Attacks on and criticism of referees, how about we lead by example?

You honestly think it is a good idea to stop people questioning or discussing referees' decisions on a football message board?
Have you gone mad?
It's an interesting (if slightly contrarian) take on things

To hold up the exalted behaviour of the Rugby Aficionado. Do they criticise the ref? Of course they do. You can still criticise a referee without having to seek to intimidate or influence him/her. There is a line that we should toe.
 
It's an interesting (if slightly contrarian) take on things

To hold up the exalted behaviour of the Rugby Aficionado. Do they criticise the ref? Of course they do. You can still criticise a referee without having to seek to intimidate or influence him/her. There is a line that we should toe.
That's a different argument which relates to the behaviour of players on the pitch and maybe fans in the stadium.
Not sure how we are going to intimidate or influence a ref from here. Especially after the game has finished.

I think to introduce a policy of not being able to criticise a ref on here would ridiculous. And surreal for a football message board.

And why draw the line at refs? Should we be criticising the players? Carrick? Bauser or Scott? The ticket office? The Online Shop? Gibson? Opposition players and staff? Rival fans?
Politicians?
Mayors?
Other posters?

I just don't get it.
 
No chance. The standard of refereeing in this league is atrocious and should be called it at every opportunity. Referees struggle because a lot of players are cheats but they have the technology and the rules already to enforce anti cheating measures and they are choosing not to do it. Until they help themselves I will continue to offer my constructive criticism and that includes comedy chants such as "should've gone to Specsavers" and "the referee's a ******".
 
No chance. The standard of refereeing in this league is atrocious and should be called it at every opportunity. Referees struggle because a lot of players are cheats but they have the technology and the rules already to enforce anti cheating measures and they are choosing not to do it. Until they help themselves I will continue to offer my constructive criticism and that includes comedy chants such as "should've gone to Specsavers" and "the referee's a ******".

The standard if refereeing isn't atrocious. There are wrong decisions, proven by slow motion tv replays, but seldom do you see a real howler.

So many times you read on here that someone was clearly onside - or clearly offside - and then watch it on tv and it's not clear at all. Maybe, or maybe not. Either way you can make a case the ref was right, or wrong. But whilst players' mistakes are just 'part of the game', refs' mistakes are evidence of bias and incompetence.

But the terrace narrative always is that their team are subject to more bad decisions than good.
 
There are mistakes, and then there are mistakes.

Awarding a throw-in the wrong way, or making the wrong decision on a marginal offside? Fair enough.

But...
Dean Whitestone failing to even award a foul when Dael nearly lost an eye?
Gavin Ward disallowing Bola's goal against Swansea for literally no reason, then awarding them a last minute pen to hand them the win?
Ralph Bone randomly deciding that Teddy Sheringham's shot had crossed the line despite absolutely nobody else in the whole stadium, including the attacking team, thinking it had?

Those are the mistakes that change games and decide results, despite being absolutely heinously incorrect. Why even bother playing the match when the entire result could hinge on a terrible decision by just one official? And that's why we need video assistance for refs, or at the very least some kind of process to stop such blatant errors from influencing the league table.
 
For the big, game changing decisions, referees should come out and explain their decisions with replays to support their explanations. Accountability in the immediate period after a game.

VAR should follow the cricket view and each captain having three challenges. Makes the ref ref the game before them, adds a tactical element for teams.
 
I sympathise with refs at a lower level, but I have none whatsoever with those at Premier League level. Refs like Mike Dean are are just grossly incompetent at their jobs, they had an excuse before that “the game is too quick, they can’t see everything” but now they have VAR with the ability to watch multiple highlights and angles, and they STILL make huge mistakes that anyone sat at home who isn’t a trained ref can correctly call.
 
Will it be official board policy?
With any criticism of the ref leading to huge threads on how out of order the criticism is, how the poster needs to do better, then their political leanings and stance on brexit will be questioned. Eventually the thread will be pulled and at least one poster will be put on the naughty step.
Yeah, sounds a great idea.
Tinfoilhattastic.
 
Firstly, you have to be able to criticise respectfully, call out poor officiating, mistakes made, have robust, frank discussions, to stop that would be nonsensical, kill debate, we learn things from one another through such discussions, we are sometimes ignorant of the rules of the game ourselves, we see things differently from our viewing positions. The issue is how we go about doing it surely, language used is so important I guess.

I believe that the Professional game and grass roots need to be looked at independently and may require different interventions. You would need to identify what constitutes abuse, try to identify a reasonable line in the sand, particularly as we all have slightly different definitions of abuse as well as different tolerance levels. You can not sanitise the game to such an extent it detracts from the spectacle, the competition, the atmosphere etc.

The only way abuse in the professional game will eventually be vastly reduced (it can never be stopped when dealing with humans) is by changes within the laws of the game introduced by the regulatory bodies within the professional game and filtered down through the various leagues. The introduction of sin bins, Microphone recording referees, possibly bodycams, so that the perpetrators can be regularly named and shamed through evidence from these recordings. Hefty fines to player and club, plus appropriate bans would also be part of the interventions needed. That would eventually limit the abuse of officials from players on the pitch.

In the stands, well I’m not sure how this can be realistically achieved under the current law. You can have robust stewarding, warnings to fans, temporary bans, permanent bans, fines. Each club would need to agree a set of guidelines, be seen to administer them reasonably equally and fairly with some sort of appeals system. The sheer cost involved would likely be prohibitive the lower down the pyramid you went, ironically abusers would probably be more easily identified, would stand out more though, but in turn that could also mean improved self policing as a result.

The grass roots is where UK law has a more interventionist role and where we need better examples set by parents and well any spectators really, club coaches too etc. The professional game also has a duty to help get the message across that abuse is never an appropriate reaction, whether to a ref, player or anyone else for that matter. I would like to see better funding to grass roots from the professional bodies to enable refs to be miked/ bodycammed etc at that level, abusive attendees be filmed by respectful attendees and have some sort of temporary banning orders for serial abusers leading to permanent ones, even criminal prosecutions where deemed appropriate by the police.

It is such a complex area, but the best place to start is with yourself as an individual. We choose how we react, increased self awareness, robust reporting systems, most people have the ability to record anything on our phones. The game needs a thorough and serious review from top to bottom with appropriate, realistic and affordable interventions that don’t detract from the sporting and atmospherical elements of the game.

Having said all that, I don’t think the will is yet there to tackle it properly.
 
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