The standard of officials

[Dr Know]

I'm watching the football tonight and skipping through the different games and I have to say the standard of officials is so poor its frustrating. Ricardo Rocha (sp?) got sent off for clipping Bent but to be fair I didn't think it was meant and the ref sent off the wrong player Yabda (sp?) who went on what I would call a binge protest until the officials got it right. Jones tried some fancy move and slipped the ref gave a foul. The the Man City v Bolton match Elmander was clearly fouled by Toure (sp?) and the lines man gave it the other way. How can teams go to play when they have very little faith in the officials? I mean these mistakes cost teams points and can even go on to cost them millions. Do these guys ever get looked at and or fined for making these blunders? The FA need to do something and fast!!

 

[cwy21]

The FA need to do something and fast!!

Do you have a suggestion? This isn't Man City where they say "our refs suck, lets go buy some new ones".

 

[fridgemagnet]

Make the players who want to become managers do 2 or 3 seasons as match officials first, lets face it the best officials in other sports are the ones who've played the game at a high level first. Or have recently retired players sit in on the match officiating courses (you'd assume such a thing exists)

 

[jimtheyid]

Kevin Friend and Stuart Attwell should not referee in the PL until they have years more experience in the lower divisions. They are an embarrassment.

 

[SlickMongoose]

Only a masochist or moron would want to be a referee, given the abuse they get from the fans, players, managers and media.

Solve the abuse problem, you'll get better refs, eventually.

 

[cwy21]

Kevin Friend and Stuart Attwell should not referee in the PL until they have years more experience in the lower divisions. They are an embarrassment.

I think Attwell has been much improved this year.

 

[Bus-Conductor]

The standard of refereeing has not improved since the seventies when I started watching football properly.

The players have very little respect for the refs, and it's hardly surprising with dishonest and incompetent ****'s like Webb and Clattenberg. There is no reason for not using technology for all major decisions (goals, offside, card offences). The game needn't stop much more than it does anyway.

With offside you just play it through while the fourth official is checking the offside and only stop the play if deemed necessary, if not you allow the move to continue.

 

[TallBlokePH]

The standard of refereeing has not improved since the seventies when I started watching football properly.

The players have very little respect for the refs, and it's hardly surprising with dishonest and incompetent ****'s like Webb and Clattenberg. There is no reason for not using technology for all major decisions (goals, offside, card offences). The game needn't stop much more than it does anyway.

With offside you just play it through while the fourth official is checking the offside and only stop the play if deemed necessary, if not you allow the move to continue.

Pretty much agree with your take on use of technology - although I think offsides should still be called where they're blatant (i.e. the 'clear daylight' approach) otherwise it'd be a waste of time reviewing.

Also I'd like to see the ridiculous rule about not being able to review/overturn a decision if it has been 'dealt with' by the ref other than where it's a case of mistaken identity for red card offenses - if it's wrong, it's wrong. OK, so you can't go back and award goals etc, but officials should have their own league tables that include 'significant errors' and not just how many red/yellows they've dispensed, along with some form of fine/penalty at a certain threshold or for massive cock-ups.

The 'respect' campaign seemed like a good idea, but for me it needed to be backed up with action against incompentent refereeing. It's all very well tackling player/manager vs ref issues, but there seemed to be no actual recourse/outcome for refs making shoddy decisions which I think would really have helped. If people knew refs were being picked up for making bad calls, surely they'd be less inclined to give them abuse.

 

[cwy21]

If people knew refs were being picked up for making bad calls, surely they'd be less inclined to give them abuse.

Referees do get removed from the Select group lists when they have consistently poor performances. Steve Tanner is a good example. He somehow got on the FIFA list in 2008, and now he isn't even doing premier games anymore much less UEFA games because he was pretty shit.

The thought of fining refs for mistakes is a total joke. Refs make mistakes. Players make mistakes. A player misses a sitter in a 1-1 game and then the ref misses a penalty two minutes later, who gets the blame? Not the guy who missed an open goal from four yards out.

