Referees

[Sheff de party]

I’ve never been one to moan about refereeing until last season, but it feels like we’re dealing with total ineptitude every week. It’s spoiling the enjoyment of the game. They’re not biased, they’re equally bad for both teams.

Yesterday we saw:

Blatant fouls ignored. Started in the first minute when Robinson gets shoved over and the ball ends up in the box, with Wes injured.

Any remote contact from behind and a player throwing himself to the floor rewarded with a free kick.

Game spilling over because the referee has lost control.

A keeper told 5 separate times to get on with it without being booked.

Berge booked for getting fouled/holding onto the ball.

They simply don’t have a clue how to ref football matches and it shows every week. It’s not why we lost and there’s no anti United agenda. They are simply rubbish.

 

[Rufus Smalls]

True, yesterday's ref was poor for both teams.

There are laws governing the game which they ignore (the keeper only having 6 seconds with possession of the ball in his hands) or they fail to understand - stopping play only for head injuries (as they constantly stop the game for a player getting cramp)

For the ref's to improve the assessors or those above them need to hold them to account, something that every other employee in most industries have on a regular basis. Until their performances are openly evaluated, nothing will change.

 

[Grey Blade]

After the Rotherham game I was going to post something similar but didn't get round to it:-

Why is it impossible to apply even the simple rules?
At Rotherham on Saturday, within the first 10 minutes there were at least two obvious dives (possibly 3 or 4) to try and gain free kicks. Instead of the referee waving them away, he should have been waving a yellow card at them.
From my position it was obvious that the Rotherham player put his foot on the pitch each time he took a long throw. Lots of us could see it. It’s a simple rule to enforce but it happens time and time again. To be fair Bogle did the same in the second half.
Just about every throw in is taken from the wrong position – and when a player is told to move back they still creep forward.
Then we have the nonsense of where corner kicks are taken from – something which seems to have crept in during the last few years. If they were playing on a park pitch I could understand why they’d try to get it as far as possible outside the quadrant but there’s really no reason (as far as I see) to do it. Every game now we see the linesman (can’t get into this assistant referee, assuming that is a PC thing to make the linesperson gender neutral) checking to see if the ball is above the line. It would simplify things if the ball had to be placed in the quadrant, could touch any of the lines but not overlap them – practically it wouldn’t make much difference if it did stray marginally over a line.
We see goal keepers persistently holding the ball for more than 6 seconds. On Saturday it was at least 12 seconds on one occasion. They are all guilty of it. Goal keepers faff about pretending to take short goal kicks, then wave defenders away – a lot of it done to waste time.
General gamesmanship is also becoming very tedious. Many managers do it but when the ball goes out of play near to a manager they’ll often throw it away to stop a throw in being taken quickly (Rotherham manager guilty on Saturday) – have seen Alex Neill do it on many occasions.
Ball boys do their best to get the ball back to their players when it’s convenient but delay it for as long as possible if it isn’t or it’s the opposition player needing the ball.
Since they’ve tried to let the game flow and not punish every minor contact it still irritates me to see all the shirt pulling that goes on. I accept when both players are tussling for the ball each of them often have a handful of shirt and it’s well nigh impossible to see who the real culprit is.

All these things are trivial on the face of it but if they were clamped down upon and players knew they’d be punished, they could be ironed out of the game and it would be easier for the referee to actually control the game where more judgement is required. It would improve the game no end if simple rules were actually applied.

 

[Rufus Smalls]

After the Rotherham game I was going to post something similar but didn't get round to it:-

