A&H

Accusations of Impropriety

JBeil

Active Member
Level 5 Referee
If someone accuses you of cheating, directly or indirectly, i.e. "Are you working this game, ref?", do you give a yellow for dissent or to red? My instinct is that as long as no colourful language is used it should be a yellow, but I remember feeling pretty bloody insulted at the time.
 
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If someone accuses you of cheating, directly or indirectly, i.e. "Are you working this game, ref?", do you give a yellow for dissent or to red? My instinct is that as long as no colourful language is used it should be a yellow, but I remember feeling pretty bloody insulted at the time.


As per most these things, context, game managment etc......
Speaking for myself, I would ignore the comments but use my personality to make it known am not impressed and it stops now, probably in passing, instead of drawing attention to something that I have not considered to be important.
No shoe size fits all though and circumstances might dictate a different course of action.
 
Different referees will have different views.

If the comment made you feel insulted then that would be the very definition of Offensive, Insulting, or Abusive Language, therefore you would absolutely within your rights to send them off.

However, personally a comment like that for me would be similar to "there's two teams out here today, ref" or similar.

However, if a player outright accused me of cheating, taking a bribe, favouring the opposition etc then I wouldn't hesitate to send them off.
 
Agree with above.

You got a blue shirt on today ref?
Theres two teams on the park ref
You get a lift on their team bus ref
And so on..

You are a cheat ref, with or without f words, I cant see why I wont dismiss
Your cheating us ref...I would weigh it up carefully and would dismiss depending on situation

Most other throw away remarks, isolated, dont deserve the time of day

In the o/e quote, in an adults game, I could even say me coming back with "me and your mum both mate".....disclaimer, will not be suitable 99%, if ever. Hey ho
 
If someone accuses you of cheating, directly or indirectly, i.e. "Are you working this game, ref?", do you give a yellow for dissent or to red? My instinct is that as long as no colourful language is used it should be a yellow, but I remember feeling pretty bloody insulted at the time.

Treat it with the contempt it deserves.

But remember, the bell-end that said it to you doesn't actually believe you're "working the game" or "cheating". He's just trying to insult/offend you/question your decisions or ability.

If it annoys you - card him for dissent.

If it offends you (genuinely) - card him for OFFINABUS. :)
 
The same words, in different games, or even in the same game can be dealt with differently. Context is very important. What lead up to it. How obvious was it.

At the low end they could just mean they would like more of the 50-50s going their way (but chose the wrong words). My response to those is usually "be very careful with what you say and what it could mean." At the other end they actually think you are cheating but use smart words to hide it, more often than not I get offended and off they go. Somewhere in the middle is a shout of frustration from 10 yards out "how about giving us some free kicks ref" is an easy dissent yellow card.

You have to be smart about understanding the context so that you don't get offended by something that is more of a thoughtless remark without thinking what it could imply (and vice verse). Worse case scenario i have seen, a few years ago I did a line for a referee who sent off a player half way through the first half for saying "you haven't given us a single free kick all game ref".
 
Context:

If he's a whinging bugger you can card him. YC or RC as you see fit - is it loud and clear for everyone to hear and indended offenseive, or passing comment as he's lining up for a set piece as you've probs just given a FK / OS against them and no-one else heard it.

If you're looking for a (second ;)) YC you've got it.
 
Treat it with the contempt it deserves.

But remember, the bell-end that said it to you doesn't actually believe you're "working the game" or "cheating". He's just trying to insult/offend you/question your decisions or ability.

If it annoys you - card him for dissent.

If it offends you (genuinely) - card him for OFFINABUS. :)
@Kes you ok, that’s complete sense! Them meds kicked in?
 
I had ‘that’s a cheat decision’, it didn’t sink in straight away, I quickly thought a bit and 'orange' carded him, it was yellow with a huge last warning, next peep out of you and you’re first in the shower stuff...
 
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Context is definitely important. For example, "Have you got a red shirt on under there ref" could be taken differently to "take that red shirt off ref". You should get a fairly quick gut feel as to whether you find it offensive or not.
 
I had the full set, anything from 'the other teams shirt', 'were playing 12 today', 'two teams on this pitch' to you cheating ****..... All need contact and tone, some are damn funny, some are bye bye....
 
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