Last Sunday's Charity Shield between Portsmouth and Manchester United saw the start of a new FA initiative in England called "Respect the Ref!" The initiative is designed to help all those busybody, math teacher types that like to exert their authority on the field behind the pub on a Sunday morning. OK, maybe I need to read about the FA's new program myself!
Apparently out-of-shape hoofers in Huddersfield, hammer-toed Henry wannabes and Rochdale's population of rotund Ronaldos are not being very nice to the officials!
According to the FA, showing a yellow card should not warrant a punch in the face or a mouthful from some gobby chav who thinks he is the next Fernando Torres. Bigus used to aim for the realistic, imagining he was Peter Thorne, what?.. He scores goals! Lot's of em actually, just in League 2!
If you click here I will transport you to the wonderful world of 'respect' (or stay here and I'll tell you about it! Stay, it's more interesting!), where you can discover the following directives...
- Referee recruitment and retention: By tackling abuse towards match officials, we hope to reduce the stream of referees understandably leaving the game.
- Participation within youth football: Abuse and pressure from the sidelines needs to stop if we are to ensure young children enjoy, stay and progress in the game.
- Coaching and player development: An encouraging and player-centred approach is vital if we are to improve coaching standards - particularly for the key 5-11 age-group. It's simple: better coaches produce better players.
- Safeguarding children: Everyone in football has a duty of care towards children - ensuring they are able to play football in a safe, enjoyable environment free of abuse, bullying and discrimination.
Pretty good stuff, but (there is always one!) the FA have brought these directives to the professional game and that's where it's a bit of a joke.
On Sunday the game was stopped by referee Peter Walton and he summoned the captains of each side over for a chin wag. Part of the new initiative. What a waste of time.
Do we really need these stoppages in the game? I understand that Sunday morning Silva is watching and taking his lead from the professionals on the pitch but stopping the game every five minutes because you are called a 'prat' or asked to 'open your eyes' is just nuts.
A bit of banter with the ref is impossible to avoid unless, of course, the FA want to remove the passion from the game entirely. So the captains come over, the ref (Walton pictured right) asks them to talk to their players about their 'attitude' and then the captains do this and then we play football again. Jeesh, It's going to drive you nuts this season. You wait and see!
If the FA wants it's ref's to be treated with respect then maybe they should do likewise and make them professional, allowing them to spend the week getting better at their weekend jobs instead of delivering my mail or arresting Asbo yobs in the town center or running failed companies.
Referees hold the hopes and dreams of football supporters everywhere and constantly make dreadful decisions that ruin long days out up and down the country, not to mention stealing valuable points away! The FA needs to recognize this and make Mr Walton and co turn fully professional; then, just maybe, the decisions on the pitch will improve and Mr Clattenberg, Mr Rennie and Mr Poll will no longer be subject to questioning on the existence of their fathers or directed to the nearest optician every week by players and supporters.
Respect? Pah..Earn it!
- Bigus
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15 comments:
How is anyone going to take "Respect' seriously when the first thought in their head is 'Ali G'?
I do like the switch from red cards to red circular cards, though
Designed for fat footballers like Lampard and Reid
Designed for fat footballers like Lampard and Reid
Sorry for the post explosion above. I got excitd!
excited even...
maybe theyd respect referees if they were good at their job. like awarding penalties correctly (liege got one today for a handball that was CLEARLY out of the box, luckily it was saved). or god forbid not stopping play in stoppage time when nani fakes being hurt again. or maybe enforce the free kick rules. or maybe dont call offsides from a fucking throw in, i see that happen several times a year.
fuck the referees, most of them are horrid
Georger again with the anger. We need to stop commenting while UF gives him a 'chin wag,' whatever the fuck that is.
oh im not angry about it, its just ridiculous that instead of trying to fix refereeing the FA just says its the players that are the problem and they need to respect their authority. am i still bitter about mascherano's bullshit sending off against united? yes
what i AM angry about is how bad liverpool have looked tonight. ugh.
Georger: my heavily-medicated thoughts are simple...
- we were shit
- we didn't lose
- we're still in preseason
- we're at home in the 2nd leg
- Liege missed a ton of incredible chances, yet we're at 0-0
- we'll have some lads back from the olympics for the next one
Arsenal didn't look all that good either, apparently. But, when you're going against Second-Choice Stevie, how bad do you have to play to actually lose? Unless of course you're England.
Quit whining Georger. You could be a Norwich fan!
A 'chin-wag' is a chat.
im not saying every single referee is horrible, there are good ones, but there have been far too many horrible refereeing incidents in the last few years. and im not the only one who thinks this, referees dont get suspended, sent home from tournaments, and forced into retirement because the fans think they suck.
theyre job is incredibly difficult and they face a ton of scrutiny, sometimes unfairly given the nature of the game. you dont want that, dont fucking become a referee, its not like this is a new thing. however instead of making changes to the system the FA just seems to be saying that the players need to see the referees as unquestionable. players should be allowed to argue with the referees. they shouldnt be allowed to curse at them, lay hands on them, spit on them, or waste a significant amount of time. but the players are under even more pressure (granted you may not understand this as you arent playing under the FA rules, but i think we can probably agree on this one right?) and should not be expected to put a lid on it at all times.
to the FA's credit they did want to use the hawkeye technology to resolve goal line disputes, but FIFA killed that for no good reason. they may have to settle now for the behind the net assistant (a ridiculously dumb idea). but there is no reason for not introducing instant replay for all penalties awarded, even if its just for something like seeing if a foul was outside of the box or if a handball was truley a handball. theyll give the excuse that it takes too much time. but when you have injury feigning running rampant and goal celebrations lasting over a minute, that doesnt hold water at all.
there ought to be limits on how much crap the players should be allowed to give the refs, but the FA should not try to put the refs into a bubble without trying to make changes to how games are officiated. there are some seriously horrid officials in england (doesnt stop there obviously) and to expect players to take decisions as gospel is ludicrous
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