Time to map out a plan for Villa's future
- Says blogger Matthew Turvey
Pete’s blog: Referee!
Friday 19th September 2008, 9:08AM BST.
Guest Albion blogger Pete ‘Hilltop Baggie’ Danckert mulls over the great video debate ahead of Sunday’s derby against Villa at the Hawthorns.
Welcome to my first blog. Many thanks go to Bomber for giving me this chance to air some view points.
It’s a very hard job following someone as fluent and professional as Bomber, but I’ll give it a go!
We’re only four games into the season and already we’ve had many contentious issues.
Was John Terry’s foul a red card or not, should Ricardo Fuller’s goal have stood against Everton, should Everton have been awarded a penalty in the same game and did Kim’s shot go over the line at Bolton.
The list is already quite long. I am sure supporters of every club will be able to quote you an instance of a wrong decision in their respective games.
Some of those decisions will have made no difference at all to the outcome of the game, others will have had a much bigger bearing on the eventual result.
So my questions are: “Video referee’s or not?” and “Goal line technology or not.” Should every decision be spot on, or is the beauty of the game the whole debate afterwards.
After all, Talksport and BBC Radio WM would have a lot less to fill the never ending phone calls with if every decision was perfect.
I would imagine also that your opinion would be seriously biased by how bad and influential the decisions affecting your team had been.
There are many of us Albion fans who could rightly point to our first season in the top flight under Gary Megson, arguing that there were many VERY influential decisions that not only affected the results, but also the length of our stay in that first year.
I’m not suggesting that we would definitely stayed up, but I wonder how many extra points we would have had, if the penalty decisions both for and against had been ‘correctly’ awarded.
]My own personal opinion is that maybe goal line technology is a plus point, but to keep stopping the game at crucial times, would undoubtedly spoil the flow of the game.
In some really hard games we could see a 3pm match finish at 7pm. Also for me the best part is the banter and arguments afterwards, which undoubtedly would disappear.
So to conclude, I would accept goal line technology, but would be against the video replay.
That is until one of the ‘Men in Black’ really mess up. Then no doubt I’ll be screaming at Tony Butler to start a campaign for video’s.
I hope you have enjoyed my thoughts and I look forward to reading your comments. All that remains to say is bring on the Villa at the weekend.
Lets hope the ref gets it right, or at least doesn’t get it wrong for us.
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where is jarrod? only joking lol i think personally it should stay the way it is otherwise we will be like american footballstopping every few seconds because someone disagrees with a decision. Debate is what makes football football without that mark lawrenson couldnt say the same thing week in week out about us and when we do score 3 we have old scar face hansen say the bloody same so no to videos plus i like singing the referes a ***ka
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Couldnt agree with you more. Goal line technology is a must in my opinion and video replays have no place in the game.
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hiya hilltop,nice blog mate,i can only give mp humble opinion on two of your issues,firstly john terry(wot a beautiful name)commited a professional foul and the red card was right decision,as for kims goal it was in albion end and we had a great view it clearly looked over the line to me,infact the bloke next to me said it was over so it must have been,but i have to say im against goal line technology as it will not end there they would be using it for corners,fouls,free kicks, pens,as you say we would be there alnight, mind you that might not be a bad thing i could sit there alnight and watch our breathtaking football,aye boing boing donk
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did gera`s goal cross the line at the moll,must have it hit the back of the net,aye boing boing donk
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3. you numpty Tery was not the last man therefore not a red card.
did any of is he male millers shots cross the line? yes!!! the sideline.
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If it aye bost, don’t fix it.
And it aye bost.
There are much more important things to fix within the game than removing another power from refs.
Whatever happened to “the referees decision is final”?
Nowhere does that state “the referees decision is correct”.
Now, what needs fixing is it’s alright to break someones leg on a football pitch – but it’s not alright to give your opinion in an interview post-match.
It’s alright for John Terry to rugby tackle on the pitch – but it’s not alright to have your socks down.
It’s alright to punish smaller clubs with huge points deductions – but not the bigger ones.
THESE are the issues that the FA should be discussing.
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Good blog Pete.
This has, and always will be a contentious issue.
It`s one of those that begs….how far do you go ?
You can have goal line technology, but shocking officiating can and does happen all over the pitch.
I am a great beliver that any correct decision can only be good for the game, however there would be a price to pay, that being the length of a match.
I wouldn`t mind it being done on a trial period, and then assesed to see if the pros outweigh the cons.
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Mmmm, interesting point SuperMaths. I remember the ref’s boss stating in a interview printed in one of the dailys when we were in the premier league the first time that refs would always favour the big clubs in 50-50 decisions. Remember also that in our great escape year that we broke two records, the second one was being the first club to be awarded a penalty at Old Trafford. Now faced with the fact that refs lean towards the big clubs in awkward decisions (and I believe that happens in all divisions) and that the fourth official seems to have little input (remember that goal scored against us last year in the 5th minute of a 4 minute stoppage time and where the 4th official allegedly shugged his shoulders when Mowbray questioned it), we are always going to have room for debate. I am not saying that refs are not nuetral, just that they sometimes take the easy way out.
