When the referee simply isn't good enough

[Merv]

I have moaned loads about referees giving wrong decisions in the past but I am wise enough to understand that over a season all those dubious decisions do level themselves out. One week you don’t get an obvious penalty, the next week you are awarded an iffy one. You concede an off-side goal at one end of the park and then often equalise at the other end with an equally poor decision. That’s football. That’s life.

 

But sometimes a referee isn’t just guilty of getting the split second decisions wrong, he is guilty of getting the obvious, in your face, right in front of you decision wrong. And the result is absolutely disastrous. Mr Fitch, the official in charge at Witham today, fell squarely into this second category. The game was abandoned not because one player head-butted another, not because one fan hurled abuse at some opposing players, not because it all went off in the tunnel… no. The game was abandoned because Mr Fitch never, ever got a hold of it and let the players know that he was the boss, he was in charge and he could be relied upon to make the right decisions.

 

From just after the game kicked off we could see obvious decisions going the wrong way, for both teams. The assistant referees contributed nothing and simply pointed their flags the way the ref told them to. Canvey forwards were being hustled off the ball, dragged to the ground and generally manhandled but the man in black saw none of it. But when Colin Wall was head-butted everyone in the ground saw it. In fact, to his credit, Mr Fitch saw it. Players started to lump into each other and the three officials tried to break things up. Ugly, but it happens. What we then saw was the referee give yellow cards to all and sundry but, unbelievably, no red card to anybody.

 

How can head-butting an opponent be a yellow card offence? Either the ref didn’t see it and no foul is given or he did and the red card is given automatically. Even the Witham fans I spoke to had to agree. This was the point where the ref completely lost any respect or control. From here on in it was going to be a free for all. Luckily, the half-time whistle went and the players all made a bee-line for the tunnel. What an ugly sight! Players fighting, fans fighting and even officials of WTFC getting stuck in.

 

We waited for the second half to start, all of us swapping stories and anecdotes about what we had just witnessed and then we were told that the referee had abandoned the game. Then we were told that he was reconsidering. Then we were told it was off again. Typical, the man’s middle name must be Procrastination. He couldn’t even get this decision right without having umpteen attempts at it.

 

So we left the ground just as the police started to arrive. No mention of a refund on admission charge, no mention about whether the result would stand and, most importantly, no mention about why this man is still on the referees list.

 

[Guest MOB Snr]

Sometimes people put a lot of crap on here, not this time though Merv, bang on everyword.

 

There must be a way that poor officials can be properly challenged, this game was to much for this ref?

[thomarocky]

Have our Canvey Officials been told yet what is likely to happen regarding the result, a replay and refunds. What a disgrace that referee was.

[Guest MOB Snr]

No refund!

 

FA Law 7

Abandoned Match

 

An abandoned match is replayed unless the competition rules provide otherwise.

 

I believe when that happened at Tilbury the result stood!

[canveyspur]

Merv yet again you are spot on. The incident at half time was caused by the Witham number 10, i dont care what his name is. He may have bean upset about the headbutting claim and the yellow card, but he was lucky the ref missed his elbow shortly after. As the whistle went he ran from the field of play down the cage where he was shouted at by some Canvey fans. He then acted like a monkey trying to climb the fence and swinging his fists he also kicked and punched the fence breaking it(if anybody at Witham do not believe me have a look for yourselves, its at the top right hand corner). He was then joined by i think, the number 6 who also tried punching thin air as he also couldn't get over the fence. I do not know what would have happened if either or both had managed to get to the supporters we can only guess. I for one would not want a player like that playing for Canvey, i hope the F.A. official who was standing about 5 feet away also witnessed this, unlike the Witham supporters i spoke to who didnt seem to see a thing.

[Matt H]

Reply on the Isthmian fans forum:

 

Quote:

Selected story from Canvey, there was no head butt their man cheated. Dived to the floor when a player was no where near him. Their keeper also dived to the floor seconds before it kicked off, but as soon as it did, he ran like a sprinter in the olympics to get involved. They also forgot to mention the Canvey supporters fighting with the Witham team.

