Referees - publicly judged by fans and pundits but never their employers.

[BLUEAWAY]

There are times when the referees are right and fans and pundits are wrong but of course we are more interested when they get it wrong, which is all too often.
Sadly, getting it wrong is part of the game and seemingly accepted as so by the bodies that employ them.
Occasionally as per our Chelsea Match the mistakes are so bad that they are beyond any doubt and clear to all except the officials.
I am not surprised that the Premier League and FA doesn’t make any comments as they cannot defend the indefensible. If they did then the process would be never ending and each honest statement could be an admission of guilt or liability.
But they should be accountable and in most other businesses those at the top would pay for the failings of their employees.
So VAR is their solution. It seems, their only solution.
It will be interesting to see when decisions are reversed whether the referee or linesman was actually in a position to make the right decision and how often that is the case. Assuming that analysis occurs.

It will be interesting to see how many times VAR is used in a match and there will be debate about how many other times it could or should have been used in the match.

[Tuerto]

There are times when the referees are right and fans and pundits are wrong but of course we are more interested when they get it wrong, which is all too often.
Sadly, getting it wrong is part of the game and seemingly accepted as so by the bodies that employ them.
Occasionally as per our Chelsea Match the mistakes are so bad that they are beyond any doubt and clear to all except the officials.
I am not surprised that the Premier League and FA doesn’t make any comments as they cannot defend the indefensible. If they did then the process would be never ending and each honest statement could be an admission of guilt or liability.
But they should be accountable and in most other businesses those at the top would pay for the failings of their employees.
So VAR is their solution. It seems, their only solution.
It will be interesting to see when decisions are reversed whether the referee or linesman was actually in a position to make the right decision and how often that is the case. Assuming that analysis occurs.

It will be interesting to see how many times VAR is used in a match and there will be debate about how many other times it could or should have been used in the match.

I think they are judged by their employees, can't referees get demoted and taken off the list if they don't perform? VAR won't solve everything, referees will still miss things, players will become more cute and we'll be having a debate in a few years about VAR failing and how the Boys at the top should fit every player with a camera so that it can be re-run in order to detect foul play. I've been quite amused by the debate over poor refereeing on here, over the last month or so. I'm of the opinion that Referees will make mistakes, some worse than others, especially in the premier league where the game is played at a frantic pace at times. It doesn't bother me, the goal Chelsea scored is annoying, but that's all it is to me. There are certain things in life where i would like precision, things like Surgery, Engineering etc, Sport isn't one of those things and that's why it's so popular, Look at the Tyson Fury fight when Wilder pole axed him, did the referee give a slow count, Did he give Tyson extra time to get up and compose himself, should he have waved the fight off when Fury hit the deck because he looked clean out? All of those things and none of them, the point is that it was down to the referees discretion and he called it right in my opinion although there would be those who thought differently. I enjoy the controversy, the gamesmanship, the different levels of interpretation it's what makes Football so unique and i'm pretty happy with the way it is. In an age when older people call out the younger generation as having a sense of entitlement and use that hideous phrase 'Snowflake' couldn't the same comparisons be aimed at football fans in the modern era. I can't articulate anymore than saying, aren't we all getting a bit to serious about it all?

[Steve the Tea]

The problem is this: all those contentious incidents;
- the non penalty (Watford/h)
- the two non penalties for fouls on Morrison (Chelsea/h)
- the offside goal for Chelsea (Chelsea/h)
- the non sending off of Rudiger (Chelsea/h)
- the Burnley goal, both offside and the player being in the line of sight of Etheridge (Burnley/h) and
- the four penalty shouts (Burnley/a)
were almost all so obvious that to have to hide behind VAR compounds the state of the match day officials.

I don't think I can remember so many glaringly poor decisions in short order against one club. What happened in just those 3 games have not evened out this season. Either officials don't know the Laws or they are partial.

The umpire Dickie Bird didn't need to look at incidents over and over again. He almost always got decisions correct ... and at first sight.

StT.
<><

[bobh]

I think they are judged by their employees, can't referees get demoted and taken off the list if they don't perform? VAR won't solve everything, referees will still miss things, players will become more cute and we'll be having a debate in a few years about VAR failing and how the Boys at the top should fit every player with a camera so that it can be re-run in order to detect foul play. I've been quite amused by the debate over poor refereeing on here, over the last month or so. I'm of the opinion that Referees will make mistakes, some worse than others, especially in the premier league where the game is played at a frantic pace at times. It doesn't bother me, the goal Chelsea scored is annoying, but that's all it is to me. There are certain things in life where i would like precision, things like Surgery, Engineering etc, Sport isn't one of those things and that's why it's so popular, Look at the Tyson Fury fight when Wilder pole axed him, did the referee give a slow count, Did he give Tyson extra time to get up and compose himself, should he have waved the fight off when Fury hit the deck because he looked clean out? All of those things and none of them, the point is that it was down to the referees discretion and he called it right in my opinion although there would be those who thought differently. I enjoy the controversy, the gamesmanship, the different levels of interpretation it's what makes Football so unique and i'm pretty happy with the way it is. In an age when older people call out the younger generation as having a sense of entitlement and use that hideous phrase 'Snowflake' couldn't the same comparisons be aimed at football fans in the modern era. I can't articulate anymore than saying, aren't we all getting a bit to serious about it all?

