Whats wrong with football?

[Bob's Orange]

I hate to be "that guy", but it happens far less in rugby culturally and through the rules.

There will always be some degree of dissent of course. You lay down the law, and start dishing out reds and retrospective citing bans for referees and it stops from players. You have to do it consistently and permanently (rather than the normal 6 weeks).

The framework doesn't help, referees rarely give any kind of feedback on decisions and why they are given.

I actually watch a lot more rugby than I used to do and I love the fact that it's an absolutely brutally aggressive sport, but the referee in general is respected and I think is often called 'Sir' by the players. Obviously the video is very important in rugby also to make sure decisions are accurate but on the whole the man in charge lays down the letter of the law and his decision, almost all of the time is respected.

I think you are right Batch about the framework. Often football referees are seen as arrogant and simply won't explain their decisions to players. I think if there was more explanation, perhaps to the captains then players might not be so hot headed towards the man in the middle? 

[Nemo]

The mildly interesting thing is that Rugby Union is currently having something of an existential crisis about an increase in the abuse of refs - not on field, but after games in the media/online. Several active refs have basically said they've had enough of the whole thing and quit, which has led to a lot of reflection.

I honestly don't know why anyone would choose to be a football referee. There's not an amount of money you could pay me to make me want that job, and most of these people do it for absolute buttons (the Prem refs do okay, but still not that well off I don't think, but most below that level are part time).

There's an interesting psychological thing about ref mistakes - a player misses a chance or loses their man from a corner, they generally get brushed over. A ref misses a penalty in a split second, it's a huge conspiracy against your club and they should be nailed to the nearest cross. It's a weird one. Especially at our level where the players aren't very good, we seem constantly surprised that the refs aren't very good either.

[Mexicano Rojo]

And Brighton. Nobody really gives a fuck when we're in the shit.

Brighton offered us a fair bit of support around the time of diamandis, I remember a fair few of them wearing orange hats on the bank too

[Ƭ̵̬̊: The Artist Formerly Known as CWIG]

Brighton offered us a fair bit of support around the time of diamandis, I remember a fair few of them wearing orange hats on the bank too

Ah fair play. Don't remember that.

[Mexicano Rojo]

They actually gave us loads of advice having recently dealt with beloti/gilliingham/goldstone. still cunts for the play offs though

[Mexicano Rojo]

They actually gave us loads of advice having recently dealt with beloti/gilliingham/goldstone. still cunts for the play offs though

I ended up being invited onto the Albion roar their radio show - the first ever away fan, they were genuine decent fans in the main and had been through the mill, i still speak to them now and then,  they cant believe they are now playing in amsterdam etc, living every lower league football fans dream

[RobertT]

On the ref front, if the clubs really wanted it bad enough, good refs, then they should expect them to be as professional as their average player at least.  So, every club should pay a Ref Tax equal to the mean or median salary of their first team squad which should be used to fund refs wages for that division.

I loved the change earlier this season of dishing out yellows at eh merest hint of running towards the ref - the two players being booked for Crewe being a highlight as you could see it coming, and so could one of their players who was going to go then tried to put the brakes on and stop the others but the barreled past him.

[horlock07]

I'd fully support a ref strike. I think the way they are treated in the upper echelons of the game is disgusting.

Its really not just the upper echelons, its everywhere, our lass played a season in under 10's girls football (before she thankfully decided to sack it off for other things) and some of the parents and managers in that were ridiculous (including one coach who had a fecking white board for half time!!) exacerbated even more by the refs who people were being cunts to in the main being kids themselves!

I hate to be "that guy", but it happens far less in rugby culturally and through the rules.

I wonder whether micing up the refs might help a bit, being heard to call somebody a cunt might calm some of the more self aware players and managers down, similarly the whole sin bin thing might provide an easy way to deal with dissent and general cuntyness from players.

I think you are right Batch about the framework. Often football referees are seen as arrogant and simply won't explain their decisions to players. I think if there was more explanation, perhaps to the captains then players might not be so hot headed towards the man in the middle? 

Its really not helped by many of our most respected pundits not having a fucking clue about the rules and the way they are interpreted. Case in point was Shearer on the Rest is Football whining about the ref's decision for the late hand ball penalty in the Newcastle PSG game, yes it was a ridiculous decision and yes it wouldn't be given in the PL as they interpret the hand ball rule differently there, but it entirely reflected the way UEFA tell referee's to interpret the rules and thus was hand ball!

So, every club should pay a Ref Tax equal to the mean or median salary of their first team squad which should be used to fund refs wages for that division.

Nice idea, but not sure paying more would make much difference, as with most jobs high pay doesn't necessarily give you high quality, plus you would just have people like Shearer banging on about it needing to be former players!

[RobertT]

I wasn't suggesting it would actually change the level of talent at the top end, at least not overnight.  It would attract more people to get into the job though, and maybe improve the lower levels.

The real reason for suggesting is more the fact that top level clubs seem content to bash them in the media when their much higher earning talent makes plenty more fuck ups deserving of public criticism by the Managers.  If they won't do that (which they won't and they shouldn't), then shut the fuck up about some poor people doing a fucking difficult job.  if you are going to lambast them, at least make it worth their while.

[Legends Lounge Lovechild]

I wasn't suggesting it would actually change the level of talent at the top end, at least not overnight.  It would attract more people to get into the job though, and maybe improve the lower levels.

The real reason for suggesting is more the fact that top level clubs seem content to bash them in the media when their much higher earning talent makes plenty more fuck ups deserving of public criticism by the Managers.  If they won't do that (which they won't and they shouldn't), then shut the fuck up about some poor people doing a fucking difficult job.  if you are going to lambast them, at least make it worth their while.

agree with everythign there apart from sayingc"some poor people"
think that might be correct in relative terms to pro football players but pro level refs arnt poor relative to the poor man on the street
i dont know what poor might be to you or anyone else and what the gov says it is prob isnt worth listenign too
for me i think a prem level ref isnt poor unless they have an unhealhty drink/drugs habit, a champ one prob isnt too bad of eiver
league one and two refs prob make 300 per game  today but i think all pro refs get a retainer on top of that but you were talking about top level maybe you meant all four pro divisoins or just prem n champ?
abyway heres an articel on pro refs its f6 years oldbut that will only mean they earn more now
https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/how-much-referees-england-earn-14343911?

[Jimmy Quinn]

It looks like a concentration camp how an earth is that allowed🤔

[Audrey]

In archives released, Tony Blair was trying to get Wimbledon to relocate to Belfast before they moved to MK.

Great away day that would have been!

[4D]

So it was.

[Peter Venkman]

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/25190083/wrexham-news-reynolds-mcelhenney-money-gamble/

[Wobbly Bob]

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/25190083/wrexham-news-reynolds-mcelhenney-money-gamble/

Sun links don't work.
Must be a rogue admin in the house.