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Absolute garbage, the advocation of a witch hunt by the media.
If you want a solution, empower the Referee, retrospective Refereeing.
The Referee will have flexibility in his decision making, he can award a yellow during the game and admit after the game it was a mis judgement and therefore rescind it. The Referee can also award a RED card after the game or a award yellow card after the game has finished. by doing so the Referee will have much much more power and confidence, knowing he has the ability and the threat of retrospective refereeing. The Referee will be much much more RESPECTED.

³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ JOURNALIST: "so why did you not award that stone wall penalty?"

REFEREE:"I called it as I saw it and I actually disagree with you as it was not a stone wall penalty in my opinion"
³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ JOURNALIST: "But he blatantly put his foot out to impede the player and stop a goal that would have relegated them?"
REFEREE: "There are 22 players on the pitch all cheating at every opportunity, discerning the reality of football and what is actually REAL from the abundant acting is very difficult, some of these players can simulate diving, they have taken it to a form of acting, they are professional actors in a sense"
³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ JOURNALIST: "So are you saying that what you see can not always be believed?"
REFEREE: "If the morality and integrity of footballers is to cheat at all costs because the costs are absolutely huge, then discerning the truth amongst 22 cheats is decidely difficult"
³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ JOURNALIST: "Do you know that with comments such as those you may be open to a libel action by the players union?"
REFEREE: "So next time I come here to explain my Refereeing I will be very limited and guarded in my comments, do you know a reputable solicitor?"

REFEREE "it was a mistake, I'm sorry, I'm sorry that I have caused them to be relegated and cost them potentially £100 million maybe £150 million, but if the yellow card is virtually worthless, what powers do I have? Where is the deterrent?" "I have no respect from the players, I'm powerless to change anything, if the team could make a "video appeal" such injustice could be avoided, we could have two video appeals per team, they could process a video appeal in under thirty seconds"
³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ JOURNALIST: "But what if the centre forward was bearing down on goal and about to score and the opposition manager presses the button for a video appeal to stop him from scoring?"
REFEREE: The way to stop this abuse of the video appeal is to make sure that each manager is only allowed to stop play in his own half is when the ball is dead!"

REFEREE: "He's deliberately handballed on the line and he's also conceded another penalty in the six yard box, both penalties have been saved by the goalkeeper, it's cost them a place in the Premiership but what can I do about such blatant cheating?"
³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ JOURNALIST: Is there an effective deterrent or form of good justice ?
REFEREE: "We could award an eight yard penalty for offences in the six yard box, we could award a penalty for deliberate last man foul outside the penalty box but you'd have to empower and trust the Referee to make the decision, he's a trained professional after all and we have to trust and respect his judgement."
³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ JOURNALIST: "
What about punishing the player and the personal deterrent that will make him think twice about doing it?"
REFEREE:" Firstly, the yellow card accumulation is worthless, commit several bad cheats collect 5 yellows then miss one game, just one game, save your team 10 points in the process and if the player can he will deliberately take a yellow so his derisory one game ban is at home to a team near the bottom of the table, increasing the ban will be effective, increase the ban for a RED to 5 games and players will be very focused on tackles that could be career choices."
³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ JOURNALIST: "what do you mean by career choices ?"
REFEREE: "If he gets a 5 game ban he could permantly lose his place to a up and coming youngster, that would be a great deterrent, that would cut down on the number of broken legs and deliberate professional fouls"
³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ JOURNALIST: "Really do you think so?"
REFEREE: "No it wouldn't I'm just making it up!"

³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ JOURNALIST: "Why did you not blow the final whistle just before he scored the goal? our clock showed that time was up ! even if you allow for the trainer on the pitch and the substitute changeover ?
REFEREE: "I'm running around, I've got 22 players to watch and four officials to communicate with, how the hell can you expect me to allocate ten seconds here and there, twenty seconds here and there, I've got players screaming and crying, cheating and diving and you want me to record it all accurately to within a second, time it all, and get it bang on as I'm slipping and sprinting the length of the pitch for the 5th time in 2 minutes, you're having a laugh mate?"
³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ JOURNALIST:"what do you think the solution is then?"
REFEREE: "Have a big clock that every one can see, transparent timekeeping procedures, have a time man, an allocated official, the whole crowd can see the clock, ball out of play, clock stops etc etc ball in play, clock ticks away! A loud siren to signify the end of the game or half, the fourth official could do it."
³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ JOURNALIST: "Do you think football needs to move into the 21st century?"
REFEREE: "Is this the 21st century, sorry mate but what time machine are you on?"