[Canvey Fan 1926]

This isn't the first time something like this has happened in our league this season. I seem to remember at least 2 other games being mentioned on hear where something has kicked off.

 

Is it all down to bad officials, or are the clubs partly to blame? If its the first, then something really needs to be done about it; the league can't just let it get worse or every other match will be being abandoned. If its the latter then, again, the league must do something about it.

 

It sounds like it was a rather bad day out, was the match itself (or what was played of it) any good? What was the score at half-time? I can's seem to see it mentioned.

[Matt H]

We were winning 1-0. Ryan Edgar scored.

[Scuba Steve]

The ref completely lost it today he simply isn't good enough to ref at this or any other level. The fouls that the Witham defenders were getting away with were unbelievable.The linesman was a total waste of space was not up with the game at any point in the first half. As or the goings on by the tunnel all we heard as we got there was that their no. 10 had climbed the cage a was punching at the canvey fans, that then finished and then their chairman started and at one point said he had been punched by a canvey fan (crap) his wife was by him all the time and i think she would have had something to say if it had of happened.

All this was a direct result of the ref and the other officials not doing their job and sending off the guy who threw the head at colin.

[Canvey Fan 1926]

Hopefully the score will stand. Although, I cannot see it somehow.

[Matt H]

The score won't stand, we'll now have to go up there on a Tuesday night and watch those monkeys attempt sport.

[Guest MOB Snr]

If the ref at the first sign of trouble awards a foul and warns the players firmly nothing else happens, this guy seemed too close to the Withan players calling them by their first names and not pulling them up on heavy challenges.

 

If the ref does not protect players they have to protect themselves.

 

I saw a 15 year old lad ref a mens game last week, a bit of aggro happened he stopped the play, told the captain to sort out his player or he was off, the captain done the rest!

[towner boy]

stop moaning

 

[Scuba Steve]

towner boy what are you on about stop moaning you know nothing about what went on so go back to your own page

[Canvey Fan 1926]

Originally Posted By: towner boy

stop moaning

If you don't like it, don't come on here. Its a Canvey Forum, for Canvey fans. Nobody asked you to visit us.

[Mini Goose]

Seems likie total mayhem. Whats more annoying is when you are 1-0 up and your the away team.

 

Any idea when abouts this game will be replayed?

 

[Muppetus Galacticus]

Originally Posted By: Mini-Goose93

Any idea when abouts this game will be replayed?

By the sounds of it I hope it's not in the near-future when the memories are still fresh for all involved.

What an absolute farce though. What will it take for the officiating situation, at all levels really, to get sorted and treated like the problem that it is?

[Scuba Steve]

i know people say we can't blame everything on the oficials but this set were totally incompetent and i hope if there was an assessor there they will be taken off of the list of approved officials. There are some very good teams in this division and i for one think they deserve better.

[Merv]

Originally Posted By: towner boy

stop moaning

I don't think you fully understand the sentiment behind my original posting. I went to some lengths to point out that over the course of a season decisions either go for you or against you but eventually, they cancel each other out.

On this occasion I was making a plea on behalf of all teams up and down the league; officials who have no ability to control a game should be given further training opportunities and the error of their ways pointed out. If this still doesn't work they should be thanked for their previous contribution and then asked to stand down.

Remember we were winning this game (and never in any danger of losing it) so no moans from me about wrong off-sides or corners instead of goal kicks. We didn't just lose a point or two, the whole game was lost and the Canvey fans lost a collective £700 or so in admission money in the process.

[samuelsmiles]

Originally Posted By: Muppetus_G

Originally Posted By: Mini-Goose93

Any idea when abouts this game will be replayed?

By the sounds of it I hope it's not in the near-future when the memories are still fresh for all involved.

What an absolute farce though. What will it take for the officiating situation, at all levels really, to get sorted and treated like the problem that it is?

When the referees stop getting the abuse they get week in week out by over aggresive fans and childish footballers.