Why is it impossible to apply even the simple rules?
At Rotherham on Saturday, within the first 10 minutes there were at least two obvious dives (possibly 3 or 4) to try and gain free kicks. Instead of the referee waving them away, he should have been waving a yellow card at them.
From my position it was obvious that the Rotherham player put his foot on the pitch each time he took a long throw. Lots of us could see it. It’s a simple rule to enforce but it happens time and time again. To be fair Bogle did the same in the second half.
Just about every throw in is taken from the wrong position – and when a player is told to move back they still creep forward.
Then we have the nonsense of where corner kicks are taken from – something which seems to have crept in during the last few years. If they were playing on a park pitch I could understand why they’d try to get it as far as possible outside the quadrant but there’s really no reason (as far as I see) to do it. Every game now we see the linesman (can’t get into this assistant referee, assuming that is a PC thing to make the linesperson gender neutral) checking to see if the ball is above the line. It would simplify things if the ball had to be placed in the quadrant, could touch any of the lines but not overlap them – practically it wouldn’t make much difference if it did stray marginally over a line.
We see goal keepers persistently holding the ball for more than 6 seconds. On Saturday it was at least 12 seconds on one occasion. They are all guilty of it. Goal keepers faff about pretending to take short goal kicks, then wave defenders away – a lot of it done to waste time.
General gamesmanship is also becoming very tedious. Many managers do it but when the ball goes out of play near to a manager they’ll often throw it away to stop a throw in being taken quickly (Rotherham manager guilty on Saturday) – have seen Alex Neill do it on many occasions.
Ball boys do their best to get the ball back to their players when it’s convenient but delay it for as long as possible if it isn’t or it’s the opposition player needing the ball.
Since they’ve tried to let the game flow and not punish every minor contact it still irritates me to see all the shirt pulling that goes on. I accept when both players are tussling for the ball each of them often have a handful of shirt and it’s well nigh impossible to see who the real culprit is.

All these things are trivial on the face of it but if they were clamped down upon and players knew they’d be punished, they could be ironed out of the game and it would be easier for the referee to actually control the game where more judgement is required. It would improve the game no end if simple rules were actually applied.

Also, a while back, players were getting booked for booting the ball into the stands when it goes out for an opposition throw-in or corner. Has this been scrapped now as it happens plenty of times ?

 

[bakeblade]

True, yesterday's ref was poor for both teams.

There are laws governing the game which they ignore (the keeper only having 6 seconds with possession of the ball in his hands) or they fail to understand - stopping play only for head injuries (as they constantly stop the game for a player getting cramp)

For the ref's to improve the assessors or those above them need to hold them to account, something that every other employee in most industries have on a regular basis. Until their performances are openly evaluated, nothing will change.

Don't think he was poor for Millwall, he bought their play acting early time

 

[west_yorks_blade]

Don't think he was poor for Millwall, he bought their play acting early time

I don’t quite get you here.
If he bought their play acting, doesn’t that make him poor?

 

[Everblade]

I do think that they should be accountable for their performance as are managers and players, at least some form of explanation and thought process for their decisions.

They really need to get topside of this going down easy, as I think eventually it will drive genuine sports fans away from the game, it’s that frustrating.

 

[Ralph Blade]

Don't think he was poor for Millwall, he bought their play acting early time

Indeed, gave them plenty for the most minimal of contacts, they fell over time and time again and he obliged, repeatedly. I thought this was something the referees were supposed to be more lenient with. Poor refereeing yesterday.

 

[awblade]

Every single week now we are talking about how poor the referees have been. We never know what rules are/aren't being played to as every referee chooses which rules they want to enforce and ignore.

Then no matter how poor the referees are the commentators/media generally just go along with it. Instead of actually saying what they see, they agree with the referee.

Then there is the respect initiative from the FA...I think they need to make sure referees respect the game of football, before expecting respect for the referees

It's really turning me off football now.

 

[Yellarbellyblade]

I think it’s significant how many times refs are being booed off even when the team the fans are from have won, Swansea at home being a good example.

 

[cooperblade]

One that benefits us but I don't understand is that if you take a 'normal' throw-in, you might get told to hurry up but if you take a long throw-in, you can have as long as you want to dry the ball off.

I also wish that refs would stop thinking that because Sander is big, it's impossible for teams to foul him.

 

[Rochdaleblade]

I’ve never been one to moan about refereeing until last season, but it feels like we’re dealing with total ineptitude every week. It’s spoiling the enjoyment of the game. They’re not biased, they’re equally bad for both teams.

Yesterday we saw:

Blatant fouls ignored. Started in the first minute when Robinson gets shoved over and the ball ends up in the box, with Wes injured.

Any remote contact from behind and a player throwing himself to the floor rewarded with a free kick.

Game spilling over because the referee has lost control.

A keeper told 5 separate times to get on with it without being booked.

Berge booked for getting fouled/holding onto the ball.

They simply don’t have a clue how to ref football matches and it shows every week. It’s not why we lost and there’s no anti United agenda. They are simply rubbish.

