h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Anyone else feel that refereeing this season has benn below par to say the least?

I feel sooooo sorry for Tugay. Probably a penalty but how on earth is that a sending off?

Monsuier Poll seems to think he is the star of the show, and Mike "chester United" Riley sucks as ever.

Crikey......

I'm not sure if it's any better or any worse this season than before. With my Everton hat on, we've had some shockers in our favour (pen v Watford) and against us (Newcastle's 'goal' - so far offside they barely bothered putting it in the net, McFadden's straight red).

I do object to the FIFA directive that says that short, quick, baldy strikers called Andy are not entitled to penalties, and to Graham "three yellows" Poll....

One of my reasons for wishing England the very best in the last World Cup was because if they had made the final, it would have denied Poll the crowning glory of his career. And then he went and fncked that up all by himself

Any of you ever tried officiating at a sporting event? It is a LOT harder than it looks!

Any of you got a better idea? We should stop having a go at them until there is a feasible alternative - the days when all decisions could be agreed between the two team captains are LONG gone! I don't think that any of the British officials are on the take (unlike a very small minority on mainland Europe) and they are only human!

We had a dire Ref on Saturday. Fair enough he sends off our keeper for handling outside the box. But when Gretna's keeper did the same just a free kick no card and when he awarded the penalty when the last defender brought down our attacker nae card either. Inconsistancy supreme. We started up a chant of 'When are you eloping Ref'.

Yes, in my years as manager of Greenbank Wanderers I probably had to officiate about five times, and yes I agree it is both hard and hellish.

However what I am objecting to is the seeimg "star of the show" thing that some of these Refs have going. Particularly Mike Riley, Graham Poll and Rob Styles.

My fellow fans love me hurling abuse at the refs. As someone who has held refereeing badges I sometimes shout out regulation numbers that the ref appears to have been ignored, if he is close enough.

The last couple of weeks at the Ricoh we've had two consistant refs - and that is my bug-bear - inconsistency.

Admittedly one of the two was consistently bad and wrong, but at least he was consistent.

One of the problems with the Premier League is the arrogance of the players, and of some of the referees- the players offer no assistance to the referees, who have tod develop an ego to match the players in order to assert any kind of authority over the millionaires playing the games.

The level of football I attend the most these days is Conference North where I follow the troubled side Lancaster City. There was one match earlier thisa season where the players, fans and officials all ended up in the same bar of the clubhouse, as the other one had been hired out for a wedding. The players (of both sides) and the fans had queried some of the referee's decisions. But no-one was over argumentative or confrontational,. and the referee and linesmen were at one point having a chat with Neil Prince of Hyde and Ryan Zico Black of LAncaster, explaining why the match had been abandoned, and why they had made certain decisions. And it was fine.

The problem is that the higher up you get in football, the more money and the more it maters. The players don't respect the referees, and as a result the referees feel a need to assert their authority and personality in order to bring the cheating, argumentative millionaires to order.

Yes, consistency would be nice, but it's never going to happen. And the problems is that somewhere between 22 millionaires and 30,000 paying punters, that isn't appreciated, and referees are the subject of some astonishing abuse.

I was at Goodison Park for Graham Poll's performance in the EVrton-Arsenal game and I was as furious as anyone else. His performance was terrible, and I'm not sure he should be on UEFA's elite list. But as questionable as his personality aqnd ability may be, he's a human being. If I fk something up at work, I don't expect to be shouted and sworn at and, if I am, I report the person whose done it. SO why shoudl referees have to put up with it?

If I abuse someone at my work the way that Wayne Rooney abuses referees, or even the way McFadden spoke to Poll, I'd get sacked, or at least severely disciplined. These spoilt millionaires are defended by their managers.

There was a point to all these ramblings, but I forget what it was.

And referees get worse treatment than verbal abuse - try several well documented cases of serious physical assault.

I've officiated in two different sports (neither of them football - though I did run the line once years and years ago). It is difficult - I just can't process what I'm seeing fast enough, so I try to get out of reffing whenever possible.

I don't approve of swearing at referees, but I think there is a difference between swearing at a ref and swearing at work. My work isn't physical and doesn't involve much conflict. It doesn't require the production of adrenalin. So there's little excuse for me swearing at a work colleague. In sports, there isn't an excuse either, but there is mitigating circumstances to some extent because it *requires* people to get hyped up.

My objection to the McFadden/Poll incident is about inconsistency. Surely he's not the only player to have sworn at Poll this season? Yet the only one to get a straight red. It's one rule for some and another for others. I find it hard to believe that whatever McFadden said was much worse than one of Rooney's tirades.

I thought that Referee's this season were supposed to be coming down hard on ALL players that verbally or otherwise abuse referees. ut I agree with the point on Inconsistency. If the referees are supposed to act, then they should act with equality to all players, be they Manchester United or otherwise. Rooney should have been carded or sent of on a number of occasions for abusing refs, but for him the press call it 'passion'. Other players can look at a ref the wrong way and be deemed to be abusive and sent off. All of this is not helped by most managers who either claim the ref was out of order (even when the decision was right) or claim not to have see the incdent.

Thnking about it, maybe referees would be more consistent if the players and press stopped making issues out of all decsions, and had more respect for the man in Black (or yellow). There were a couple of controversial deciaions in the Rugby Union at the weekend, but i cant remember the ref coming in for much critisism from players, managers or the press.

That's a good point. My flatmate's an amateur ref, and he tells me that even if he calls a foul legitimately then kids as young as 12 (and their parents) are hurling abuse at him. The lack of respect from players must add an extra degree of pressure which in turn leads to more inconsistancy.

At least at this level the refs are protected, reffing at park level I've been threatened with being glassed for giving an offside decision.

I've stood on the side lines watching a ref being harrassed by players following a decision, and I notice how many refs back away from the players, or attempt to reason with a mob of howling gesticulating apes. I would stand my ground and red card any player who touched me.

I can't see the point of carding players for swearing, however if its abuse, then yes, straight away, I think managers will stop defending their tempremental stars when they're constantly suspended. Who knows even Arsene might actually see something.

The worst abuse I ever got as a ref was when I had to step in as a late replacement for the team I was assistant manager for, to ensure the match went ahead. The abuse came from my own guys, particulary when I disallowed a goal for a foul on the keeper. Possibly I was overcompenstating and being particularly harsh on them and lenient on the opposition, but because they knew me some of the abuse was a little more personal than normal.

It depends on the situation, someone swearing out of frustratio at no one in particular i would class as acceptable(even if it isnt a great example but i am guilty of it myself) but swearin directly at a ref eg that was never F-ing offside, for F's sake, i would class as worthy of at least a warning by the ref and direct abuse eg you f-ing [expleteive deleted} should be straiight red. If this happened though Rooney would only play every fourth games after the number of 3 match suspensions hed pick up.