Ref Watch ....... Stevenage (H)

[bazzashrimper]

Not the best ref. Didn't manage the players particularly well and made many stupid errors.

On a positive, the east stand Lino was excellent today - without him the ref would have caused a riot

 

[Massimo Giovanni]

Not the best ref. Didn't manage the players particularly well and made many stupid errors.

On a positive, the east stand Lino was excellent today - without him the ref would have caused a riot

True post, the 4th official was busy & did well too dealing with the flapping, Discussing Westley and his gaggle.

 

[Fish]

Yeah he made some strange decisions but actually I thought he controlled the players excellently. He was honest enough to put his hands up when he'd made a mistake and did something about it rather than doggedly sticking to a mistake.

But the best thing he did today was booking Shaq. I wish more refs would clamp down on players deliberately getting in the way of a quick free kick. It's cynical spoiling of the game.

 

[OldBlueLady]

What I want to know is why he made a fuss over Barney's under shorts when they 4th official hadn't seen fit to question them!

 

[Norwichshrimper]

Yeah he made some strange decisions but actually I thought he controlled the players excellently. He was honest enough to put his hands up when he'd made a mistake and did something about it rather than doggedly sticking to a mistake.

But the best thing he did today was booking Shaq. I wish more refs would clamp down on players deliberately getting in the way of a quick free kick. It's cynical spoiling of the game.

Agree with you 100%...his mistakes were corner/throw in related...his major decisions were pretty much spot on, and as you say he managed the players well.
And I'm also with you 100% on the Shaq booking.....it was right in front of me, he specifically ran from the touchline to stand in front of the free-kick, then tried to tell the ref the guy had kicked it at him. Maybe the defender did kick it at him to get him booked, but he shouldn't have put himself in that position. It would be nice if refs were more consistent with that sort of thing overall.

 

[RobM]

I hear the referee was choking on water! He had a fit of splutters - we all have at some time. Nothing serious or lasting.

 

[Magnum PI]

Oh my my my my......

On the positive side, he seemed to be able to spot what was not a foul, quite well on a couple of occassions.

On the negative side... he seemed to be lead by Mr Westley on a couple of occassions, at least three time his assistant had to come in and tell him what to do. He made several basic errors such as awarding a goal kick and not a corner (even looked at the West assisant to bail him out, which he shouldn't need to do), awarding Stevenage a throw when it was clearly kicked off by a Stevenage player and his inability to be in right place at the right time.

I wont say he made a difference to the game such as Mr Ward did, this one was dreadful for both sides. That's twice I've seen him, and twice I've thought him dreadful,

On a side issue, local lad Matt Donohue made his Football League debut at Luton today. He was appointed to our game in error by the FA who hadn't check to see who he supported!

i'm pleased to see Lord Football highlighting refereeing ineptitudes. For too long it's felt like a cliquey club where refs get protected on the whole because they volunteered to put themselves in this difficult position. That said I (who always seems to find great fault in officials) thought Sarginson refereed the game without too much contention. He was quick to spot his own errors which if more referees did would vastly improve fan/manager/ref relations.

 

[Mick]

He was quick to spot his own errors which if more referees did would vastly improve fan/manager/ref relations.

He was lucky to have such a competent senior Assistant Referee with him in Alan Young, the Cambridgeshire FA Referees Development Manager by trade, who bailed him out on several occasions.

This referee was exactly what I expected, no better, no worse and the plus point was that his normal sub-standard performance did not affect the result.

 

[borientater]

Why no red card to their 22 for the diabolical challenge on Coker after about 15 mins ? no attempt whatsoever to play the ball

 

[Magnum PI]

Why no red card to their 22 for the diabolical challenge on Coker after about 15 mins ? no attempt whatsoever to play the ball

Looked a yellow card to me.

 

[Norwichshrimper]

Why no red card to their 22 for the diabolical challenge on Coker after about 15 mins ? no attempt whatsoever to play the ball

Looked a yellow card to me.

Yeah. I'd give the guy the benefit of the doubt. I don't think it was deliberate, he seemed to be looking at the ball, just got his bearings a bit wrong.

 

[chapperzUK]

Why no red card to their 22 for the diabolical challenge on Coker after about 15 mins ? no attempt whatsoever to play the ball

Didn't see it first time as was watching the ball, but looking at the replay on Blues Player and it looks like he goes in with his foot raised against Coker's knee. Could be seen as dangerous.

 

[Roxy]

What I want to know is why he made a fuss over Barney's under shorts when they 4th official hadn't seen fit to question them!

I think this may need more investigation ... :winking:

 

[Fish]

Maybe the defender did kick it at him to get him booked, but he shouldn't have put himself in that position. It would be nice if refs were more consistent with that sort of thing overall.

I once saw a ref in that situation book the player taking the free kick for deliberately kicking the ball at an opponent. I just sat open-mouthed at the ridiculous injustice of it! As a hockey umpire, I once had a situation where a player smashed a ball into an opponent's ankle in a similar situation. The guy had to sub off to get some treatment, but not before I'd made him gingerly stand up and take a card first. Because he wasn't the first to have done it in the game, he got a suspension instead of just a warning, so they couldn't bring a sub on for him. No arguments.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

Yeah he made some strange decisions but actually I thought he controlled the players excellently. He was honest enough to put his hands up when he'd made a mistake and did something about it rather than doggedly sticking to a mistake.

But the best thing he did today was booking Shaq. I wish more refs would clamp down on players deliberately getting in the way of a quick free kick. It's cynical spoiling of the game.

