Is it time to look at the Referees Association???

1. We have a guy who gave a goal when it missed the post by thre yards getting promoted to the premiership that year...

2. Clattenberg dismisses an obvious Silva penalty at Chelsea and gives a handball ignored by most referees every week and gives Chelsea the game....Forgetting the famous Mendes game with Utd...

3. Howard Webb giving a perverse goal against Spurs and then shooing the Spurs players away but leaving Ferdinand there for advice!!!

4. Foy sends Kompany off and then gives a guy a yellow for an even worse two footed tackle in a QPR game a couple of weeks later..

5. Howard Webb yesterday!!!

6. Wigan guy goes for a header and gets sent off without complaint from Carrick who he is supposed to have elbowed!!

Let's be honest the referees can be as bent as they want (not saying they are) and the ref association can stick up two fingers to everybody!!

Wrong..completely wrong..

Time to look at the situation!! Time for referees to be accountable!!

you dont know the pressure there under, many people wouldnt survive teh first 10 minutes of a BPL game.
u have to remeber that without ref games cant go ahead, if web said, right cant be asked then there wouldnt be a game,
remeber what happened in scotland?
in a league like ours would be over twice as bad

I don't care...they decide Manager's futures...in some cases players futures and could decide the future of premiership titles..

They get paid good money if they keep getting it wrong they should go...

They should at least be accountable......

They are in American sports!!!!

Any other profession mediocrity isn't acceptable!!

pressure is no excuse!!

Refs do need to be accountable, but as with the vast majority of ills in the beautiful game, the problems lie with those in power, FIFA and to a lesser extent the FA, until they themselves are accountable, we will never see refs challenged for their performance.

Fa runs the Brit game and Fifa are the ruling body......

Ref association have the ability to be amended......

It's wrong referees should explain their decisions....

After telling Spurs players to get lost and leaving Ferdinand there!!!

Should Webb really be a top referee??...shocking..

R.A are arrogant and it's about time somebody spoiled their party..

1. One mistake should not define a career else we'd all be unemployed.

2. How on earth was the ref supposed to see that the Mendes' shot had crossed the line? Carroll should have done the decent thing, but the liklihood of that is almost zilch.

3. Howard Webb is a terrible referee.

4. Chris Foy shouldn't be allowed to referee games involving the Manchester clubs considering he's from there (or thereabouts).

5. See 3.

6. That was a poor decision but refs only have a split second to see it. How many decision could you definitely say you got it first time? And I don't mean guessing and then it ending up being correct, I mean 100% sure of your choice. Not to often if you're being truthful.

I think refs like Clattenburg and Dowd are decent, they do make mistakes as they are human afterall, but generally they get most of their decisions right. The bottom line is, refs need help and until football's governing body gets its mind out of the 20th century then there'll continue to be debate over decisions every week.

Technology has to come in, as soon as possible. If FIFA have any fear of undermining refs then they only need to look to cricket to see how DRS has actually improved umpiring rather than had a detrimental effect.

There are other issues with refs that need sorting as well, most predominantly at amateur level, but that's a whole other discussion.

Who's talking about one mistake??? I've just highlighted a few..

But agreed about Foy.....and Webb!!

You don't think referees need to explain their decisions though???

millions of pounds count on them...

The mistake to award that goal that went wide was the only one specific to that referee which you mentioned. It would be unfair to rate refs collectively in my mind.

As for refs explaining their decisions, I'm not sure how much there is to be gained from it? It's not going to change these 'million pound' decisions is it? It's more than likely always going to be a genuine mistake anyway. Either that or they are generally incompetent. What help is it going to be if they come out and say, "I seen/did not see such and such" when people will just to scrutinise every word they say. "How could he not see it? He was looking right at it?" The next thing will be refs will be accused of lieing. Neither does it help when rent-a-quote ex-refs are out critiquing refs decisions in the press or on TV.

We don't need reasoning of the problems, we need solutions. Technology - at least give it a bloody try. If it doesn't work (and I very much doubt it won't provoke some improvement) then bin it and go back to the drawing board.

It is a helluva mistake...Can you think of any worse in the history of the game!!!!

One huge mistake in any company and you're out.....not promoted as Atwell was!!!

They should explain themselves because a lot of decisions seem inexplicable...

How does Foy send Kompany off and let an even worse knee high two footed tackle off a couple of weeks later????

I for one would like an explanation..Wouldn't you??

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:It is a helluva mistake...Can you think of any worse in the history of the game!!!!

One huge mistake in any company and you're out.....not promoted as Atwell was!!!

They should explain themselves because a lot of decisions seem inexplicable...

How does Foy send Kompany off and let an even worse knee high two footed tackle off a couple of weeks later????

I for one would like an explanation..Wouldn't you??

3 yellow cards in a World Cup

It was a bad mistake, althoughs somewhat explainable considering the ball ran around and into the back of the net. Technology would have prevented that though As I said one mistake should not define a career. Attwell is certainly an improving referee, and one you rarely hear about now which is always a good sign. There's also probably a little polictics involved in his promotion to the PL.

On Kompany - it was a red card. It was out of control and dangerous, and by the rulebook that's a red card irrespective of him playing the ball. I'm not sure I've seen the other tackle your referring to though. Which game was it?

As I said, I'm not that interested in reasoning behind mistakes, or alledged mistakes. What do you want the ref to say exactly? I think the refs explanations will be twisted anyway and things will end up being worse. Neither does it help that the vast majority of football fans and the media don't even understand the rules. "Last man", "ball to hand" and "he got the ball" are a few of the common quotes used, yet are nowhere to be seen in the rules of the game.

Again, solutions are what's needed.

