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Criticisms of Referees

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Xman

Xman

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Let us first of all take pride in the fact that we are a community run by referees for referees, a position in football which is often diluted by nonsensical punditry logic and punters' interpretations on the best way to officiate the laws of the game, with barely any understanding or attempt to grasp the realities of what it is actually like to referee a game.

While most of the chat on here is very supportive and helpful for may members, I have occasionally come across the odd thread where referees on TV are being slated for certain decisions or their performance in general. Whether or not these criticisms are merited, I think it is rather detrimental to the idea of refereeing being a close-knit community. After all, if our aspirations are in the right place, it could eventually be one of us in that position, which I'm sure many of us will not understand in terms of the intense extra pressure added by TV cameras and crowds numbering the thousands.

What I was thinking in future is that instead of threads opened to have a go at senior referees, maybe the future focus could be on when it is accepted that mistakes have been made, we can open discussion into why the mistakes were made, how could it have been avoided etc. With the focus being on improving your own game based on difficulties faced by others and what can be learned from these.

These are just my thoughts, and maybe the moderators may wish to have their say on this, but I would prefer discussions like "(Referee's name) could have done better to anticipate play on the break to ensure that he was closer to the action when the decision was to be made" rather than "(Referee's name) had an absolute shocker and must have supported that team in his childhood or something because that was a joke." I'm sure no one would accept comments like that from a player in a game they were refereeing, so why promote such criticism on a referee-only forum.

Let's be diplomatic lads!
 
The Referee Store
Yeah I see what you mean. I'm sure these thoughts came about as a result of a certain thread about the cup final - I generally try to be supportive of referees, but when supporting my team it's a different matter. I mustn't forget that I've refereed since I was 13, but supported Arsenal since birth!
 
Are you unable to take an objective view of a referees performance Owen?? I've supported Blackpool since birth but that doesn't mean I slate ever refereeing decision against us... I like to use it as a learning experience on how the referee may have come to the decision they did and how they could have done it better/differently.
 
CallumRushton13 said:
Are you unable to take an objective view of a referees performance Owen?? I've supported Blackpool since birth but that doesn't mean I slate ever refereeing decision against us... I like to use it as a learning experience on how the referee may have come to the decision they did and how they could have done it better/differently.
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Of course I can, but occasionally emotions get the better of me. However, on Saturday, I can say that I genuinely think that 4 of those were clear cut penalties. Perhaps Probert could have been in a better position to be able to judge them, but that's the least I'd expect from an FA Cup final referee. I have nothing against him on a personal level at all - I actually met him at an RA meeting this season in which he did a great talk and is a nice guy. I just disagree with the decisions he happened to make on the weekend.

Despite that, I wouldn't ever abuse a ref at a football match or anything like that, I just can feel frustrated as a fan when decisions aren't going our way - as is natural for a supporter.
 
Xman said:
Let us first of all take pride in the fact that we are a community run by referees for referees, a position in football which is often diluted by nonsensical punditry logic and punters' interpretations on the best way to officiate the laws of the game, with barely any understanding or attempt to grasp the realities of what it is actually like to referee a game.

While most of the chat on here is very supportive and helpful for may members, I have occasionally come across the odd thread where referees on TV are being slated for certain decisions or their performance in general. Whether or not these criticisms are merited, I think it is rather detrimental to the idea of refereeing being a close-knit community. After all, if our aspirations are in the right place, it could eventually be one of us in that position, which I'm sure many of us will not understand in terms of the intense extra pressure added by TV cameras and crowds numbering the thousands.

What I was thinking in future is that instead of threads opened to have a go at senior referees, maybe the future focus could be on when it is accepted that mistakes have been made, we can open discussion into why the mistakes were made, how could it have been avoided etc. With the focus being on improving your own game based on difficulties faced by others and what can be learned from these.

These are just my thoughts, and maybe the moderators may wish to have their say on this, but I would prefer discussions like "(Referee's name) could have done better to anticipate play on the break to ensure that he was closer to the action when the decision was to be made" rather than "(Referee's name) had an absolute shocker and must have supported that team in his childhood or something because that was a joke." I'm sure no one would accept comments like that from a player in a game they were refereeing, so why promote such criticism on a referee-only forum.

Let's be diplomatic lads!
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Defiantly agree, we have all had shocking performances, and I'm sure we all wouldn't like to be criticized like that, some people do need to learn that we are a refereeing family, we look after our own just like the teams!
 
Owen Webster said:
Yeah I see what you mean. I'm sure these thoughts came about as a result of a certain thread about the cup final - I generally try to be supportive of referees, but when supporting my team it's a different matter. I mustn't forget that I've refereed since I was 13, but supported Hull since birth!
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ooh so nice of you to admit Owen
 
Thank God someone has piped up and said this, the guy will have enough critics in the media at the minute, he certainly shouldn't be getting it from his own colleagues. Too all those criticising please feel free to voice your opinions when you have achieved what Lee has in the game. There are level 7/8s on here that have barely, if at all refereed a Mens game let alone one of any particular significance. Keep your opinions to yourselves and stop acting as if you could have refereed the game better. We should all know more than anyone how tricky Lee's job would have been!
 
