I'm writing today because of something that annoys me on a regular basis. Fans of all football clubs, including my own beloved United, having this huge blame culture, usually directed towards the referees, for their clubs' own inadequacies on the football field.
I think this may have come about due to the intense scrutiny that every game and every decision has, via twitter, facebook and other social media. Due to the tight nature of our league nowadays, every decision is seen to be crucial or huge turning points in matches. This blame culture is so poisonous in football today, that the likes of Mark Clattenburg,Howard Webb, Anders Fisk, Tom Henning Ovrebo....they all get death threats from enraged fans and have completely unacceptable and disproportionate abuse. I think it is a joke and that the ability of referees is not hugely different. For example, Mike Riley is not exceptionally much better than Michael Oliver and vice-versa.
Personally, I don't give a toss about who refs each game of mine. Yet some rival fans and a minority of United fans, groan when they hear who is reffing the match at the weekend, as if it is a major factor to the outcome of a football game. I see football as the beautiful game, decided by beautiful technical skills, not by supposedly biased referees who favour top teams.
For example, my housemate at uni, who is an ardent City fan and blogger, has tweeted that 'Chris Foy is reffing Chelsea vs City....oh god :/ '. Every week he tweets the name of the ref to his blue followers. Why, I ask? I never look at the ref before a game, it should not be a deciding factor. You're not more likely to win/lose a game because a certain ref is reffing.
It's absolute b*llocks that refs are biased towards one team to another. Yes they may some incorrect decisions, but they do even themselves out.
United fans rue the decisions of Drogba's offside goal in 09/10 or the Newcastle pen last year that shouldn't have been given, as potential reasons for us losing the title. Yes they were bad decisions, but like EVERY club in the league, we had good decisions that went for us too in those seasons, e.g. Macheda scoring with a handball etc.
I believe you make your own luck in life, e.g. the more players you have who dribble in the box, the probability of more penalties increases, hence why United, who have the best dribblers in the league, get lots of pens.
Welbeck has admittedly gone down easily on a few occasions and has won penalties. Suarez has arguably had more legitimate penalty claims this season, yet due to his reputation and his histrionics, going down as if he has been shot every time, he gets less penalties. Maybe if he was less demonstrative and theatrical, he would get the penalties he deserved!
But the main point I wanted to stress is why people study the records of referees before a match and remember previous 50/50 decisions from 4/5 years ago at times. About ten years ago, I only knew three refs, Jeff Winter, Graham Poll and Uriah Rennie and Pierluigi Collina, not because of their decisions, purely because they all looked distinctive! However nowadays, most fans know the names of at least 10 referees, due to intense media criticism and this pathetic blame culture which intensifies due to some of the manager's rants, including Pulis,Martinez,Di Matteo,Wenger,Rodgers,Mancini and even SAF, to cover up for their teams' inadequacies. Whenever a manager blames a negative result on a referee, it is usually to deflect attention from a poor team performance. I hate it.
For example, Chelsea's criticism of Clattenburg's performance was completely over the top, deflecting away from their poor performance. Chelsea fans were claiming they would have won if not for the ref, yet they conveniently forgot they conceded 2 soft goals at home in the first ten minutes to us! We've had bad decisions at the Bridge in recent years, yet we got the rub of the green that day. It does even itself out.
What other sport vilifies the referee so much? Do cricket and tennis fans lambast the umpires? Do rugby fans research which ref, is reffing their game on the weekend? No! People should care less about the referees and more about the beautiful game. The league table doesn't lie. City deserved to win the title, just, last year. United have always deserved to win the title when they have won it. Stupid, tiresome and illogical conspiracy theories about paying refs etc = bitterness.
Stop blaming the ref and get on with it! That's what I would say to the managers, fans and players!
Pet hate: Ref criticism
posted on 20/11/12
Even a goal line decision Melton? After all, a game on a Sunday afternoon doesn't have a potential £40m hanging on such a decision...
posted on 20/11/12
Even a goal line one. I know it doesn't, I just don't like the idea of it from an emotive aspect. I would hate football to turn into a game of absolute right and wrongs, it just takes a lot of the fun out of it for me. If you go back 50 years, without the benefit of replays, we wouldn't have a clue what we know now. Purely because money is involved to a greater extent doesn't mean that the core structure around an actual football game should change, as in the decision making during 90 minutes should be made by a referee and his assistants.
I'm just a bit traditional in my thinking in that respect!
posted on 20/11/12
I understand you points regarding tradition, or 'the sprit of the game' if you like, but the game has changed since Hurst's 'goal' and Maradonna's hand of god, and changed quite considerable. These changes however have been predominantly off the pitch, and the game on it has remained relatively unchanged (apart from a few minor rules here and there).
With the amount of money now invested in the game it is mind boggling that one man can influence a game, and be the difference between millions, and tens of millions of pounds in prize money.
Take the money out of football and I would concur with your desire to keep the game as traditional as possible, but when the game is attracting hundreds of millions of pounds in investment and prize money, things need to change on the pitch as well.
posted on 20/11/12
As someone mentioned, there are decisions that fans can't agree upon even after watching 5 slow-mo replays from different angles.
I don't think technology will ever rid the game of controversy, but there are plenty of glaring cases that could be effectively dealt with without detracting from the game imo.
posted on 20/11/12
Exactly, we have seen the use of technology enhance Rugby, Cricket and Tennis is a hugely positive way and there is no obvious reason why if implemented with the nuances of football in mind, that it would not be successful also.
posted on 20/11/12
I was hoping the introduction of the 5th and 6th officials was going to resolve some of the issues in the box, but am yet to see one make a decision of any significance whatsoever.
posted on 20/11/12
^ I agree, as I stayed above it was a heat idea, but they do sod all.
posted on 20/11/12
"I was hoping the introduction of the 5th and 6th officials was going to resolve some of the issues in the box, but am yet to see one make a decision of any significance whatsoever."
Have they actually ever given a penalty? I can't honestly say I have ever seen them give a single decision.
I was thinking about this during the meeting I just had (it was a boring meeting!). The Zidane headbutt in the world cup final. Who actually saw it and gave it? Was it the fourth official? If it was, should it actually have been given as a foul?
Its a tenous link, but is related as it is the only decision I can think of that has happened that may not have been the referee or the assistant that did it, in which case my argument is pretty void seeing as external factors have already played a part (and in the biggest game in the world!)
posted on 20/11/12
These officials behind the goal seem to prevent actual penalties from being given because the ref always looks to them assuming they have seen it and they they never move a muscle, therefore the ref assumes there was no foul.
posted on 20/11/12
Yeah the extra officials are only supposed to be there for goal one decisions are they not? It's a shame because it really is a good idea, if they communicated in the same way linesman do, there would be far fewer incorrect decisions in the box.