³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ JOURNALIST: "It was a deliberate handball on the line, why did you not see it, the whole crowd saw it?"
REFEREE:"If you want to question my honesty and integrity then maybe you could start with the players and managers and their values, integrity and attitude towards each other and sporting values, professionalism and respect, it seems to pervade the whole of culture at the moment, where are we? We are merely crooks and villains, criminals and liars, so if I say it was not deliberate handball on the line then how can anyone possibly question me or have a comment, the whole thing is a farce."
³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ JOURNALIST: "But it was handball on the line!"
REFEREE: "It has to be intentional handball and that is completely subjective as to my opinion, I'm a trained professional that cares deeply about this game, I gave up my weekends in all weathers, unpaid, so that youngsters could enjoy the sheer magnificient joy of wearing a magical football kit and hear the clutter of his football boot studs in the dressing room, I think that gives some credence to my subjective opinion and how I saw the incident, I think I deserve a little respect."

As a season ticket holder and life long bhoy may i distance myself from the conspiracy angle , i DO not believe for 1 minute that there is any conspiracy against my club , honest mistakes happen and thats all this and others have been ,as hard as it is for some to accept ,

³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ JOURNALIST: TV replays showed the ball was 3 yards over the byline when Geordie Armstrong curled the ball in for Eddie Kelly to score?"
REFEREE:"The linesman was nearly ten yards behind the line of play, it's bucketing down cats n dogs, the ball is thirty feet in the air, the glare of the floodlights is making it almost impossible to see the white ball, how can you honestly ask the Linesman to make a good decision about wether the ball was in crossed in play or out of play and curled back in?" "you are having a laugh?"
³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ JOURNALIST:"What do you think the solution is?"
REFEREE: " Do away with the law, it's a beautiful part of football, the ability to curl the ball, it's an art, sometimes players utilise the wind to great effect, it's a great developed skill and should be encouraged, most of all it's beautiful to watch, imagine Glenn Hoddle curling a ball 60 yards into the path of Steve Archibald and we can't honestly and effectively judge wether the ball was in or out of play, it's a law that should be repealed."
³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ JOURNALIST: "But what if the ball touches the ground when it's over the line?"
REFEREE: "Then the ball is out of play and an effective ruling can be made as to wether it was out of play or not, it's an easy judgement."
³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ JOURNALIST:"Will it make your job easier?"
REFEREE: "It'll help to make the game flow better, it'll encourage fair and skill, there won't be any injustice and it'll be beautiful to watch!"

"Absolute garbage, the advocation of a witch hunt by the media.
If you want a solution, empower the Referee, retrospective Refereeing."
_______________________________________________

What? That's already written into the law BTW. The referee can change/revisit/reconsider any decision they have made up until play is restarted.

There is no reason to give the referee the ability to change his calls after the fact, and plenty of reasons not to, the possibility of abuse being pretty high on the list. There is also no reason to grant that ability because the technology has gotten to the point where the definitive shots can be viewed by an official, within the time frame the law allows, ie the restart of play.

No-one gives a rats why the referee calls what he calls, in fact, if the referee makes the right call for the wrong reasons, no one gives a rats then either. Why they made the wrong decision doesn't prevent the wrong decision and doesn't do a whit to raise the respect.

You want respect, you use the tools available to the best possible effect so the referees have the best information to make final decisions with.

It doesn't take any ridiculous manager's challenge, or any any change to the natural progression of the game. If the information isn't ready in time, the call stands, simple, easy, no fuss, no muss. Besides these contentious calls that the referee "has to get right" are already major events in the game where the game isn't being played anyways, so why not use the time to make the right call?

The game of football/soccer as currently constituted give the referee the final say. Most referees use this power effectively and efficiently. Unfortunately the referees in England do not. Web/De Jong/Alonso WC final is a case in point. Did De Jong have to KILL Alonso to be sent off? Mendez/Clattenberg/Man*** EPL 2005 another case in point. Did somebody have to tie the ball to the net with a boot strap for Clatenberg to give the Goal? Nani/Clattenberg 2010 EPL another case in point; Did Nani have to tuck the ball inside his jersey for Clattenberg to notice that Nani had deliberately handle the ball? BIG SHAM (sic) recently boasted that no Blackburn player had been sent off this year. With "Blind" referees this is entirely possible and does not in any way reflect on the fairness or otherwise of BB players. The referee should wake up and smell the coffee. We are tired of incompetence and their poor decisions.

