Why on earth have referees started penalising encroachments on penalties

In recent weeks there have been various penalty retakes rewarded because of player encroachments. 2 examples of this are Frank Lampard's 3 attempts at West ham, and then this evenings retake for Kuyt at Liverpool.

As a referee I do not understand the grey area, so what chance do other members of the general public have. No wonder every weekend referees are abused because of the lack of consistency; the rules leave too much to scepticism.

In my opinion it should be simple; there are two scenarios when a penalty should not be retaken, despite encroachment; the first being when the penalty does not hit the target and the ball goes out of play, with the second instance being when the ball immediately hits the back of the net. I say this because neither of these circumstances would effect the outcome.

The only time that encroachment should be penalised is when the penalty is saved and the ball is gifted to an offending encroacher. The penalty should then be retaken and the encroacher should be punished with a caution for unsporting behaviour.

I would even go as far to say that the penalty should only be retaken if the encroachment is made by a defender, and a member of the attacking team encroaches it should be punished by issuing an indirect free kick to the defending team.

Why do All of My Favourite Chocolates Get Discontinued?!!!

First of all there was the Cadbury Nobble; a delcious cobination of buscuit and wafer wraped up in chewy caramel. Then there was Twixels, a long box full of a miniture version of Twix, I have no idea why, but things like this always taste better when they are mini. Following that there was the Falling Leaves at Thorntons; basically a small box of individual cornflates coated in silky Thorntons milk chocolate. Then I got attached to Teasers; the big version of the malteeser, like the ones you would find in a box of celebrations. At one time they were released in a box of their own, however, now Malteaser have releaased the little Malteeser Rabbits, which is a slight compensation for not being able to get hold of a box of Teasers, but quite expensive if I wanted to consume a multitude of sweet scrumptious sins. Now the Mars Mini Eggs are nowhere to be seen, how many more times are these confectionary companies going to introduce a delicious, addictable treat in to my life, only to then snatch it away and leave me going cold turkey with abosolutely no warning at all.

Does anyone out there know where I can get hold of any of these treats?

Or are willing to join me in a petition against the confectionary industry for cruel and unusual punishment?

Getting a Job in Marketing

This week I was browsing the disccusions on 'Linked In' when I came across I cry for help from a recent graduate who is struggling to find a marketing job in the current economic conditions. This is something that I have recently experienced myself and therefore decided to share some advice with her, that she said was very insightful, and as a result I thought it might come in handy elsewhere...

Last year I studied for my MSc in marketing, and prior to completing my exams I starting applying for a number of jobs, in a hope that when the summer arrived I could start my career. However, come May I still had no offers, not even for an interview. Every job that I applied for said that I did not have enough experience and that other candidates better fitted the profile that they were looking for.

I felt that I was dealing with a double edged sword; I had no experience and nobody would offer a job in order to gain any experience. In an attempt to make my studies for the past year worthwhile, I wrote a letter and sent it to every marketing company within a 10 mile radius of my house (little over 40 companies altogether). This letter offered my services, in a voluntary capacity, as an marketing intern for the summer.

In response to the letters, I received 10 replies, and of those 10 I met with 4 to decide which company would be best for my personal development. I decided to work for the most promising opportunity for 2 days per week, and I came to an agreement to work for another company for 1 day per week at a rate of £50 per a day. I spent the other 2 days searching for jobs, and applying for approximately 30 - 40 each week.

After 5 months of volunteering I was offered an opportunity to work on a new project for Northcliffe Media, but it was as a paid intern for only 2 months and based in London (120 miles away from home), which put me in a bit of a dilemma, and gave me a huge decision to make. I decided that after 8 months of an unrequited job search, I should give it a go. I moved to London in a hope that by the time I finished my 2 month internship I would find a permenent post to start my career.

Working at Northcliffe was great, but it was only two months, and in that time I worked hard in a desperate attempt to secure a full-time position elsewhere. I even decided to look at more innovative ways to gain relevant experience and earn money. For example, I noticed a job advertisement for a marketing assistant at a sole trading beauty franchise. This got me thinking that in the current economic climate many companies cannot afford the services of advertising agencies, so I wrote to the company proposing that my university colleague and I work as freelancers and assist with his marketing as if we were an economy agent. He liked the idea and now we provide him with a fortnightly newsletter, as well as maintaining a blog and his facebook page. This has proven to be invaluable experience and could well turn into something more, as he has recommended us to business partners.

As innovative as this was, and as exciting as this may sound, it was really just a drop in the ocean, and for me, never a long term plan. I continued to hunt for my big break and then 2 opportunities came along at once. I weighed up my options and went for the position that offered me the most responsability, biggest exposure to what I wanted to do, and essentially surrounded me by, what I believe, is the best people.

What I am trying to say is, do not give up, I applied for over 1000 jobs before I got something, but at the same time, do not expect opportunities to just drop on your lap, there is a lot of competition out there and you will need to work extremely hard to get your break.

Be innovative and stay positive!

PS. If it is a job in advertising that you are after I would highly reccomend reading Ogilvy on Advertising, great book, even if it is a little outdated, but chapter 3 focuses on getting a job in advertising and the different avenues you could go down to get there. 1, Work for an advertising agency, 2, sell advertising space for a media comapny, 3, work for a manufacturer (i.e. P&G), 4, work within a marketing department of another type of business.