If they're really guilty, then, yes, I would agree with that. All that bugs me too. I read an article by a ref why they don't enforce those things. Refs are told to overlook minor rule infractions to help the game move smoothly without slowing it down. The idea that refs forcing retakes of throws is more damaging than the stolen yards. Personally, I disagree with that stance. If refs punished all those infractions equally across the board then those things would all stop pretty quickly. (Obviously, if only one ref did it, it wouldn't stop) . One thing I learned pretty early as a parent was, if you want kids to obey you, only tell them to do (or not to do) things that you are going to follow up on. If you constantly bark out commands, but only enforce half, you're encouraging rule breaking. I feel the same way about football. If something isn't enforced, it shouldn't be a rule, and the opposite- if something is a rule it should be enforced. FA, FIFA, etc: Either enforce rules, or remove them from the books. When rules are selectively enforced it only rewards cheaters and worse: allows referees' subconscious bias to decide if the enforce a rule or not. I'm not going to say any referee is consciously biased, but every human or earth has subconscious bias.
I really don't believe them when they use the game flow excuse it's far more plausible that they simply do it to avoid having bigger decisions to make later or get vilified by the press. the first ref to stop players stealing 5 yards on throw ins would have every pundit and press hack on their back. I can hear neville and carragher absolutely pasting whoever that ref might be. Shearer would be ignorant about it. sourness would be not in my day etc etc etc. refs take the easy option.
With all that said it then moves onto the how sterile do you want the game This is where a Saint steps in and puts his/hers/theirs/it’s arguments across I get quite irked when a clear cut corner isn’t given that’s a dangerous set piece right there but it seems just accepted that those decisions don’t have an effect on the outcome of a match
in the end most of the time refs and linos are half guessing if things are tight. this is why they will never allow miking up or having to explain decisions. a lot of the time it's a 50 50 and they go with the team who tired to kick it out against someone or just play the take tuns game. I mean we had one of the most obvious corners ever not given recently. it wasn't even something that could be called an honest mistake. pure and utter not watching and no lino willing to stick up flag. again linos don't want crowd on their back.
the urgent flag wavers. yeah some defender flops over and they go mad like they've seen a murder. salah gets dragged over or kicked through (see tarkowski bad foul on sidelien) they wander off.
I think the pundits have a lot to answer for. Ever since England's golden boy Shearer accused Salah of going down easily, he's got nothing. He's the only player Shearer has picked out for that, completely ignoring the likes of Young and Kane who, when they do it, it's clever play.
Good post, but one minor caveat. There has been the occasional mention in the press of an ongoing investigation. I've never seen a big thing made of it because I suppose nobody thought it would amount to much. Why it's taken so long is anybody's guess.
Nothing, you just stand up for the games inadequacies and view them as part of the game. Goodness knows what that sounds like but its not meant in any way disrespectfully or patronising either. I just have a limited vocabulary i think you are being proved right with VAR in this country but overall i believe its working globally. Think it has exposed how poor or possibly corrupt our officials are in this country to be honest. I actually think its scary how bad the decisions could have been without VAR. my mind always goes back to that Sterling offside against City lol.
This is an interesting question. Does VAR work better globally? Is there data for this or is it just an assumption we're making? I haven't seen it often, but I have read comments from fans of other leagues that are equally critical of it. My own experience of foreign officials is limited to CL games or internationals, and my feeling is that sometimes VAR has a lighter touch, not interfering as much - but that could just mean that transgressions are therefore going under the radar because the officials don't want to be seen as heavy-handed. A different attitude to its use, not necessarily a better one. Also, it's taken as read that our officials are poorer than others - again, is there any data for this or is it just confirmation bias? Who amongst us watches enough foreign football to make a fair assessment. I can't imagine what feature of human nature would make the refs of one nation uniformly better or worse than those of another. There are certainly anecdotal references to refs in other countries being threatened and intimidated, not to mention bribed. I've frequently said that decision making is subjective and can't be any other way. We all see the same things but have a wide range of opinions on them, why would we expect any other group of people to be any different? Almost all reffing decisions piss someone off so there's always this idea that they're terrible because there's always someone moaning about them. To be convinced that it's significantly better elsewhere I'd need to have some evidence, not just assertions.
