Season 2011-12 Fan Articles

Refereeing Decisions, Cheating, Horrendous Tackles etc?.

By John   Schrempft  ::  10/04/2012   69 Comments (»Last) It may be my imagination, but it seems to me that recently, on MOTD, really poor decisions by the referee or the linesman have been discussed more frequently than usual. It could just be, by coincidence, that there have been more controversial incidents than on average.

Having said that, I really do wonder if a reform of the rules should take place: i.e.: retrospective video evidence which could even alter the result if necessary.

Amendments to the rules have been made, in the past, such as the introduction of substitutes and these have changed the face of football.

It can be argued that controversial decisions even themselves out over a season (what you gain on the swings, you lose on the roundabouts) but red cards can be and are quite often rescinded on appeal. Goal line technology would certainly help as far as « goals » being disallowed are concerned when the ball had clearly crossed the line.

In a perfect world, match officials would see everything and always make the right decisions but they are only human after all and mistakes are made. One could of course say that?s part of the game such as when defenders make mistakes that lead to goals, but I believe video evidence would assist referees and linesmen to stamp out diving,cheating and Horrendous Tackles etc?.

I admit such a system would not be that easy to enforce but with improved video techniques and cheaper video equipment it would be possible to be employed in most matches.

There is of course the problem with deciding whether a penalty should have been given or not. One couldn?t award a penalty to the " victim team retrospectively because no-one would know whether the penalty taker would have been successful or not!

What does concern me too is the tendency for referees to be intimidated at the bigger stadiums and top clubs( either consciously or subconsciously). This seems to lead to some really big decisions being given in favour of such clubs which can often mean either the gaining of points deciding a championship (or relegation for a less successful team causing a considerable loss of revenue for a club).

I?ve brought this subject up again at this point because of the derby semi-final on Saturday. If the better side wins on the day, even if it?s the dark side, then fair enough but I?d be really devastated if they?d achieved it by cheating the match officials. It would also leave a nasty taste in the mouth if we were to win under such circumstances.

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