A Refereeing Nightmare

I like most football fans sat down to watch the English Premier league match of the weekend, Saturday lunch time saw Chelsea play host’s to London rivals Arsenal and this game had all the ingredients for a superb afternoon of football. It was Arsene Wenger’s 1000th game as Arsenal Manager and his side needed to win to keep the pressure on their rivals who are at the top of the table. The man in charge of the teams was referee Andre Mariner. Little we're we all to know at kick off what was to unfold over the next ninety minutes. A refereeing decision that I have never seen and hope never to see again, threw the whole game into turmoil after fifteen minutes. Let me below try and shed some light on the whole situation and maybe suggest a way forward so as to never have to witness a refereeing blunder of this magnitude again.

When Alex Oxlade Chamberlain handled the ball, in my opinion the referee did not actually see it. I feel someone whispered in his ear to let him know. I am thinking it was the fourth official or the assistant referee on the dug outs side, as both of them would have been looking in from an angle that would have had the best view. A lot of people said that the Arsenal player did not stop an obvious goal scoring opportunity and therefore should not have received a red card. Well that argument is total nonsense as Chamberlain did not know where he was standing, and with his dive, he was obviously trying to stop a goal been scored. In my opinion the officials got the penalty 100% correct and yes also the red card. What happened next was just mental. How Andre could single out Gibbs and send him off, beggars belief. When Andre sent off Gibbs, it enforced in my mind that the referee was been prompted by a second party as to what to do, and the second party got it totally wrong.

So where do we go from here to make sure it never happens again. Well in my opinion it is time for the premier league to introduce officials behind the goal. This would have been a perfect solution on Saturday as the guy behind the goal would have been nearest to the incident and I am sure he would have given the referee the correct information to send off the right player. I do not want to see TV technology introduced as this could be a disaster further down the road. I actually heard Henry Winter on radio today at lunchtime saying it was time to embrace technology, but this road is not one I would like to go down. I also heard this evening that Andre Mariner will be refereeing this week in the premier league, which strengthens my case that it was not him that made the error in sending off Gibbs but the official who was in his ear. All in all it was a disaster and no referee should ever have to go through that again. I really do feel from the start of next season the extra officials should be used. It would save an awful lot of heartache for players, managers and especially referees. Until next week enjoy your football.  

Players are out of Order

Last weekend there was a lot of controversy around the country in the beautiful game. So many talking points I was thinking about doing an incident of the week, like they do for goal of the week. But if I was to write about every incident that I witnessed last weekend I would still be writing this blog on Christmas Eve. So what I have decided to do is pick two and concentrate my opinions on those two.The decisions I want to talk to you about are two of the worse things I have seen on a football pitch in many a long day. George Boyd and Chelsea's Ramires get my undivided attention for the next few hundred words.

First up is the issue that occurred during the Hull City v Man.City game. It all stems around a dive by Hull City player George Boyd in the penalty area. As the ball was played through and Joe Hart came out to block any scoring chance by Boyd, the Hull player anticipated a tackle from Hart which did not come and he was made look a fool by taking a dive. All hell was to break loose and Hart and Boyd squared up to each other, the England goalkeeper was fuming that Boyd had tried to con, yes con the referee into giving a penalty. What was to happen next, was unbelievable. Boyd was seen clearly aim a spit at Joe Hart. This in my opinion is a disgusting low life thing to do in any walk of life never mind a football field.Joe Hart showed great strength not to retaliate, as if that was to happen on any street up and down the country, Boyd in my opinion would have been chinned. I do hope the FA throw the book at him and give him a lengthy ban. There is no place in our beautiful game for scumbag behavior like that on a football field.

Let me now move on to Villa Park and talk about the horrific tackle by Ramires on El Ahmadi. Oh sorry before I start can I just congratulate Villa on a tremendous win on Saturday evening.Villa Park was rocking. The controversy that followed the Ramires tackle took centre stage and Villa's great victory was lost in the fall out. Let me just say that the Chelsea players tackle was the worst seen on a football field in England for a long long time.How the Villa player did not suffer a leg break is a miracle. Luckily enough he will be ok and will return to the field soon. Now this is where my blood pressure rocketed after the game, Jose Mourinho got himself centre stage once again by entering the field of play to talk to Chris Foy. In fact what the self promotional Mourinho was up to was deflect the attention away from an horrific tackle and bring all the attention on himself. There are times I wonder was Mourinho a spoilt child as he was growing up because he always loves to bring the attention on to himself. He called himself the special one once but I didn't buy it then and I don't buy it now. He nor Chelsea have apologized for the incident, instead they are pointing the finger at referee Chris Foy. In my opinion the FA should ban Ramires for at least four games and ban Mourinho and also hit him with a huge fine. This Mourinho guy needs to be reeled in and thought a lesson but I just wonder have the FA got the balls to do it. Until next week, enjoy your football and stay safe.