Perfect example is the Dutch/Portugal game from 2006. Referee gives 16 yellows and four reds, most (if not all) were justified. That match easily could have finished 8v7. Afterward the ref gets destroyed by the media and Sepp Blatter because he had the unfortunate assignment of refereeing a MMA fight at a football tournament.

Instead of blaming the multi-millionaire superstars who didn't want to play football at the World Cup, instead the ref gets the blame and his career is over.

 

[Jonboy]

The powers that be do not want video replays as they cant control them. (think france v ireland) at the moment refs are manipulated by the top teams, do you think it is just a coincidence that the away teams never get penalties at the top 4 grounds unless nailed on and even then I have seen them not given.
Blatter and co are twats and they have been ruining football for years.

 

[Dr Know]

My rant wasn't just at the refs but at all the officials. Last night in both Man/Bolton and Pompey/S'Land games, if the ref had more competent linesmen it would not have been that bad, although Friend made his fair share of "mistakes".
in terms of the offsides why cant we have sensors on the side lines on tracks that could whizz up and down the line quicker than the linesman, with the players having a small device secured to them (like a wrist band) that the sensors pick up and then a light on top the gaol post comes on so the ref knows the player is off side. With the money thats made in the PL we should have more officials around the pitch, the more eyes the more that will be seen in terms of fouls and pens.

It can be done IMO

 

[Jonboy]

Good idea Dr know.
Unfortunately football is corrupt. You only have to look at the season Liverpool finished 5th, yet won the champions league. No one at Fifa knew what to do, in all the expenses paid meetings that these useless figure heads attend in various 5 star hotels around the top cities in Europe. Not one of them asked the question of what happens if someone wins the competition but does nt qualify through their league position. How could one of Fifas big clubs not qualify???????

 

[dontcallme]

I think it's more a cultural problem than the people who decide to become refs being incompetent. In rugby your team is punished if one of your players abuse the ref and they use technology.

Our refs are abused, receive little support and are a constant scapegoat for the coward fans, players and managers when results don't go their way.

Football needs to move with the times. If the players won't respect the ref you make them respect him. 5 players surround him, 5 players get booked then see if they do it again. We watch the replays over and over and still sometimes can't decide if it was a penalty/offside or not, use video technology to assist them. Communication between refs, players and managers needs to improve. The captain and offending player should be able to talk to the ref but no one else. Bottom line is the culture regarding football refs needs to change and then we'll see the level of officiating improve.

 

[Bus-Conductor]

3 games last night, every single one was decided or influenced by incorrect decisions by the ref/linesman.

It really is ridiculous.

 

[3Dnata]

Just seen the Portsmouth game on MOTD that was exceptionally cruel- talk about kicking someone when they're down.

 

[Bus-Conductor]

2 CL games last night, both results heavily influenced (if not decided) by the referees/officials.

Somebody has got to start lobbying for a major change in how football is officiated.

I watched the superbowl and what struck me was the attention to decision making. They may get the odd tiny call wrong but they rarely fuck up major major ones.

I'm really sick of watching officials influence games.

 

[trevo]

I think the gooner game ref should be marked for an assist for Porto's 2nd:dance::bow:. Then the Bayern game. Just how far offside was Close?(sp) 3 -4 metres? Both of the Scandinavian ref's involved are going to be at the world cup in SA.Eek

 

[cwy21]

Both of the Scandinavian ref's involved are going to be at the world cup in SA.Eek

Ovrebo isn't going to the World Cup.

 

[taidgh]

same again in the europa league. two obvious penalty decisions were missed for PSV and Anderlect. and this is with extra referees behind the goals mg: it seems those referees are just for show, as i've never seen them call anything or assist/contradict the head referee even once.

 

[DEFchenkOE]

Out of all the ideas that they could have come with, 2 extra officials on the goal line was completely unnecessary.