After crying myself a river after the Villa/Chelsea match and some of the officiating in the match, and not just our match, looking at things that other teams have getting away with that are similar I decided to send a letter of complaint to the F.A.
Surprisingly I got a reply -
Whilst understanding your frustration as a football fan, every supporter will have an opinion on the game’s major talking points and we’re always interested to hear them. The Football Association receives frequent correspondence on individual refereeing decisions across all levels of football as well as on the performance of referees in general. It is important to understand that without a referee there is no game and as a result the long-term health of football relies on recruiting, retaining and developing referees. Whilst 100% consistency is impossible when human judgment is introduced into a situation, referees get the overwhelmingly majority of decisions right. In fact they are arguably the most consistent people in the game making split-second decisions that will be analysed repeatedly by slow motion cameras and panels of football experts.
There is a system in place for monitoring the performance of referees and referee's assistants. This involves referees assessors and reports from club managers. All assessors come from a footballing background and the majority are fully qualified referees themselves. The performances of referees over a season are then taken into consideration when the leagues appoint their referees for the following season.
We do appreciate all of the feedback we receive from supporters. This feedback is collated and used to build a picture of public opinion and is subsequently fed back internally within the organisation. Please rest assured your comments will form part of this feedback process.
I now rest assured that our red cards will be overturned and we'll get every decision under the sun going our way in the future.
My complaint to the F.A (Villa/Chelsea)
posted on 17/3/14
comment by Say My Name (U18558)
posted 11 minutes ago
comment by Sheriff JW Pepper (U1007)
posted 4 minutes ago
Steve...what you havn't mentioned is the fact that the FA have employed Graham Poll specifically to oversee every decision we get against us & then endorse it
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Even he said we had 5 decisions go against us v Villa. If he says that you know they were wrong.
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Did he...ahh lordy
posted on 17/3/14
Hate to break this to you Steve but thats a standard letter they send out every week. Nah just joking but chances are it is.
Love the bitter responses. Nice bit of fishing for a first article Steve. Well done
posted on 17/3/14
I think they personalize it to every letter but keep it to a script. I could tell it was a bit more personalized due to what I had put in my email, but it will still be from a guide line
posted on 17/3/14
At least you've got them worried Steve!
posted on 17/3/14
For me the biggest decision that Foy got wrong on Saturday was not the Willian sending off or failing to send off Baker(i think) for the challenge on Ramires but failing to send off Vlaar for what i see as common assault on Schurrle (which i see as just as bad as Ramires's challenge). As for the goal that was disallowed i have seen them being given and also not given.
posted on 17/3/14
Letter of the law?
soccer?lol.
posted on 17/3/14
Was a goal imo, think Matic was moving his arm away from the ball rather than trying to keep it static. Handball has always been a bit of a vague rule anyway. If it hit's your forearm it's called as hand ball, needs to be changed so everyone know if (for example) it hits anywhere on your arm under your elbow, it's handball, rather than again relying on one ref to give it and one to not.
posted on 18/3/14
Steve article
posted on 18/3/14
comment by CFC_Steve (U1194)
posted 10 hours, 31 minutes ago
I think they personalize it to every letter but keep it to a script. I could tell it was a bit more personalized due to what I had put in my email, but it will still be from a guide line
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By personalize. ..you mean start with
dear cfc steve
posted on 18/3/14
Sheriff - Meh, close enough