Yesterdays' ref was very weak in my opinion. Virtually every header there was fouling going on, nearly every challenge the defender "left a little bit on him". There was one sequence yesterday when two blades players in succession were blatantly shoved in the back as they attempted to clear the ball, only for the ref to give a foul when Berge (I think) did the same to one of their players. Granted, some of our players are soft, but referees need to be able to spot the difference between a player challenging for a header and one simply barging into his opponent to stop him clearing the ball effectively.

 

[originaltrueblade]

I’ve never been one to moan about refereeing until last season, but it feels like we’re dealing with total ineptitude every week. It’s spoiling the enjoyment of the game. They’re not biased, they’re equally bad for both teams.

Yesterday we saw:

Blatant fouls ignored. Started in the first minute when Robinson gets shoved over and the ball ends up in the box, with Wes injured.

Any remote contact from behind and a player throwing himself to the floor rewarded with a free kick.

Game spilling over because the referee has lost control.

A keeper told 5 separate times to get on with it without being booked.

Berge booked for getting fouled/holding onto the ball.

They simply don’t have a clue how to ref football matches and it shows every week. It’s not why we lost and there’s no anti United agenda. They are simply rubbish.

They are biased

 

[bladesmanluke]

Are we starting to suffer consequences of the club, players, management and fans criticism of officials to the point where we are now facing actively biased refs? It certainly feels like it.

Hecky has long been a critic (rightly so) of the officials and laws in this country.

 

[bartman]

After the Rotherham game I was going to post something similar but didn't get round to it:-

Why is it impossible to apply even the simple rules?
At Rotherham on Saturday, within the first 10 minutes there were at least two obvious dives (possibly 3 or 4) to try and gain free kicks. Instead of the referee waving them away, he should have been waving a yellow card at them.
From my position it was obvious that the Rotherham player put his foot on the pitch each time he took a long throw. Lots of us could see it. It’s a simple rule to enforce but it happens time and time again. To be fair Bogle did the same in the second half.
Just about every throw in is taken from the wrong position – and when a player is told to move back they still creep forward.
Then we have the nonsense of where corner kicks are taken from – something which seems to have crept in during the last few years. If they were playing on a park pitch I could understand why they’d try to get it as far as possible outside the quadrant but there’s really no reason (as far as I see) to do it. Every game now we see the linesman (can’t get into this assistant referee, assuming that is a PC thing to make the linesperson gender neutral) checking to see if the ball is above the line. It would simplify things if the ball had to be placed in the quadrant, could touch any of the lines but not overlap them – practically it wouldn’t make much difference if it did stray marginally over a line.
We see goal keepers persistently holding the ball for more than 6 seconds. On Saturday it was at least 12 seconds on one occasion. They are all guilty of it. Goal keepers faff about pretending to take short goal kicks, then wave defenders away – a lot of it done to waste time.
General gamesmanship is also becoming very tedious. Many managers do it but when the ball goes out of play near to a manager they’ll often throw it away to stop a throw in being taken quickly (Rotherham manager guilty on Saturday) – have seen Alex Neill do it on many occasions.
Ball boys do their best to get the ball back to their players when it’s convenient but delay it for as long as possible if it isn’t or it’s the opposition player needing the ball.
Since they’ve tried to let the game flow and not punish every minor contact it still irritates me to see all the shirt pulling that goes on. I accept when both players are tussling for the ball each of them often have a handful of shirt and it’s well nigh impossible to see who the real culprit is.

All these things are trivial on the face of it but if they were clamped down upon and players knew they’d be punished, they could be ironed out of the game and it would be easier for the referee to actually control the game where more judgement is required. It would improve the game no end if simple rules were actually applied.

Is the 6 second rule still in the Laws of the game ? I thought it had been removed

 

[Grey Blade]

Is the 6 second rule still in the Laws of the game ? I thought it had been removed

As far as I know it is still in the laws.

