When does a celebration get out of hand, forcing the referee to whistle for a restart and allowing the team that just conceded to race down the field and score a goal of its own? It’s an unwritten rule that the euphoria which greets a goal should be given ample time to manifest itself, but who’s to say when enough’s enough?
What if there was a curmudgenous ref who frowned upon all celebrations and immediately allowed restarts — the sort of ref who would’ve allowed England to score on Croatia following Mario Mandzukic’s late winner?
Law 8 actually defines how play is restarted, and it’s pretty exacting, including these two key points:
– All players, except the player taking the kick off, must be in their own half of the field of play.
– The referee gives a signal.
But I’m here to propose one alteration to this rule: If a team celebrates a goal by taking a selfie, the opposition can restart as quickly as they damn well please.
The selfie celebration has two extremely famous instances. The first was back in 2015 when Roma’s Francesco Totti celebrated a goal against hated rivals Lazio by taking a selfie in front of the Curva Sud.
It could’ve been kinda cool, but the Italian legend ruined it with a duck face.
Totti did not strike us as a "duck face" kind of guy.
The second instance was back in early March, when Marseille’s Mario Balotelli, of course, took a selfie video with the crew after scoring against St-Etienne.
Selfies should have no part in the game. Which is why I’m glad to show this video from the Moroccan second division. The team you see celebrating with a selfie is Youssoufia Berrechid.
The goal put them up 1-0 against Mouloudia d’Oujda, but the team that was scored on quickly restarted play — in a completely legal manner — and raced down the field to earn a penalty and then convert it.
Funnily enough, the match would end 1-1. I can rest a little easier tonight knowing that one of our game’s great evils has been defeated.
