Referees

[Matt]

Is it just me, or are others becoming increasingly concerned about the standard of refereeing? I can understand it if it's just the team playing badly, but in recent weeks we've seen cases where referees (and linesmen) miss obvious fouls which are not even ten yards away from them (obviously as Slough fans we notice the ones that go against us more). Decisions such as this may have cost us points, and certainly progress in the FA Cup. I understand that there is somewhat of a shortage of referees at this level, but surely certain standards have to be met? Does anyone else feel the same way?

[Nathan]

Agreed, and some people say that Conference referees are bad!

[Big J R]

I would refer the Honourable gentlemen to the replies I have given earlier......

 

Go and try it yourself.

 

The reason there is a shortage of referess, is because the people want to criticise without trying it themselves !

 

O.K. ??

[Martin]

Yes you must be careful in criticising referees when Big JR is around.

 

But it should be emphasised that there is a very real risk of lower league and grass roots football dying on its [****!!****] due to a shortage of referees. I think if you take on the role you should expect a certain amount of verbal abuse but there have to be some limits.

 

Having said that I am prone to giving the referee both barrels when I feel they have been unjust or plain incompetent.

 

Clearly, the solution is to invest more of the big money in football in training referees. This should be an ongoing process at all levels of the game.

 

All we want are decent referees i.e. consistent, able to keep up with play and apply the laws of the game.

 

[GarySTFC]

Why do you see no ex pros going on to become football referees? Either increase their money, make them pros because the fans won't stop berating them for giving ridiculous decisions as we've seen from our last two men in the middle.

[Nathan]

Well the FA should only hire ones capable of refereeing games properly, how about recruiting?

[GarySTFC]

I don't think the FA have much choice Nath, this is the point that JR is making. They are desperate for referees at all levels and if there were more to choose from, there would be a chance that more would be decent.

[Burnham Lad]

Nathan,

 

I don't know if you saw the report in the NLP about the large number of assaults on referees in the non-league game. They annoy the hell out of us when they make a mistake, but they are one pair of eyes with a split second to make a decision, which some supporters will always have a go at - and as a result it is not surprising that many people don't want to be recruited just to be abused and assaulted - it is easier just to go and watch.

 

I plead guilty, incidentally, to having a go at the ref - but in one's cooler moments or if one watches a game where you don't have an affiliation with the sides playing, you can see why it is a pretty thankless job. I saw a bit of a Slough Industrial League game recently and the abuse the ref got from some of the players for what was a reasonable decision was ridiculous - some of it is just trying to intimidate him for future decisions in the match.

 

I talked to that Ref at Half time and he told me that on a Sunday, the leagues were so short of Refs he was reffing two games; the one I saw him at with an 11.00am start and another with a 1.45 start 10 miles away. That is devotion to football in anybody's language and did not deserve the grief he got! I wouldn't blame him if he said it wasn't worth a light.

 

 

 

[Guest]

I too am sick of the abuse refs and linesman get from some of the Slough supporters...ok, so they make mistakes, who doesn't?

I see quite a few games in a season as a neutral, and it is eye opening. One Lewes fan complained the ref was an idiot on Saturday for sending off their sub, when i clearly saw him punch a Weymouth defender full in the face!

The problem is often when Slough are playing bad, we get the hump with the officials cos we get frustrated and they are easy targets.

The worse was at Ashford shouting at the lino for what we all thought was a penalty on Ian Hodge. I also reckoned it was, but I also thought he went down too easy. The lino looked about 12 and later everyone was shouting at him to get the ball as we chased an equaliser, he looked panicked. Who needs such abuse. We were crap at Ashford, certaintly lucky to get a win....so lets shout at the officials to take out our frustration....

Does anyone like to be shouted at while at work?

 

Brighton Rebel

 

 

 

[BFR]

I do understand your sentiments BR, but shouting at officials is part of the experience of a football match. Clearly the linesman you are referring to was young which suggests to me he plans on officiating at a much higher level. If that is the case then he'll have to broaden those shoulders as there will be a lot more than the 200 fans who attended the Ashford match baying for his blood.