 

[Bowman Blade]

Here's my issue with Refs.. They want to be part of Football, are keen as mustard, but were never any good at playing it (the last person to be picked, jumpers for goal posts etc) so became a referee to keep involved. They never played, even at junior level, Sunday morning parks games or owt. They know the rules, but they dont know the 'game' as they have never experienced the situation(s) which they have to make a decision about. The other problem is those making the rules are the same people ( I dont know if any ex players are involved with the FA). We're all human, we all make mistakes, but that's always been part of the game, the odd offside which wasn't, the handball which wasn't, it balances out over the season, but some of the play acting, diving and stopping play by laying down, or feigning a foull or injury only to immediately get back up again thus causing a delay in play just when the better side is gaining momentum, it just does my head in and its this which needs dealing with. I thought you only stopped play for a head injury ? Yesterday McB flicked the ball to one of our players which hit George Saville in the face and he went down in their area like he had been poleaxed.. Ref stops the game, he gets straight back up with a big smile on his face FFS. Ex players, even those who have played at a junior level would make better referees..IMHO

 

[Grey Blade]

Is the 6 second rule still in the Laws of the game ? I thought it had been removed

Just looked at the rules and there seems to be no reference to the 6 second rule. I also found this video from 2022 which tries to explain the situation - but doesn't really!

 

[Tony_Kaufman]

In some respects I feel sorry for match officials these days as there is way too much dishonesty in the game. With players trying to claim free kicks and penalties when there's any slight contact whatsoever, they're having to make key decisions all the time. Players will claim goal kicks when they put the ball out for a corner, or claim for a throw in when they know the ball touched them last. Despite knowing this they then have the audacity to berate officials for not giving them the decision, even though they know it's the right one as they were lying to them.

If match officials were stricter and started carding players for repetitive simulation or contempt, then there could easily be 5-6 cards shown to each team every game in the first half alone, then people would say the officials have lost control and lost the plot and are too strict.

The officials have been woeful in the Championship this season, but it can't be easy when you have to make judgements and decisions literally every single minute of the match from players who are drilled to dishonestly claim for everything.

 

[vas borbokis]

Are we starting to suffer consequences of the club, players, management and fans criticism of officials to the point where we are now facing actively biased refs? It certainly feels like it.

Hecky has long been a critic (rightly so) of the officials and laws in this country.

I think this is likely. When Warnock was battering refs after every game we got fewer and fewer decisions our way...

 

[Houston_Blade]

My kids were mascots at Bramall Lane and that ref yesterday was 4th official, he was a preening prick. If he was made of chocolate he’d have eaten himself.

 

[jt64]

Every single week now we are talking about how poor the referees have been. We never know what rules are/aren't being played to as every referee chooses which rules they want to enforce and ignore.

If a ref is being consistently lenient/harsh, there's nothing wrong with that and that is the sort of basic scouting that the coaching staff should do. Where it does become a problem is when they are being inconsistent during a single game, which includes but is not limited to:

• booking nobody for ages then having a hidden timer, usually around 60-70 minutes into a game, after which every foul is a booking
• giving free kicks on the half way line but not giving penalties for the exact same foul in the area
• requiring a higher level of foul to give a booking where a player has already been cautioned

 

[Snowflake]

I’ve never been one to moan about refereeing until last season, but it feels like we’re dealing with total ineptitude every week. It’s spoiling the enjoyment of the game. They’re not biased, they’re equally bad for both teams.

Yesterday we saw:

Blatant fouls ignored. Started in the first minute when Robinson gets shoved over and the ball ends up in the box, with Wes injured.

Any remote contact from behind and a player throwing himself to the floor rewarded with a free kick.

Game spilling over because the referee has lost control.

A keeper told 5 separate times to get on with it without being booked.

Berge booked for getting fouled/holding onto the ball.

They simply don’t have a clue how to ref football matches and it shows every week. It’s not why we lost and there’s no anti United agenda. They are simply rubbish.

Saturday’s ref was no worse than most of the players !!
Why do we expect them to be better than the standard of football in the Championship ?

 

[dsr-burnley]

I’ve never been one to moan about refereeing until last season, but it feels like we’re dealing with total ineptitude every week. It’s spoiling the enjoyment of the game. They’re not biased, they’re equally bad for both teams.

Yesterday we saw:

Blatant fouls ignored. Started in the first minute when Robinson gets shoved over and the ball ends up in the box, with Wes injured.

Any remote contact from behind and a player throwing himself to the floor rewarded with a free kick.

Game spilling over because the referee has lost control.

A keeper told 5 separate times to get on with it without being booked.

Berge booked for getting fouled/holding onto the ball.

They simply don’t have a clue how to ref football matches and it shows every week. It’s not why we lost and there’s no anti United agenda. They are simply rubbish.

