Lucky boy not to walk???
Mark Noble!
- Thread starter Sheffields Finest
- Start date
Lucky boy not to walk???
Padfoot
The Persecuted One
Should've walked. Poor refereeing.
Having said that, absolutely shocking security from West Ham though.....after the first invasion, to have another where a spectator gets hold of the corner flag is disgraceful.
Almost certain that Noble will not see any retrospective action.......although how any self respecting referee can claim that they saw that and didn't see anything wrong with it is another story. But then self respect is something that I guess PGMOL officials have to leave in their lockers along with their hearing, and many other things that would get in the way of keeping their paymasters happy.
Having said that, absolutely shocking security from West Ham though.....after the first invasion, to have another where a spectator gets hold of the corner flag is disgraceful.
Almost certain that Noble will not see any retrospective action.......although how any self respecting referee can claim that they saw that and didn't see anything wrong with it is another story. But then self respect is something that I guess PGMOL officials have to leave in their lockers along with their hearing, and many other things that would get in the way of keeping their paymasters happy.
Noble should have got red. It is a difficult situation for players when fans invade the pitch as they have no idea what is going to happen. Monica Seles is a good example.It is very easy to sit here and criticise Noble for his reaction but he is pumped up trying to get his team a win.
I know this shouldn’t be going through the mind of the referee, and probably won’t be a popular opinion amongst people here, but I’m thinking Noble not being sent off was an intentional thought of the referee fearing crowd trouble and public safety.
HarryD
Well-Known Member
Referee is very much stuck between a rock and a hard place. He could follow the laws of the game and incite a riot, or he could fail to apply the laws of the game and upset his superiors. I'd have dismissed Mr Noble and if any spectators acted in a way afterwards that caused me to fear for my safety, abandon the game - even at that level. West Ham are more than likely looking at a fairly large financial sanction and to be honest, I think they're now destined for the drop.
I think the ref did well to let calm heads prevail.
Getting a bad mark from an assessor, or causing a public safety risk?
PP62
Well-Known Member
The two other spectators actually ran to Zabaletta and (I think) Collins and these 2 remained calm. Noble ran towards the spectator and threw him to the ground. This should have been a red card. I'm with @ HarryD here, send him off and if thinks go pear shaped get all the players back in the changing room.
Peter Grove
RefChat Addict
I don't see it that way. It's all speculation but I would have said that if anything and despite the fact that he's a West Ham player, the protesters would have been more annoyed at Mark Noble for manhandling one of their number than they would have been at the referee for sending him off. The guy who ran on the pitch was one of them, they were basically in full sympathy with what he was doing. I don't think that they would have been too pleased with Noble's actions towards a fellow protester.
For me, the greater danger is that players could now think that if anyone runs onto the pitch in future they can push them, pull them or throw them to the ground and get away with it.
Not all the pitch invaders were welcomed back into the stands!!!
I suspect the PGMOL will back Lee Mason for his decision. Yes, he could have sent Noble off, but I'm not sure he needed to. I have a lot of sympathy with players in these situations, they fear for their safety and can't even be sure that the pitch invaders aren't carrying weapons such as knives. The punishment here should be dished out to West Ham for the appalling lack of stewarding and policing, they are much more culpable than any actions players take. Supporters shouldn't make it onto the pitch, and if they manage to they should be taken down within seconds, not minutes as happened here.
Padfoot
The Persecuted One
Well of course they will!
The PGMOL are the problem....they expect referees to sacrifice anything, including self respect and integrity, so long as the paymasters are kept happy.
When a spectator runs onto the pitch on a Sunday morning, the players have now been shown that they can use physical violence to remove them without any sanction from the referee.