HullRef said:
ooh so nice of you to admit Owen BY THE WAY I LOVE AARON RAMSEY AND I'VE NEVER HEARD OF MATTY FRYATT
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You too ;)

Pierluigi said:
Thank God someone has piped up and said this, the guy will have enough critics in the media at the minute, he certainly shouldn't be getting it from his own colleagues. Too all those criticising please feel free to voice your opinions when you have achieved what Lee has in the game. There are level 7/8s on here that have barely, if at all refereed a Mens game let alone one of any particular significance. Keep your opinions to yourselves and stop acting as if you could have refereed the game better. We should all know more than anyone how tricky Lee's job would have been!
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That's fair enough. I shall refrain from further comments until I have refereed an FA Cup Final better myself!
 
That's something I use, someone tells me a rubbish ref, I just say sorry come back to me once you have refereed on the U16's Premier league :p
 
Ryan said:
That's something I use, someone tells me a rubbish ref, I just say sorry come back to me once you have refereed on the U16's Premier league :p
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Well I can't criticise you then can I! I am catching up though with U14 Prem ;)
 
Here we go....the fan boys are out!

Whether you like or not the 'elite' referees are just as capable of having a mare like any one of us.
They choose to put themselves in the spotlight, just the same as we choose to do the same albeit on a much smaller scale.

I know when I've had a mare, and I accept that I am open to criticism when it happens.
I'm sure they accept the same.

The idea that we go easy on them just because of elevated status is simple sycophancy, nothing else.
 
I agree with Xman despite having voiced my own disappointment with the performance of the referee on Saturday.

I see what Padfoot has said, but I disagree about the use of the term fan boys (should be fanbois). I see the hero worship take place week in, week out as less experienced referees try to emulate their heroes, but in inappropriate circumstances and how it all goes wrong for them.

Walk before you can run, but remember in whose footsteps you tread and the influence they can exert in support of your career.
 
Brian Hamilton said:
I agree with Xman despite having voiced my own disappointment with the performance of the referee on Saturday.

I see what Padfoot has said, but I disagree about the use of the term fan boys (should be fanbois). I see the hero worship take place week in, week out as less experienced referees try to emulate their heroes, but in inappropriate circumstances and how it all goes wrong for them.

Walk before you can run, but remember in whose footsteps you tread and the influence they can exert in support of your career.
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Just wondering, in what ways do you see people trying to emulate top referees? I just can't imagine it
 
if Fernando Torres misses a glorious chance, we will quite rightly point at him and say "that was ****"

if Howard Webb misses an obvious foul in the penalty area, why should we not debate his performance accordingly?

there is absolutely no foundation in the suggestion that we, as inexperienced referees, should be disqualified from debating the performances of our senior peers. if that were the case, we wouldn't be allowed to talk about anything outside our direct scope of expertise!

@Xman i assume you've never complained about David Cameron? how dare you, until you've been PM...

in future i will stick to discussing things in which i am an expert, so if anyone would like to talk about Procurement then drop me a PM ;)
 
I don't think anyone is suggesting that any referee is beyond criticism. Referees at every level make mistakes, except most of us don't have millions of people scrutinising every decision in every game from multiple angles.

The crucial point is at criticism has to be constructive. Coming into any arena and simply saying was wrong, sh*t etc and suggesting a referee should be summarily shot as a consequence achieves nothing and doesn't help anyone.

The point Brian is trying to make I believe is that we will naturally pick things up that we see our colleagues at the higher levels doing and try to bring them into our own game. As a result, where we are dissecting what has gone wrong or right in games we need to have a constructive and purposeful approach.

I always look to try and explain why a colleague may have got something wrong - was it a positional problem that meant their angle prevented detection of the offence? Was it simply a lapse in concentration? Did they not give themselves sufficient thinking time? I then will try to look at what the best remedy to this issue is.

That doesn't stop me from being critical of a colleague or a decision they have made but I will always try to turn such a negative point into a development/learning area to try and prevent either myself or a colleague/friend from making the same or similar error.
 
Pierluigi said:
Thank God someone has piped up and said this, the guy will have enough critics in the media at the minute, he certainly shouldn't be getting it from his own colleagues. Too all those criticising please feel free to voice your opinions when you have achieved what Lee has in the game. There are level 7/8s on here that have barely, if at all refereed a Mens game let alone one of any particular significance. Keep your opinions to yourselves and stop acting as if you could have refereed the game better. We should all know more than anyone how tricky Lee's job would have been!
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I'm sorry but this is rubbish, why should it matter to what level you've refereed at to critique a professional?? This is a forum, you're supposed to do the absolute opposite of keeping opinions to yourself. I agree that it should be constructive in order to spark a debate, but to put an end to any criticism? That is a ridiculous notion.
 
ASM said:
The crucial point is at criticism has to be constructive. Coming into any arena and simply saying was wrong, sh*t etc and suggesting a referee should be summarily shot as a consequence achieves nothing and doesn't help anyone.

That doesn't stop me from being critical of a colleague or a decision they have made but I will always try to turn such a negative point into a development/learning area to try and prevent either myself or a colleague/friend from making the same or similar error.
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THIS.
 
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