Football365 article

[SM]

http://www.football365.com/news/bum-notes-are-part-of-live-referee-experience

What a great article.

Especially this bit:

It won’t surprise you to hear that I take a jam band attitude to the refereeing of football matches. Yeah, there are the basic rules and riffs, but beyond that, so much is open to interpretation and improvisation, and I’m happy for the variables to play out in whatever way happen to occur to the ref, at any one point in time. A handball when a goal was scored? Not to worry. An unseen elbow in the face? So be it. A missed offside decision? Whatever. The ball was out of play? If you say so. Just relax and enjoy the ride. It isn’t the refereeing decisions that spoil your fun, it’s your attitude to the decisions.

Thoughts?

 

[richard ramjane]

thats a very good read indeed, a novel angle to look at it from.

 

[PinnerPaul]

Couldn't agree more.

Although there is nothing new on earth is there - I read a very similar article several years ago in the Racing Post!

 

[GraemeS]

Hmm. While I think we do have to accept that there will be decisions on a Sunday morning that we just don't see clearly, I'm not sure that vocalising that approach (and the associated shrug and "sh*t happens" that the article advocates) is going to help anything.

I had a match this Saturday and a decision that in a tighter game might have been crucial was obscured because a players stepped across me at the exact wrong moment. I couldn't see the incident and even if I had made an educated guess, I couldn't see if it was inside or outside the box. Absolute disaster, and unsurprisingly, saying "I'm sorry guys, my view was blocked so we just have to play on" didn't cheer them up - and the team that lost out was winning comfortably at this point. I dread what would have happened to my match control if I'd said "I didn't see that" on a crucial penalty appeal.

 

[PinnerPaul]

Hmm. While I think we do have to accept that there will be decisions on a Sunday morning that we just don't see clearly, I'm not sure that vocalising that approach (and the associated shrug and "sh*t happens" that the article advocates) is going to help anything.

I had a match this Saturday and a decision that in a tighter game might have been crucial was obscured because a players stepped across me at the exact wrong moment. I couldn't see the incident and even if I had made an educated guess, I couldn't see if it was inside or outside the box. Absolute disaster, and unsurprisingly, saying "I'm sorry guys, my view was blocked so we just have to play on" didn't cheer them up - and the team that lost out was winning comfortably at this point. I dread what would have happened to my match control if I'd said "I didn't see that" on a crucial penalty appeal.

But that's the whole point of the article, never going to happen, but everyone's mindset needs to change - there WILL be things you don't see, therefore give the wrong decision, get over it people!

Article is saying that referee decisions need to be treated like the ball hitting the woodwork - unlucky, on we go.

As I say, won't ever happen.

The article I mentioned was in response to Sir AF saying "We have to stop referees making mistakes" - the author made the same points as this one - Sir AF and his players make mistakes, so do referees - both are inevitable.

 

[GraemeS]

But that's the whole point of the article, never going to happen, but everyone's mindset needs to change - there WILL be things you don't see, therefore give the wrong decision, get over it people!

Article is saying that referee decisions need to be treated like the ball hitting the woodwork - unlucky, on we go.

As I say, won't ever happen.

The article I mentioned was in response to Sir AF saying "We have to stop referees making mistakes" - the author made the same points as this one - Sir AF and his players make mistakes, so do referees - both are inevitable.

But match control is a thing that I as an individual referee have to worry about for the next x number of years until this magical new attitude enters the game. In retrospect, I would have been much better off lying and giving a confident shout of "NO FOUL!" than I was admitting the truth in the moment - that's not an ideal situation, but it's the world that grassroots referees currently live in.

 

[PinnerPaul]

But match control is a thing that I as an individual referee have to worry about for the next x number of years until this magical new attitude enters the game. In retrospect, I would have been much better off lying and giving a confident shout of "NO FOUL!" than I was admitting the truth in the moment - that's not an ideal situation, but it's the world that grassroots referees currently live in.