[Ian]

All good points above but I cannot see too many answers. Do referees make mistakes? Yes. Do they get it wrong on purpose? No. Do they often get it right? Yes. Do we see things differently because we're looking through amber tinted spectacles? Yes. Will the fact that I can acknowledge they do an impossible job, sometimes quite well, stop me from abusing them when I think they've incorrectly penalised my team? No.

 

For the record, the best referee we've had in the last two seasons was a woman.

[Guest]

Of course we all want to let off steam and sometimes its hard to stop the uncontrollable urge to scream and shout at the officials. What i'm asking is, especially after reading the depressing report on attacks on refs in this weeks non league, that we should all remember we all make mistakes and to sometimes give them a break. After all it wasn't so very long ago that no one seemed to mind too much people shouting abuse at black players but no one at Slough would put up with that sort of crap nowadays.

I reckon we should save a lot of our shouting for getting behind the team and good banter with opposition fans, when we do find some. Saturday at Worthing is a good place to start, especially as behind one of their goals has a covered end. Their manager is also a t***** so lets save the abuse for him!

 

 

Brighton Rebel

[GarySTFC]

Hit the nail on the head BR. We, me included, are far too quick to criticise not only the match officials but our own team. We should focus our vocals on getting behind the team first and foremost, something we've not done for some time.

[Nathan]

Sure Referees make mistakes, just look at the Newcastle v Man Utd game, but if they make mistakes consistintly...

[GarySTFC]

But how would we know? We see them for maybe two or three games a season. Who's to say that they don't have superb games away from our matches?

 

Anyway, lets concentrate on getting behind the team on Saturday as it will be a tough match.

[Big J R]

Quote:

Nathan STFC said:
Sure Referees make mistakes, just look at the Newcastle v Man Utd game, but if they make mistakes consistintly...

[color:"blue"] And Paul was man enough to admit his mistake when he was shown the replay after the game.

That takes guts !!

[DICK]

Unfortunately thr Referees are about as good as the standard of football being played at our level, CRAP.

[GarySTFC]

So when we get the opportunity to perhaps pull ourselves out of this hole through the supporters, we neglect it.

 

We too can do our bit to help us get up and out of these 'crap' leagues, but we're playing at a level suitable to the fans apathy and determination to help the club it seems.

 

We've had some good, some average and some good refs at this level which we've been at for three years. Often the best refs are those that go unnoticed, but those are soon forgotten! As we said earlier in the thread, if a decision goes against us, quite often (whether fair or foul) the referee has made an awful decision. As BR said, let's focus our efforts on getting behind the team. We've been far improved on the vocal support front this season, but only in patches. Let's give the lads some much needed support for the Worthing game to see if it can inspire them as it did in the first half against Lewes where we managed quite well....

 

See you all there!

[PJ-STFC]

I was going to start a similar thread a week ago, but MattSTFC has phrased it much better!

 

I think it is inevitable that the standard of refereeing will be lower at our level of football, as the better referees will inevitably be working where the money is.

 

The officials are an easy target for verbal abuse and I am sure that the abuse does not encourage their concentration and allow them to make better decisions.

 

I think there are two answers:

(1) As mentioned above, we should be giving positive support to the team (and, of course, 'negative support' to the opposition!).

While we are shouting at the ref, we are not shouting for our team.

Positive encouragement works.

We had a similar discussion last year (about vocal support, not refs) and the general feeling was that the teams performance HAD been boosted as a result.

 

(2) Improve the standard of the football played so that the team is less prone to the effects of poor decisions.

If the Rebels increase the number of attacks on goal, and also the success rate of those attacks, it should matter much less that one or two are incorrectly ruled offside, for example.

Similarly, if our defence (inc goalie) gel together better and 'do their stuff', there will be fewer opportunities for the opposition forwards to reach our penalty area and claim suspect fouls.

 

So, something for the fans to do, and something for the players/coach too.

 

PJ <img src="/images/graemlins/chat.gif" alt="" />

[Matt]

Just wanted to say I've taken all of the above on board, my post was just my opinion on recent refereeing performances that I wanted to put before all the Slough fans here to see if they agreed. As I have said I do realise that there is both a lack of referees, and a lack of money for referees at this level, and all decisions made on the pitch are split-second I also realise that sometimes their job is very difficult with 300-odd Slough fans baying for their blood when we don't like their decisions !