Is it me or are the majority of games now decided by dire refereeing decisions or to be fair very poor officiating by linesmen. Just some examples from the weekend's games 1. The tackle by Mcmanaman of Wigan-the referees view was blocked but the linesman had a clear view of what can only be described as an awful tackle. What did he do-nothing. He stays on the field when Wigan should have been down to ten men 2. In the same game, the linesman again misses a blatant handball for the winner. 3. Everton v Man City-Fellani hand ball when the score was 1 0. How far into the penalty area do you have to be before it is a penalty. Instead of a second booking and red card and a potential equaliser and playing against Everton with nine men, Everton go on to win the game. Not forgetting the clear goal Everton had disallowed earlier in the match. 4. Sunderland v Norwich-dodgy sending off of the Norwich keeper, clear handball by the Sunderland player Danny Rose in the penalty area. The linesman was no more that a few yards from the incident and, so I don't forget, offside for the Sunderland penalty decision. I could probably go on and on about contentious decisions but these were blatantly poor decisions and you can only sympathise with managers coming on TV and being furious. The comment that decisions even themselves out is just an excuse that does not wash with me. Footballers are paid silly money, fans pay good hard earned money to watch and we end up with games decided by terrible decisions. So what's the answer-train referees better, ensure linesmen grow a pair as they seem to flinch from any decisions-no I think we have to accept that at the top level we introduce some system of reviews like RU, RL and cricket. Football is a fast flowing game and the argument for no video replays is that it will disrupt the games flow. That is bunkum -in 2010-2011 a Guardian review stated that the ball was in play for 62m 39s on average in the PL that season. Interestingly it noted that in the Blackburn v Stoke game with Rory Delap drying the ball it was in play for 50m 04s. By god we miss RD-if only for his ability to time waste in away games. .So now we can say that an extra break or two to review key decisions will make no difference to the flow of the game. Personally I would like to see a pilot for review of key decisions. It would have to include penalty decisions, goals, disallowed goals and players being sent off. It would not get everything but would pick up 80% of the key injustices. Some people may say well how far back do you go to review a goal. For example do you go back to the decision to give a corner when it should have been a goal kick-no for me that is too far as clearly the defending team have opportunity to defend the corner. The decision to review could be automatic when one of these incidents occur or it could be the referees decision like in RL and RU where they ask to review only part of the incident, or it could sit with the captain on the field, who has two or three reviews and has to make a decision to review within 5 or 10 secs of it occurring. I feel that the reviews would add to the excitement, rather than reduce it. I like the cricket version, where it can only be overturned if there is enough evidence to say it is definitely wrong. So those 50/50 penalty decisions where you watch 10 times and still are not sure would stay with the ref. Either way the time has come to help referees as they are currently being ridiculed for poor decisions, although ones given in good faith. Discuss
Well said Northern, Have you ever noticed something strange about all of the above? It ONLY matters when Stoke City are involved.. eg Ryan and Ramsey was compared to (that tackle ) yesterday? One Gunners fan of fivelive even mentioned it and went on to say Ryan had "Previous". Having seen that yesterday... how the hell Martinez can say " I don't think the FA should punish him" is ridiculous. Much as I like Roberto M he's mad surly. That was'nt a late tackle it was a day late. As for the other decisions? yeah ridiculous but rember our game vs Spurs last season Northern? Same things happened, Crouch handball we score, they score but it's given offside... some you win some .... The answer? Use Videos otherwise we should not complain in my oppionion anyway. Great post by the way.
Right mate I can not remember the last time I came away from a Stoke game thinking.. that ref did well today! Same with all other clubs. Specsaver's or just some plain ole common sense?
I dont think that the refs are getting worse, its the fact that there are so many cameras that we see every single little thing that a lot of the time they cant possibly see every foul. You have to remember that footballers are now athletes and a lot are capable of running 100m in less than 11 seconds. It amazes me that linesmen dont get more decisions wrong considering the speed in which the game is played nowadays. I wouldnt mind but we have to watch 4 or 5 replays in slow motion before we can make a decision if its handball or a foul. the ref only gets ONE view and thats at full speed.................................would I be a ref?.............................not a bloody chance!!
Good post and I agree with Ricc on this one, the ref needs more help from technology and the linesmen and persecuters of fouls be it a takle, handball of a dive need to be properly punished including appropriate club fines.
Good post Ric have some Rep.. MOTD said as much last night.. Holt/Norwich has dived TWICE that week or so. One he won a pen the other I think? he was booked. I would'nt ref an under 10s game personally either. It's a no win situation and to be fair, MOST refs get most decisions right. T.V. does it help? no we can all sit and watch slow mo after the event.
Why not remove all referees and referees assistants decisions out of the equation for deciding how the points are awarded ? By that I mean let the game be played as normal , but then when the match is over , totally disregard the score. An independent panel will then view the video footage and decide what a FAIR result really is , and the points awarded accordingly.
Kickabow We may as well play the game without a ref and his two lino's.. imagine it after that tackle yesterday re the Wigan game. It would be like watching Wrestle Mania triple X ... Maybe not eh!
