30 Apr 2021 22:09:47
ExRef, would be interested what your view is on saints sending off.
01 May 2021 11:52:53
If a professional footballer can’t put his foot on the ball then pass it sideways or to the next nearest player he doesn’t deserve to be on the pitch in the first place, lack of consecration followed by a reckless challenge with no concern for his opponent (even if it was Jamie Vardy) - thought his team mates done alright without him.
01 May 2021 16:31:08
Wombourneron
These things are always based upon “in the opinion of the referee “ I must admit that personally I would have sent him for an early bath. Looking at it once there appeared to be a jump toward the opponent be it with one leg. I’m saying this based upon real time viewing.
In slow motion whether he gets a touch on the ball or not he certainly takes Vardy’s leg with the follow through.
It’s interesting that commentators have all become referees since slow motion and particularly VAR has come to the fore. In my day before VAR there would be arguments and opinion but overall the refs opinion was the deciding factor right or wrong. What’s happening today is that opinion is being second guessed by VAR officials as well as pundits and fans.
01 May 2021 17:40:16
That wouldn't be a sending off in a million years 20 years ago. So your saying when he tackles for the ball he has to account for the opposition player who don't get anywhere near it. If that's the way you think it should be GOD help the game.
01 May 2021 18:31:30
Created his own problem by taking his eye off the ball, give the ref a decision to make in today’s football and the outcome’s 50/ 50.
01 May 2021 18:39:06
Haven't seen this one but what about the Balbuena one where the VAR decision has been over turned.
So they are saying that despite having watched every angle and taking all the time they want 2 refs still got it wrong.
Maybe we need a VARR - Video assistant referee reviewer - another ref who can correct the numerous clear and obvious errors that sadly still proliferate in the game. Then of course we would need a VARRR. To eradicate the errors that the VARR made.
Repeat Ad Nauseum!
01 May 2021 18:57:42
Tks Ref and noddy.
When I was playing some 50 yrs ago it would have been classed as a great match saving or winning tackle. The way the game is going it will be played under 5 a side rules No tackling etc. IMO the game is being ruined.
01 May 2021 19:43:05
Been thinking about this follow through rule - the safety of players etc. All admirable and of course player safety is paramount. However here is a alternative view. Perhaps in cases like the Balbuena case one could argue that it is the opponent, in this case the Chelsea player, that has caused the clash by "closing down too aggressively"
Squash - another sport that has better thought out and applied rules than football that bizarrely despite having by far the most money is the least well run sport of them all - looks at this situation and opines, under what I think is called the "fair view" rule, thus:
If player A swings hits the ball AND player B with his Racquet then the foul is decided as follows:
If Player B is hit within the normal swing of a player then player B is penalised. If Player A's swing is not normal (a normal swing is I accept/ assume a debating point - squash players do you know better? ) then player A is penalised.
Surely this would allow players to kick the ball but not wildly follow through out of control, which is what we actually want. I fail to see who (other it would appear than two refs) would have thought that Balbuena was playing the ball in an uncontrolled fashion. Contact was made as the defender ( the Chelsea player) inserted their leg into Balbuenas swing/ space and thus could be said to have instigated the contact and thus made the foul.
If the Chelsea player was standing behind the West Ham player and was caught by the WH player's leg on his back swing who would have been deemed to have committed the foul?
Surely the Chelsea player? So why isn't it a foul on the follow through swing?
Interesting?
Or sadly was the decision merely big 6 team needs help against non big 6 team.
01 May 2021 20:23:25
Noddy
I don’t disagree that 20years ago it would not even have been a caution. If you recall players such as Eddie Clamp or even after Tommy Smith or Norman Hunter challenges were hard and not fit the squeamish .
However the game and equipment have changed over the years as play became quicker and the “continental “ style infiltrated the UK game and with the Premier League and the money attracted so called ball playing defenders.
The constant calls for professional officials has now led to full time and very lucrative jobs for the top referees.
It was always suggested that professional officials would improve the game. Do you or others think this is so it that technology in the form of VAR has improved the game!
We all have an opinion which makes for good discussion.
01 May 2021 20:56:50
Ex, I am all for professional officials. No offence but I would like to see ex players in those jobs. I suppose bias would be a problem though!
02 May 2021 13:29:31
There have been several ex players who were to become referees. Steve Bains ex Huddersfield Town, Bob Mathewson ex Bolton Wanderers and John Lloyd ex Wrexham all became Football League Officials,
Bob refereed the Charity Shield in 1974.
What you have to remember is that even if they get a leg up the ladder they have to go through training and assessment to reach the different levels and getting to the top level takes time. Despite these guys doing well I know of several ex players who took referees courses but never made it! The critics who shout for ex players to be referees forget the amount of time and effort the officials put into their careers. It takes many years to become one of the elite level officials. Most have, of course, played the game and love it just like the guys turning out every Saturday and Sunday in local leagues. I referred in Wolverhampton works, Wolverhampton Sunday, Wolverhampton Amateur, West Midlands League and Festival League before moving on to The Professional Leagues and finally Football League. It took me from teenager to late 40’s and enjoyed every minute despite being the “b@/ / (-£& in the black†to thousands 😂.
02 May 2021 14:53:21
The trends in football suggest that in a few years it will be a non-contact sport, so very different from the game I played and watched. I think that professional fouls and diving should be penalised by a 10 minute sin-bin.
02 May 2021 16:54:10
Wimborne - good idea. It works well in Rugby. Think of the home game versus West Ham if this rule had been in place they would have played much of the match with 10 or even less as they, as so many sides do, use the off the ball or professional foul as a defensive strategy in the same way Arsenal used to use the offside trap (except of course that was perfectly legal! ) .
If you recall Noble wasn't even booked for taking a wolves player out with a rugby tackle 30 metres away from the ball to stop the Wolves player supporting a break, as another West Ham player was booked for taking out the Wolves player on the ball in the very same break with a professional foul.
We got a free kick 40m from goal of no use what so ever so once again the ref is forced to benefit the cheat and not the cheated.
No wonder the national side fails so badly when in international soccer the game is played to totally different rules.
02 May 2021 21:52:50
Didn`t realise it took so long to make it to the top Ref.
Did you ever ref down the Mol`?