Oh, come ON!

Refereeing in Britain today is appalling, not just the Premier League.

How many of 'our' refs were invited to officiate in the last world cup?

My daughter's bf is staying with us at the mo, agrees with Warnock's comments about 'worst officials' and he's a qualified ref.
He can't believe how some decisions are made, and agrees that it is crazy that the refs and FA close ranks when anyony speaks out against any of them.

He was even told at a ref seminar that it is best to be a bit "whistle-happy" to slow the game down as it makes the ref's job easier.


There should be a root and branch overhaul of the officialdom in this country to try to improve standards.

[the other bob wilson]

Decisions like the foul on Murphy in the Watford match, the offside Chelsea goal and the shirt tug by Gunnar in the same match are hardly matters of precision though are they. All three of those, and a few of the ones Steve lists above, are obviously wrong decisions - as I mentioned in the blog piece I did about officiating this week, all of these claims about the best league in the world ring hollow to me when the decision making by the officials can be so bad as not to notice obvious offsides. That Chelsea offside was the worst decision (or, to be more accurate, non decision) I've seen in professional football this season - I'll accept that people are human and can make mistakes, but that was inexcusable given the degree to which it was wrong

[Bluebina]

The problem is this: all those contentious incidents;
- the non penalty (Watford/h)
- the two non penalties for fouls on Morrison (Chelsea/h)
- the offside goal for Chelsea (Chelsea/h)
- the non sending off of Rudiger (Chelsea/h)
- the Burnley goal, both offside and the player being in the line of sight of Etheridge (Burnley/h) and
- the four penalty shouts (Burnley/a)
were almost all so obvious that to have to hide behind VAR compounds the state of the match day officials.

I don't think I can remember so many glaringly poor decisions in short order against one club. What happened in just those 3 games have not evened out this season. Either officials don't know the Laws or they are partial.

The umpire Dickie Bird didn't need to look at incidents over and over again. He almost always got decisions correct ... and at first sight.

StT.
<><

Barking up the wrong tree according to a lot of these, VAR won't change things, a lot of people think that the referees have made just as many mistakes for us, although the only one they mention is Brighton at home

[Bluebina]

There are times when the referees are right and fans and pundits are wrong but of course we are more interested when they get it wrong, which is all too often.
Sadly, getting it wrong is part of the game and seemingly accepted as so by the bodies that employ them.
Occasionally as per our Chelsea Match the mistakes are so bad that they are beyond any doubt and clear to all except the officials.
I am not surprised that the Premier League and FA doesn’t make any comments as they cannot defend the indefensible. If they did then the process would be never ending and each honest statement could be an admission of guilt or liability.
But they should be accountable and in most other businesses those at the top would pay for the failings of their employees.
So VAR is their solution. It seems, their only solution.
It will be interesting to see when decisions are reversed whether the referee or linesman was actually in a position to make the right decision and how often that is the case. Assuming that analysis occurs.

It will be interesting to see how many times VAR is used in a match and there will be debate about how many other times it could or should have been used in the match.

Can't wait for VAR, being the only Welsh team, and Neil Warnock team in the league has left us with some terrible decisions, that can just be put down to I didn't see it, although there could still be bias, I think it would be harder to justify.

Some of the decisions this season have been absolutely disgusting !!!

[Harry Monk]

Can't wait for VAR, being the only Welsh team, and Neil Warnock team in the league has left us with some terrible decisions, that can just be put down to I didn't see it, although there could still be bias, I think it would be harder to justify.

Some of the decisions this season have been absolutely disgusting !!!

VAR will kill off any remaining atmosphere at football grounds. If we stay up, I will give it one season to see how it goes, after that, if it's as I expect it to be, I'll be hanging up my season ticket at CCS for good.

[kendoddsdadsdogsdead]

VAR will kill off any remaining atmosphere at football grounds. If we stay up, I will give it one season to see how it goes, after that, if it's as I expect it to be, I'll be hanging up my season ticket at CCS for good.

...what will you do if we stay up...you don't like VAR..but we go down..back into the No VAR Championship?

[The Bob Banker Spanker]

What is the situation with VAR in the leagues below the PL?
Is there a plan to have VAR in the future?

[Harry Monk]

...what will you do if we stay up...you don't like VAR..but we go down..back into the No VAR Championship?

If we stay up, and it goes well, I'll stay. If it is sh1t, as I suspect it will be, I'll be watching Afan Lido. If we go down, there'll be no VAR so I'll stay.

[Harry Monk]

What is the situation with VAR in the leagues below the PL?
Is there a plan to have VAR in the future?

I suppose it will roll out eventually to The Cahmpionship - not sure there are sufficient arm chair fans for the lower leagues to get it. I don't think goal line technology has gone lower than Championship yet has it?