’s just playing the conditions.
so cheating at rucks/mauls/whatever in the hope of not being seen isn't cheating? In the knowledge that if caught cheating the oppo cant get out of their 22 in my example?

oh.
 
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