Watching the Barca v AC game and I thought, what a soft penalty! Then I saw about a million replays from all angles and I thought, yeah, it was a stonewaller! Poor old referees don't get the benefit of replays, perhaps we should cut them some slack!
I'm watching this too, but I was thinking that while Lambert has taken us up two leagues, there's still a little room for improvement...
I've tried refereeing (the local U13's was as competitive as it got), and since then I don't think I've ever said a bad word about a ref. Even at that level, the amount of **** you get from the parents, and some of the players, is ridiculous. I'm by no means saying I was a perfect ref, but having parents yell at you that your "a ***ing disgrace" (in front of their 10 year old son) for ruling a goal out for a foul in the build-up is just plain silly. I've got huge respect for the refs who do this in front of thousands of fans week in, week out.
Boring. I turned it over. I would love a Barcelona player to just whack it up the pitch and see the reaction of everyone else.
Wouldn't it be brilliant to see Holt have half an hour ruffling their defensive feathers, attacking some crosses in the penalty area.
I was a qualified referee, got the FA badges. I spent about 10 seasons in the local leagues, but now I'm considered too old (59) to take responsibility for games. I had two critera when speaking to the captains at the toss up. Don't try to CON me, I will book you for consistant cheating. Don't SWEAR at me, I will send you off straight away. About halfway through my first season the reputation was there, as I applied those rules rigidly, and I hardly ever had problems from those two areas again. I also stopped a game and refused to re-start it again until a spectator who was giving me some horrendous abuse was removed from the touchline. It was helped by the local Association backing my stance (Humberside), I guessed they liked the amount of fines going into their funds. I know I made some wrong decisions, it's very very difficult not to on the spur of the moment, you know the situation, the brain is thinking something but the mouth comes out with the complete opposite. Still, I think I was fair and did actually enjoy it. As Dave so rightly puts it, it's an incredibly difficult job to do and does deserve some respect. ILD OTBC
I totally agree ILD! I have been a referee for over 10 years and some days it's fantastic when you have a great game and everything goes your way but when its bad its truly horrible! We don't have the benefit of slow motion replays from every angle. We can only give what we see and we only have a couple of seconds in which to make a clear decision. I get annoyed with TV pundits who always slate the referees, if they know it all why don't they give it a go FFS! The most controversial decisions are always around the offside laws. Even FIFA don't really know how this law should be applied I have met with county officials and they don't even know so what chance have any of us got! I have had to send club officials off in the past for blatant cheating on offsides!
We were playing a match down here in Cornwall against a pikie team. One of them (they were all related so you book one you book the lot) got a bit uppity and went after the ref. "Are you going to hit me" the ref asked, "Yes" says the pikie. With that the ref head butts the pikie and says "You ****in aint". Priceless!
I was reffing a game between two pub teams who had a bit of history and I was dreading it. I'd told the teams before hand if there was any verbal abuse to me, they would be off straight away. About 15 minutes into the game, I had to caution a player. He looked furious, and said "would you send me off if I called you a c***?" I said I would. He then asked if he thought I was a c***, could he be sent off. I told him no. He then said "Ref, I think you're a c***". Have to admit, I wasn't asking for that, so I just laughed, and told him I wouldn't fall for that one again. He obviously told his mates I must have had a sense of humour, because I didn't have any problems after that.
Offside!!!! ****ing ridiculous situation. I think it was Jack Charlton who said; If your not interfering with play you shouldn't be on the pitch![/I] Amazing how many of us on here have been or still are refereeing. ILD OTBC
Its a great way to keep fit and to earn a few extra quid doing something that you are passionate about! I would recommend it to any one!
Your two rules are absolutely spot on. I have no idea why professional refs cannot also do this. I am sure there would be a furore for the first couple of weeks when a huge number of cards were issued but after this the clubs would learn and I am sure behaviour would improve. I cannot understand the difference between the respect given to all referees by other sports and the utter lack of it given to football refs. I can't think of any other sport where you can swear at or try to intimidate a referee without serious consequences for both player and club. Without wishing to sound like an old git I do think that it does set a really bad example all the way down the leagues and into the amatuer and kids game which is really sad.
Positive. I can even tell you the name of the team the bloke played for. I still keep in touch with him. And just for the record it was in 1983
It was that long ago, that one of the guest speakers at our final dinner one year were George Courtney and Keith Hackett
