Now let me start by saying that I do have allot of respect for referees in general and I do understand that they have a very very hard job to do. That being said they also come under very heavy scrutiny with all the cameras that are at the grounds these days as well as all the slow motion and many different angles.
So I remember something that the former English cricketer Mike Atherton said while commentating once. There was an lbw appeal and the Umpire gave it out even though there was a clear inside edge. Atherton said something like this: If the commentators need 5 or 6 different cameras and 6 or 7 replays using things like slow motion and hot spot to see if it is out or not, or are not even sure after all that replay, then you cannot expect an umpire who sees it live for a second to give it out as there is still doubt. But in this situation, he said that he is sitting 60 - 70 yards away, up a couple of stories, looking through a glass window and he could see that there was a clear inside edge. These situations is when the umpire should get it right with no excuse, here is when you can be critical of the umpire, but not when several replays are needed before you can come to a conclusion.
This made allot of sense to me at the time and still does. Now I do understand that in Football it is different with referees. The have to keep running with the play and some time they are not always in the best position to make the right call, but they do have two assistants who should help them.
Referees make mistakes that is easy to happen and can happen to anyone, we all make mistakes. What makes a top referee is one who makes the least mistakes.
So when Sunderland scored against Liverpool with the help of a beach ball the referee should have known the rules of the game. Surely it is the job of the referee to enforce the rules, so if he does not know the basic rules of the game how can he be a referee? Now I'm not going to blame that for the loss or the reason we are in such a bad position, that is simply because we have been playing very bad football, simple as that it is our own fault.
If we look at the red card that was giving to Degen against Fulham, it was said that he was given the red card, most likely, because he had to feet off the ground and had studs showing. So ok if we accept that then why, when in last nights game between Manchester United and Chelsea, did Valencia not get a red card, but a yellow, for what looks to me as the exact same challenge. He had both feet off the ground and went with studs up? I do not understand how the same challenge can have two different results? Now I understand that referees can make mistakes but they also have assistants who are supposed to help them.
Now if you are player the rules become blurred as well. Depending on the referee, depends on what type of challenge you can make and "get away with", is that the way Football should be played? As I said before they can make mistakes, I do understand that, but then maybe for the big decisions the assistant should help? The difference between a red and yellow is very big especially when you are chasing a game. Surely the referees are told that certain challenges are red and others are yellow? So now they need to enforce these rules, they need to get the call as to what type of challenge it is better.
If Valencia only got a yellow then so should have Degen, or if Degen got a red then so should have Valencia, it is that simple! There needs to be more consistency!
Another point is that in the game between Man U and Chelsae, Evens should have had a straight red card for kicking Drogba in the chest. The got that one very wrong and his assistant did not help, why not? I think that should be a 3 - 6 month suspension for kicking someone like that. So the referee got it wrong, later in the game when Fletcher fouled Cole, many say it should not have been a foul, so the referee got it wrong. Why when the wrong decision leads to a goal is it a big talking point but the earlier decision is just brushed away. Ferguson said they lost faith in the referee, you didn't see him say that he should have had a player sent off. So the referee mad these two bad decisions, accept it, get out of football or present the FA with a model that would help the referee get more decisions right. Every team suffers because the referee makes mistakes.
I think that the referees need to find some consistency in there decision making and players and managers need to help the referees. Players who act that they are injured should not be allowed to grace a football field, and that goes even more so for players who dive!
This is the way the game is, we should always try to improve, but we need to work together to improve.
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