³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ JOURNALIST : "The challenge on Chamakh by the Blackpool defender although a penalty it was an innocent innocuous challenge, so why send him off?"
REFEREE:"because I believed he was the last man."
³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ JOURNALIST: "But don't you realise that by sending him off and having conceded a penalty the game become a non contest, an unjust affair, drab and blatantly wrong, the game was killed as a competition and all those fan's that spent their time and money to travel to the game had their day completely ruined, after all it was a completely innocent challenge, they could get relegated ?"
REFEREE: "We have to trust the judgement of the Referee to punish as he sees fit, we have to trust his professional skill and judgement as we do a judge in a court of law, I can't do nothing if a law is so ridiculous and my hands are tied."

I r sensitive - comment 9. - The Referee is always at every moment from start to finish in a position to abuse and manipulate as he sees fit and it is his integrity and professionalism which we must trust in as we do not have anything else, do we?

Firstly, I dislike Manchester United. Sir Alex Ferguson, whilst undoubtedly a genius at his job, generally behaves like a spoilt brat. I quite like Spurs (although Harry Redknapp is doing his best to change that) as they seem to try to play decent football.
Picture this scenario. 1 - 0 with six minutes to go. Attacking player commits a foul in the opponents penalty area, goalkeeper picks up ball, throws it out quickly, his team sweep up the field and score an equaliser. Hmmm. Some scenarios are obviously too far fetched. Mark Clattenburg GOT IT RIGHT. Gomes got it horribly wrong. Yes it was handball by Nani (alright, for Man U fans there was possibly a foul for a penalty but only possibly) but with the ball in Gomes hands WHY MUST the referee blow the whistle? We're all looking for more flow and advantage, why stop the game when there is absolutely no need to. Sorry Harry but Gomes is the guy to blame, not the ref. Play to the whistle.

Goonergetit. Some excellent points.
Number 5 re timekeeping would be so easy to do and stop ANY manager sounding off as to why only 3 mins 58 secs of time addesd on were played and not four mins. Rugby League do it quite well. It is a feature at all big Hockey tournaments. Not Footballs idea therefore it's no good.
Number 8. Rugby Union has this. The ball has to touch something outside the field of play, ground, spectator, stand etc. to be out of play. Oh Yes, sorry. Not footballs idea.
What a reflection on the "Beautiful game"

I feel sorry for the present referees and question whether the introduction of lady referees would have a better grip of the situation?
I can remember fairies being at the bottom of the garden, leather footballs and "boots". Best staying on his feet when Chopper Harris as one of many did their utmost to send him into orbit.
Today our talentless stalwarts wear hairbands, earrings, scarves, gloves and tights. A light beach ball is used to protect their sensitive little heads and ballet-shoe clad feet. No wonder so many fall over to gain sympathy and the required penalty - free kick or spot kick against the opposition.
If Big girls blouses will become the norm instead of a football strip will it soon be tu-tu much ?
Fairies on the pitch and Elf and Safety rules in football, have resulted in most of the deterioration in the beautiful game. Perhaps a female referee could weed out the men from the others and I for one, would only have praise for those refs wearing some eye catching little black outfit.

Comment 13. Absolute rubbish regarding the incident this weekend. Clattenburg can add this to the long list of massive mistakes he has made. For your information, advantage should and can only be given when the team actually gains the advantage - I fail to see how spurs gained an advantage in that situation? As soon as the ref saw the advantage had not been taken he should have made sure that the free kick was taken - and nani should have had a yellow card (which, incidently, if advantage was given to spurs nani should have got a yellow card the next time the ball went out of play - he should not have been allowed to get up after committing the foul and play the ball into the net).

To add to this if reports are correct that the linesman told clattenburg that there had been a handball, why did he not blow for a free kick instead of the goal at that point? he really can't say that it was out of his hands at this point can he? How many times have you seen a referee pull the play back?

I fully believe that football should not be made into a stop start game and the referee should have the final say. There is not an easy answer, ref's explaining their mistakes would help - but this could also get complicated as noted above. Manager's should be allowed to criticise, if the ref or the fa does not agree to the criticism they should issue a statement explaining why.

The best possible way to stop these ridiculous errors is to penalise the referee, drop him down a couple of leagues for a few weeks or even the rest of the season - when he does come back don't give him high profile games, or games where certain players of certain teams could have the chance to influence what he is doing.

Has clattenberg been penalised?

Good blog again, Jack. As a Falkirk supporter who lived a pretty long life, I am astounded by claims from Celtic that they suffer bad refereeing decisions. Any supporter outwith the Old Firm could list instances where their club has suffered bad decisions whilst facing the Old Firm
An example was Celtic v Falkirk a couple of years ago. Steven McManus punched the ball into the Falkirk net, goal of course. Then Steven inflicted a double broken leg on Dean Holden and was not even booked!