I've had that before & admitted "Clearly the wrong decision, but I just didn't see it" Manager accepted it, grumpy spectator who didn't have the benefit of my explanation said 'So you're allowing rugby tackles in the penalty area now ref?"

Much better to be honest I think.

 

[bloovee]

I suspect the author is not a professional footballer or manager for whom bad decisions by professional referees (or retrospective disciplinary action for VC not seen - supposedly! - at the time) can mean a huge difference to their pocket and careers. (See the context that prompted the article.) I'm reluctant to trawl over the incident behind all this as the blue specs would descend ....

 

[PinnerPaul]

I suspect the author is not a professional footballer or manager for whom bad decisions by professional referees (or retrospective disciplinary action) can mean a huge difference to their pocket and careers. (See the context that prompted the article.) I'm reluctant to trawl over the incident behind all this as the blue specs would descend ....

I'm not having it that Sir Alex F's career/earnings were EVER affected by a refereeing decision, and that applies to everyone else at that level!

 

[zarathustra]

I'm not having it that Sir Alex F's career/earnings were EVER affected by a refereeing decision, and that applies to everyone else at that level!

While you're likely correct that most at that level won't have had their earning effected by an incorrect referee decision.

The will be things like bonuses attached to promotion, winning a particular cup or even just finishing at a certain spot in the league if it means qualification for The champions league etc.

All of which could be affected by an incorrect offside call or penalty etc.

 

[PinnerPaul]

I'm struggling to think of ONE decision that far reaching - especially in relation to a league position - an old cliche that I'm not going to repeat, but teams do get favourable/unfavourable decisions throughout a season.

However, I think you're missing the point - the author's view is that these decisions should be accepted as part & parcel of the game, like injuries, the bounce of the ball, hitting the post etc - you can't do anything about them - accept those and refereeing decisions and move on.

Chasing the holy grail of a perfectly refereed match is doomed to failure.

 

[GraemeS]

I'm struggling to think of ONE decision that far reaching - especially in relation to a league position - an old cliche that I'm not going to repeat, but teams do get favourable/unfavourable decisions throughout a season.

However, I think you're missing the point - the author's view is that these decisions should be accepted as part & parcel of the game, like injuries, the bounce of the ball, hitting the post etc - you can't do anything about them - accept those and refereeing decisions and move on.

Chasing the holy grail of a perfectly refereed match is doomed to failure.

So in that case, why bother with assessing referees anyway? Why should I bother keeping fit and doing my best to improve my refereeing, if we should just accept that any decision I make is essentially a manifestation of luck? It's entirely possible for a referee to have a good and a bad game (in terms of decision accuracy), so why is it unrealistic to aim for closer to 100% correct decisions in a match?

 

[PinnerPaul]

So in that case, why bother with assessing referees anyway? Why should I bother keeping fit and doing my best to improve my refereeing, if we should just accept that any decision I make is essentially a manifestation of luck? It's entirely possible for a referee to have a good and a bad game (in terms of decision accuracy), so why is it unrealistic to aim for closer to 100% correct decisions in a match?

Because like my other examples, of course there ARE things you can do that help with injuries (proper warm up, pre season etc) , hitting the woodwork (Training, etc) however, the ball IS always going to hit the woodwork, players ARE going to miss games through injuries.

Of course we should all strive to be better referees and improve our game but as we all know we are ALL going to make mistakes over the course of the season - its the reaction/attitude to those mistakes that is the issue here.

 

[Cheshire Ref]

Good read and well written:

It should be a non-event, post-game, to get an official on camera and say, “look, you can clearly see he’s removed the striker’s scrotum by judicious use of garden secateurs there”. And the ref can just say, “Oh yeah, I just missed that. I thought it was odd that his balls dropped onto the pitch like two boiled eggs. Sorry.” And then we all get on with our lives.

That, Mr Nicholson is genius!!!