Being a bit of an anorak on these matters and a football obsessive I was watching Macclesfield play Chelmsford City last night on ESPN.
It was quite a good cup tie which Macclesfield edged by the only goal of the game. During the first half the linesman the linesman made a good decision and co-commentator David Pleat was full of praise, saying something to the effect that “I hope he takes no notice of all the criticism the officials get these days from the media and continues to enjoy the game.”
In the second half Macclesfield had a goal incorrectly disallowed for offside and the same commentators scrutinised the ruling time and time again before sending the touchline reporter to stick a microphone in Gary Simpson, the Macclesfield Town managers’ face and asking him for his reaction.
This, it seems to me, is an ever increasing trait. It’s always somebody else criticising Referees, never the person who is actually doing it.
Harry Redknapp was at it at the weekend after his side lost at Stoke. “I never complain about referees' decisions - I have not done it in 30 years of management, never,” he said.
"But today, I'm afraid, he got some badly wrong. I felt he was quite enjoying giving us nothing.”
For this comment about Chris Foy – which to be fair is pretty awful – Redknapp has been warned about his future conduct, but it his assertion that he “never complains” about Referees is the one which we at Referees Jobs want to take issue with here.
How about this last season about Howard Webb? "I've never been one for criticising referees - it's never been my game - but it was a blatant penalty. If you get the penalty, it could make a big difference."
Or this outburst about Andy D’Urso? "I just question the referee’s overall performance which I thought was inept. Every game I see this season has seven or eight bookings. I think it’s frightening."
Or finally, when he said this about Steve Tanner in 2008? "I never walk in after games and complain about a referee but this guy is scary. He’s a poor referee and I’ve seen him make a mess of so many games. He’s really not good enough."
So, we can conclude that, for a fella who claims he doesn’t criticise referees he seems to do it a lot. But not, strangely enough, after the game at Stoke last season when the same referee missed a ball going way behind the line in the last minute, where it was then handled by Peter Crouch. After that match the Spurs boss said this: “The ball may well have gone over the line, but it was a foul on the keeper before it.”
Thus invoking the other fallback position of the Manager, that of “two wrongs making a right.”
Of course referee Foy and his team didn’t have their finest hour on Sunday and he got some decisions wrong. But then so did Harry Redknapp and his defence. I am happy to say that Mr. Foy has not been taken off the Premier League matches this weekend and will be officiating at Craven Cottage.
It is worth pointing out, though that it isn’t just football that places refs under pressure. Anyone who saw the World Title fight between Amir Khan and Lamont Peterson saw referee Joe Cooper deduct two points from Khan, who lost his titles.
The Bolton fighter has appeared on just about every new bulletin there has been all week, telling everyone he was cheated and demanding a re-match at a neutral venue so it is “fair.”
Referee Cooper was entirely right in what he did. He repeatedly warned Khan for pushing, and Khan kept pushing, so what was the official supposed to do?
It can only be concluded that being a Ref in whatever sport is a tremendously tricky and largely thankless task and one which is made more difficult by constant criticism, especially from those who “never criticise."
No comments:
Post a Comment