Now, many fans would probably say they're all for respecting the referees in football. But this doesn't seem to apply when decisions go against their team. Norwich fans are guilty as any other group of fans, because every time we are losing at half time we boo the referee!
It's easy for us to say that a referee has had a howler, but having to make a decision in the space of a few seconds under the pressure of tens of thousands of fans cannot be easy. And whatever decision the referee makes, he's going to be making one set of fans unhappy so will always be in line for some criticism. In my view a human referee who isn't perfect adds an element of variety and therefore excitement to the game.
I'm sure the argument most of you would use is that football is more than just a game, and that fans are passionate about their team doing the best they probably could, and it is very frustrating when the referee is perceived to come in the way of this. There are also a few referees who do some to get repeated key decisions wrong like D'urso and Friend, and maybe these guys shouldn't ref at the highest level, but if you look at other games like cricket, the umpires frequently get decisions wrong, and this is accepted as being part of the game, and you never hear the players or fans complaining about it after the match, and they are no less passionate.
So unless they are Andy D'urso or Kevin Friend or a select few others, can we please cut the refs some slack?
It's easy for us to say that a referee has had a howler, but having to make a decision in the space of a few seconds under the pressure of tens of thousands of fans cannot be easy. And whatever decision the referee makes, he's going to be making one set of fans unhappy so will always be in line for some criticism. In my view a human referee who isn't perfect adds an element of variety and therefore excitement to the game.
I'm sure the argument most of you would use is that football is more than just a game, and that fans are passionate about their team doing the best they probably could, and it is very frustrating when the referee is perceived to come in the way of this. There are also a few referees who do some to get repeated key decisions wrong like D'urso and Friend, and maybe these guys shouldn't ref at the highest level, but if you look at other games like cricket, the umpires frequently get decisions wrong, and this is accepted as being part of the game, and you never hear the players or fans complaining about it after the match, and they are no less passionate.
So unless they are Andy D'urso or Kevin Friend or a select few others, can we please cut the refs some slack?