Phil Brown gets all our players to stand in front of the ball to stop the quick free-kick but on this occasion Coulthirst had his back to the ball and was walking away. The ref had his back to it and didn't actually see the incident.

But this is an example where the ref doesn't have to show a card as he can just tell the player to let them take the free-kick and so the booking only becomes necessary when they ignore his instructions. Pro-actively managing the situation is the far better solution as it means the attacking team isn't penalised.

What I want to know is why he made a fuss over Barney's under shorts when they 4th official hadn't seen fit to question them!

An excuse to hold up play whilst he got his breath back?

Looked a yellow card to me.

A second yelllow?

 

[Norwichshrimper]

Phil Brown gets all our players to stand in front of the ball to stop the quick free-kick but on this occasion Coulthirst had his back to the ball and was walking away. The ref had his back to it and didn't actually see the incident.

But this is an example where the ref doesn't have to show a card as he can just tell the player to let them take the free-kick and so the booking only becomes necessary when they ignore his instructions. Pro-actively managing the situation is the far better solution as it means the attacking team isn't penalised.

Sorry, but it was right in front of me...Couthirst was on the touchline...saw the guy put the ball down to take the free-kick and raced across to stand in front of the ball (then, as you say turned his back and walked away). This was a blatant attempt to delay the free kick being taken (not even just to stop it being taken quickly).

I'm sure it was under management instructions, but it deserved a booking 100% and if I was the Stevenage player I would have booted it at him as well!

I just long for the day when FIFA/FA/Football League/All Football Authorities grow a pair and clamp down properly on all of the cheating within the game. It wouldn't even be difficult to do - but they need to fix it at the top first.

If the penalty for diving or standing in front of free kicks or trying to bully officials or deliberate timewasting or whacking the ball into the tea lady's hut and shouting "our ball ref" was a fine and a 10 match ban, players wouldn't do it would they?

But sadly the authorities are for some reason scared of clubs, managers and players and have no interest in purifying this once beautiful game.

 

[RHB]

What I want to know is why he made a fuss over Barney's under shorts when they 4th official hadn't seen fit to question them!

Did Roxy check them out??

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

Sorry, but it was right in front of me...Couthirst was on the touchline...saw the guy put the ball down to take the free-kick and raced across to stand in front of the ball (then, as you say turned his back and walked away). This was a blatant attempt to delay the free kick being taken (not even just to stop it being taken quickly).

I'm sure it was under management instructions, but it deserved a booking 100% and if I was the Stevenage player I would have booted it at him as well!

I just long for the day when FIFA/FA/Football League/All Football Authorities grow a pair and clamp down properly on all of the cheating within the game. It wouldn't even be difficult to do - but they need to fix it at the top first.

If the penalty for diving or standing in front of free kicks or trying to bully officials or deliberate timewasting or whacking the ball into the tea lady's hut and shouting "our ball ref" was a fine and a 10 match ban, players wouldn't do it would they?

But sadly the authorities are for some reason scared of clubs, managers and players and have no interest in purifying this once beautiful game.

He had his back to the ball and was retreating when he was hit. If he was at fault, it was earlier when he ran over to the ball and should have been dealt with earlier so as to allow Stevenage to take the free kick quickly.

Far better to talk to the players. Tell them what they are doing and book them if the ignore your warnings. Or get the captains together and tell them you won't stand for any more and next one who does it is in the book. That's what good referee is about, not about waiting for the situation to occur.

 

[Mick]

Sorry, but it was right in front of me...Couthirst was on the touchline...saw the guy put the ball down to take the free-kick and raced across to stand in front of the ball (then, as you say turned his back and walked away). This was a blatant attempt to delay the free kick being taken (not even just to stop it being taken quickly).

Exactly right, Couthirst ran about 10 yards from the touchline to stand in front of the kicker and then was retreating when the ball struck him. Presumably the referee was going to let it go, but as soon as the ball struck him his hands were tied.

 

[Fish]

Exactly right, Couthirst ran about 10 yards from the touchline to stand in front of the kicker and then was retreating when the ball struck him. Presumably the referee was going to let it go, but as soon as the ball struck him his hands were tied.

Any intervention by the referee is going to cause an interruption to the game - if he'd blown to prevent Coulthirst stepping in front of the ball to begin with, he'd have delayed the game and done Coulthirst's job for him by preventing Stevenage from taking a quick one. Ref did exactly the right thing in hoping that Coulthirst didn't cause a problem, and it was Coulthirst's fault that the ref had to intervene, not the ref's.

These guys are professional footballers. They know what they're doing. If it's true,as Yorkshire Blue alleges, that Phil Brown actually tells the players to do this, that's even worse (I wouldn't be surprised, loads of footballers do this). Why should players get off any lighter than a formal caution if they've just done something that is deliberate and only designed to prevent the opposition from exercising their right to a quick free kick? What scope is there for a "second chance"? As soon as you give someone a second chance on that, you're effectively allowing potentially another 43 instances of that same offence before anyone gets sent off for it (22 players on the pitch, everyone else can do it twice before they get a yellow, which they must get before a red for accumulated yellows).

I don't give a rats arse if Coulthirst "had his back to the ball" or not, he was deliberately in the way, end of. Book him, and he won't do it again. Which he didn't - and nor did anyone else for the rest of the game (proof they know what they're doing). Job done. Good refereeing.

Like Norwichshrimper I wish the authorities would grow some to encourage fast, skillful football, rather than protecting those who try to illegally slow the game down.