As for goal line technology, there could be a quick and simple way of doing it that would not interfere with the run of play. It would just indicate whether the ball had crossed the line and then the ref would make the final decision based on any infractions of rules had taken place. I think video replay would slow the game down too much and wouldn’t like to see it used, except for appeals over bookings (which would be retrospective) and could be of use since some of the incidents can be too close to call.
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5,mikel,why you think we havin debate you slly little boy,and its double RR in terry,lovely name that,aye boing boing donk sshhhhhhhhhhhhhh
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no life, no knowledge AYE BONK DOWN YOYO
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5,mikel,robbo worn the the last man when he triped kites up but he got sent off,aye boing boing donk sshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
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Got this of referee’s site….No mention of being last man in my opion Terry’s action was serious foul play he knew what he was doing a deliberatly took the player out of the game!
Cautionable Offences
A player is cautioned and shown the yellow card if he commits any of the following seven offences:
is guilty of unsporting behaviour
shows dissent by word or action
persistently infringes the Laws of the Game
delays the restart of play
fails to respect the required distance when play is restarted with a corner kick or free kick
enters or re-enters the field of play without the referee’s permission
deliberately leaves the field of play without the referee’s permission
Sending-Off Offences
A player is sent off and shown the red card if he commits any of the following seven offences:
is guilty of serious foul play
is guilty of violent conduct
spits at an opponent or any other person
denies an opponent a goal or an obvious goal-scoring opportunity by deliberately handling the ball (this does not apply to a goalkeeper within his own penalty area)
denies an obvious goal-scoring opportunity to an opponent moving towards the player’s goal by an offence punishable by a free kick or a penalty kick
uses offensive, insulting or abusive language
receives a second caution in the same match
A player who has been sent off must leave the vicinity of the field of play and the technical area.
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HI PETE. your blog raises the great debate,personally ithink in this day and age we shuuld be using the high tech gizzmos to decide if its a goal or not.the ref shuold be left to apply the laws of football as he sees to the rest of the game.with regards to the terry sending off yes he wasnt last man but it was deliberate unsporting and dangerous foul… one more thing cant get over the newcastle players hachet job last week if that was done in the street some one would be up in court…
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I’d like to point out that if the players didn’t cheat or foul, we wouldn’t need a referee or linesmen. OK, that’s simplistic and naive, but it IS the correct STARTING POINT. So anything else means the players are at fault, NOT the referee or linesmen. (I can’t be doin’ with this ‘assistant referee’ rubbish). You must have noticed that our players are actively discouraged from arguing with the ref. by Mowbray. At a risk of upsetting the knowledgeable Michael on all things football, my instant reaction was Terry should walk with a red card. THAT sort of behaviour is quite intolerable and yet the ref has been demoted to a League 1 game for not rescinding his decision. The FL and FA should be ashamed.
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Thanks for all the views and opinions, as usual with our great game there isnt any common thread for agreement, perhaps goal line is the closest we will get, and i do believe that it could be a relatively simple process, maybe agrren light somewhere to indicate to the ref that the ball had crossed the line. I did make the point that maybe we would have had a much stronger reaction had this debate taken place in our first season, and whether thats because the standard of refereeing has improved, or we have to date (touch wood!!) not fallen foul of too many bloopers. Anyway, see you all at the game on sunday, bring it on
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Pete.
Good interesting blog and replies.
1)The only technology I’d consider during the game would be if they come up with foolproof goal line technology.
2) I’d have a panel watching all prem games and reviewing any contentious decisions, allowing them to award 1 to 3 game bans for diving or serious fouls that the referee may have missed. Far from undermining referee’s authority, this would make their job easier as once players realised that they wouldn’t get away with things it would greatly reduce it.
3)I’d leave red and yellow cards for foulplay.
4) I’d introduce a blue card for minor offences which would incur a sliding scale of disciplinary points but would have no effect on the game they are playing in.
5) I’d have a sin bin for players abusing the ref. They would spend 5 minutes in it to cool off and also incur disciplinary points. During their time in the ‘bin’ a substitute would be allowed.
The purpose of the sin bin sub and the blue card would be to allow the ref to award punishments without ruining the game.
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Cyril (14) I completley agree a good friend of mine is a football league referee so I see it from both sides. Each referee has an assesor in the stands watching there every move its difficult to please the crowd, the assesors and the teams. I have been to many a game with him and he tells me what the players have been saying. he actually said Craig Beatty is a joy to referee a sensible footballer was his words.
But who in there right mind would want to be a football official!!
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Pete,
When it comes to using technology on controversial decisions, I think the ref ought to be able to “phone a friend”.
It shouldn’t hold the game up too long, as I doubt they’ll have many ;-)
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Could someone translate post 5?
I don’t speak dinglish!
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My nephew Richard, now living in USA, was a qualified ref and loved the job but had to pack in because of the threats and abuse. This at AMATEUR level! I can remember back in 1948 playing in Walsall, getting kicked and swearing. The ref came up, “What did you say son?” I answered “Oh my foot and ankle”. He had been going to send me off but he laughed and we got on with it.
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