I think the point about the game spilling over because the ref has lost control, is part of the reason that refs get so much blame. You hear it from commentators too - "Smith has fouled Jones, Jones has reacted, Smith is lying on the floor pretending he's been hit, Brown, Green, Black, White, Williams, Roberts, Hughes, McTavish, O'Reilly, and Heckinbotham has all joined in the melee, and the ref has lost control!

It isn't the ref who gets involved with a pushing match. I've never seen that happen. If players would take responsibility for their own behaviour, and not blame everything on the ref, it would be better for all concerned.

As for the free kicks, yes, I would agree that there are far too many given for dives and it needs to be stopped. But basically, any complaints from players and/or teams who routinely dive (and that means all players and all teams) that on one occasion they didn't get a free kick, even if it was a genuine foul, are invalid. If you try and cheat someone, then complaints that he got something wrong are bogus.

And I do include "he was touched so was entitled to go down" as diving. Stamp that out, and you're a long way to getting more competent refs.

 

[Rochdaleblade]

If a ref is being consistently lenient/harsh, there's nothing wrong with that and that is the sort of basic scouting that the coaching staff should do. Where it does become a problem is when they are being inconsistent during a single game, which includes but is not limited to:

• booking nobody for ages then having a hidden timer, usually around 60-70 minutes into a game, after which every foul is a booking
• giving free kicks on the half way line but not giving penalties for the exact same foul in the area
• requiring a higher level of foul to give a booking where a player has already been cautioned

This. I wouldn't mind refs being shite, as long as they were consistently shite.

 

[Houston_Blade]

It was funny watching McBurnie and Berge trying to throw themselves to the floor and getting criticised by the commentators on Saturday. I can see why we try and stay on our feet because we're crap at trying to buy fouls.

 

[Pittsburg Blade]

It was funny watching McBurnie and Berge trying to throw themselves to the floor and getting criticised by the commentators on Saturday. I can see why we try and stay on our feet because we're crap at trying to buy fouls.

Not Billy. He’s generally brilliant at it.

 

[joe casey]

I do not remember the last time I watched one of our matches and thought the ref was decent - most weeks they get me to embarassing levels of screaming into the ether. The Berge dive in the first half was a dive, but in fairness he was also being pulled by his arm (which unless I'm mistaken is not allowed?) - yet mcburnie gets booked second half for breathing near a millwall player - baffling

 

[Speedracer]

Here's my issue with Refs.. They want to be part of Football, are keen as mustard, but were never any good at playing it (the last person to be picked, jumpers for goal posts etc) so became a referee to keep involved. They never played, even at junior level, Sunday morning parks games or owt. They know the rules, but they dont know the 'game' as they have never experienced the situation(s) which they have to make a decision about. The other problem is those making the rules are the same people ( I dont know if any ex players are involved with the FA). We're all human, we all make mistakes, but that's always been part of the game, the odd offside which wasn't, the handball which wasn't, it balances out over the season, but some of the play acting, diving and stopping play by laying down, or feigning a foull or injury only to immediately get back up again thus causing a delay in play just when the better side is gaining momentum, it just does my head in and its this which needs dealing with. I thought you only stopped play for a head injury ? Yesterday McB flicked the ball to one of our players which hit George Saville in the face and he went down in their area like he had been poleaxed.. Ref stops the game, he gets straight back up with a big smile on his face FFS. Ex players, even those who have played at a junior level would make better referees..IMHO

Thing is, the way football is going now & turning into a non contact sport & players cheating by throwing themselves to the ground after barely a touch, is it comes down to us to be a bit smarter. I hate all the diving, feigning injury, playing to the "concussion protocol" etc, but that is simply the way the game is going, & in a way we are stupid for trying to be honest. If I were on the couching staff I would be analysing referees performances & see what they blow up for & what they allow, then you have a base line to work with in order to play the system. Every other single team do it, I mean why would a supremely fit 6 foot plus athlete fall to the flour after the barest of touches on their shoulder? Because when the incident is replayed at half/full time by the studio pundits they to a man say, yes, but he was touched, so it is a foul/penalty/sending off etc etc.
The longer we ignore this, the longer we will continue to be on the wrong side of referees & their decisions.

 

[Bladesman]

Warnock was right about them. Most of them have never played the game and it shows.

They just seem to be even worse than before.