By the by, it was a common theme on other clubs' forums last season that Charlton were getting a large number of refereeing decisions. Some people on some clubs' forums thought that the refs had been bribed. It wasn't just sour grapes after a match, sometimes it was from clubs we hadn't played in ages.
This is the trouble. A referee has a limited life span. Like a footballer its a case of earn as much, as quickly as you can, and get the highest profile to extend your career into commentary, management, white collar football jobs. You can't trust any human to be inpartial in a job that has so many temptations, I dont blame a ref for favouring the bigger sides, its self preservation after all. Everyone in football can be bought, and many are every game, including referees who are subtly being manipulated by the clubs, and the FA themselves. Uriah Rennie was a prime example of dressing someone up like a ref but who acted like a human. He was awful and Stevie Wonder would have been better placed to be a ref but he was fed to the clubs by the FA who just worked him. In the end he was dropped down the leagues and forgotten. I totally agree that football refs should be more like rugby refs but the mindset is tottally different and in football is irreversible. We have created monsters in refs, like frankenstein they dont have to explain or account and just go about their terrible business with a selfless presevation to survive. How can any man be expected to be inpartial when he is the monster.
Bring back Roger Kirkpatrick, I say. I once saw him run from box to box backwards. No-nonsense ref, as round as he was tall, and a damned good laugh, too.
Roger Milford...at least I think that was his name the bristolian with the perm in the 80`s right laugh