Fair Play for the Underdog

When the draw is made for a cup match and the lower league teams draw a big fish, the excitement level that engulfs the underdog and its town becomes fever pitch. They partake in these games with the hope of causing a big cup shock and hitting the headlines all around the world. It brings huge interest in their club and town. I for one, love a cup upset and all the excitement it brings. Just a few things need to be in place on the day and anything can happen. What is required by the underdog is for them to turn up and give 110% and maybe just catch the favourites on a bad day. One other ingredient is, the big decisions in the game on the day need to go in favour of the lesser side.

Last Sunday I just happened to tune into Glasgow Rangers v Albion Rovers in the Scottish Cup. I have to admit it was not a game I planned to watch, but when Rovers took a shock lead after thirteen minutes from a Ciaran Donnelly shot, I have to admit I decided to stick with it. The ingredients were in the pot & a major cup shock was on the cards. Ally McCoist was surely rattled and tried everything tactically to turn it around. Rovers defended so well for the rest of the game as they truly believed they were going to cause a huge shock. Then with thirteen minutes left, a speculative long high ball in to the Albion box caused me to jump from my seat in disgust at what I had witnessed. Bilel Mohani challenged the Albion Rovers goalkeeper for a high ball and totally bundled the keeper over the line. Surely a foul I thought and looked to the referee for a free kick. Unbelievably referee John Beaton pointed to the half way line for a goal. It was an awful decision by the official. The goalkeeper had been clearly fouled and the referee got it totally wrong. Now I know keepers over the past few years have been over protected by referees but this decision was incredible. I was glad in the end that Rovers kept their heads and held out for a draw because they could have reacted to the referee’s howler and lost concentration. 

So in the big scheme of things it was a great result for the underdog. They will get to play the Ibrox outfit again and as I said earlier it takes everything to fall into place for the minnow to progress in these big competitions. But most of all it requires the referees to get the big decisions correct on the day. John Beaton got it horribly wrong on Sunday and in the end took that glorious moment of triumph from a Rovers side, who in my opinion deserved to win. They took the early lead and defended tremendously up until the point when Rangers equalised.

How many times over the years have we seen the underdog score early and then hang on, when doing more than is required for all the bits to fall into place in a cup shock?

Never a Hand Ball

The big talking point over the past weekend in the football world was all about the Alan Pardew head butt in the game between Hull City and Newcastle United. Now I will say I thought I had seen everything in football but this was just fall off the chair stuff. Incredible scenes and when the FA deal with it I hope a long ban is on its way to Mr Pardew, because issues like this should not get anywhere near a football pitch. In fact it is like talking about chucking out time at the local boozer on a Saturday night. In a lot of those cases,the judges hand down huge fines and even sometimes lead to prison sentences. So well done Alan for dragging the beautiful game through the mud over the past few days.

Whilst all the nonsense was going on at Hull, one huge decision that could have a direct effect on who is going to win this years premier league was unfolding. As we all know Arsenal always seem to struggle when they visit the Brittania stadium and this game was no different. Whatever the reason the Gunners always seem to struggle playing against an up and at them team like Stoke. But when referee Mike Jones gave a penalty for the home side I could not believe my eyes. He gave the penalty for hand ball and I have to say it was one of the worst decisions I have seen in a long time. The reason I am saying this is that to give a decision either inside or outside the box for hand ball,the player must handle the ball deliberately and in my opinion the Arsenal player did not deliberately handle the ball in fact he was falling backwards when contact was made with the ball on a high bounce. Absolutely awful decision by the official cost Arsenal the points and in turn could have cost them a real shout for this years premier league.

Another incident in this game also saw Charlie Adam stamp on Giroud, the Stoke player should have seen red for this challenge as I feel Adam knew exactly what he was doing. So all in all it was a bad day for Arsenal but and even worse day for referee Mike Jones. Now as you all know I will defend a referee all day long if he gets most things right,but when it comes to big decisions which may cost teams matches and possible championships I have to say my piece.

The incident at Hull overshadowed what happened at Stoke. I feel the FA must take action over the Charlie Adam stamp and I also feel Mr Jones should have next weekend off for his awful display in that match. It is the only way we can get referees up to the highest standard possible and if they do wrong on big game changing calls they should have a week off to understand where they went wrong,so,as it hopefully will not happen again. Until the next time keep enjoying the games.