People can moan about refs as much as they want, but it's still all about those who write the rules.
Everybody makes mistakes and that's just life, unless there is obvious bias we just need to accept that officials are just as human as the rest of us, but the one thing that needs to be consistent is punishing those that make mistakes and praising those that don't.

As a Wigan fan I find it totally absurd that Rooney elbowing McCarthey last season wasn't punished even after it was reviewed on tv, maybe the ref did miss it in real time, but the player wasn't punished even though there was incontrovertible evidence of his wrongdoing and exactly the same thing happend a week ago when Assou-Ekotto fouled DiSanto, unseen and unpunished, but why no punishment when tv shows the offence so clearly?

We need video technology.
Not only will video technology eradicate cheating, it will also eliminate it at source if players realise that diving is futile given that the Ref can go upstairs..................

It's inexplicable that it's not in the game already................................

Putting the offside rule back to what it was would be a start! This whole interferring with play or not and first and second phase of play is just confusing for everyone. Also I believe the rules are sometimes different in some competitions i.e. whether or not there has to be air or not between players.

The rule book has to be re-written, the offside rule is one load of nonsense and there has to be more clarity on the lunge/excessive force mockery, also, not every foul has to result in a booking, I hate that guys can't miss a tackle now without being booked, they also have to obliterate booking players when celebrating a goal/kicking the ball away, it's idiotic to expect guys in high pressure situations to let out a show of emotion/frustration when things aren't going there way

Referees are being directed to issue far more yellow cards than ever for what should be non offences, this then results in referee's trying to give players extra leeway in other incidents and therefor appearing to be inconsistant

I'd also mic refs up, maybe not to the public but it would at least give the footballing authorities a slight insight into the pressure they continually face, it might also make footballers think twice before giving them a mouthful and it might through time do more good than the flawed respect campaign

Why exactly are they against a player taking his shirt off after scoring a goal? Why do they think this is a bad thing? Does anyone know the reason?

I've heard it's to do with sponsors and that most pictures are taken when the player is celebrating so they need the sponsors on there.

Before I heard that, I always assumed it's not to over work the crowd or something silly like that.

I can't believe Lee Probert hasn't been mentioned. He is one of the worst refs i have ever seen!!

You are not booked for taking off your shirt alone. "A player removing his jersey or shirt to reveal slogans or advertising will be sanctioned". It's a perfectly sensible rule and yet another one people quote incorrectly as they can't be bothered to look up properly.

If a player takes off his shirt after scoring to reveal a naked chest he is still booked. So where is the slogan or advert?

Agree...You take off your shirt you're booked. always..

Thing is they all interpret different ways......

Remember David Luis last man tackle-goal-scoring opportunity at Newcastle!!!!!!!!

Could be the difference of Arsenal not qualifying for the Champions League..

30 million+ down the window because of an idiot..

I'll stand corrected if that is the case re the shirt coming off, and indeed is a silly rule if the booking is for that offence alone.

Edit: Going by the 08/09 FIFA rules I was wrong so I should probably heed my own advice of stop being so laxy and read the bloody things!

Re Arsenal place in the CL next season, probably better getting your own house in order before criticising inadequacies in others.

I'm a City fan.....Just using it as an example..

You must be a referee liver......Not suggesting they are all garbage....suggesting their should be more accountability..

I'm not a referee, but I'm not interested in accountability or laying blame as it solves nothing.

Not interested in accountability.......???

well they might as well all be as biased and as incompetent as they want then!!

Crazy .

Wouldn't it help if referees were made to give the media an interview after every game and if there was a debatable decision made explain why it was made and at times even admit they made a mistake rather than say nothing.
Anyone can make a mistake but why should referees be the only ones who never have to admit it?
The FA should also change the way they look at incidents after a match. Why can a red card be rescinded if the referee has made a mistake but if an incident goes unpunished and is included in the referees report there is nothing the FA can do about it?
If dangerous two footed tackles are deemed to be a red card offence then the FA should have the power to ban any player even if the referee hasn't punished them.

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:Not interested in accountability.......???

well they might as well all be as biased and as incompetent as they want then!!

Crazy .

Since when did accountability directly correlate with the soving of problems? I'll say it again, SOLUTIONS, SOLUTIONS, SOULTIONS.

Furthermore, just because there is no public admission of mistakes by refs does mean they don't realise they make mistakes.

liverbnz wrote:You are not booked for taking off your shirt alone. "A player removing his jersey or shirt to reveal slogans or advertising will be sanctioned". It's a perfectly sensible rule and yet another one people quote incorrectly as they can't be bothered to look up properly.

Erm, you really are, maybe someone should have a wee look at said rule book

Apparently players get booked for taking their shirt off because they remove the sponsor that is on the shirt.

Think about it. Companies pay millions to have their companies name on the shirt. When a players scores a goal the cameras pan in for a close up and the sponsor gets maximum exposure.

sportsville wrote:Apparently players get booked for taking their shirt off because they remove the sponsor that is on the shirt.

Think about it. Companies pay millions to have their companies name on the shirt. When a players scores a goal the cameras pan in for a close up and the sponsor gets maximum exposure.

Are you sure? Where does it say that?
I don't understand what a company paying millions of pounds to any football club has got to do with the referee, FIFA, UEFA or anyone else. Seems a strange rule to say it is a bookable offence if a company doesn't get exposure due to a player taking his shirt off after scoring a goal.

It might not say that in the rules, but it does seem to be a fairly accepted reason for the rule.

"It is a helluva mistake...Can you think of any worse in the history of the game!!!!"

yeah crystal palace scored a goal last season- it bounced out of the goal from the inside post and wasnt given!!!!!!!

mental stuff- tech is needed end of!!

every other sport is embrcaiong tech- time for football to