Amy Rayner

[eufckev]

I remember walking into Broadhall Way on Saturday, and the first thing I was told was that Amy Rayner was going to be the referee for the game. I was thinking: "Oh no! Not another game like Scarborough!"

 

But, to be fair, Rayner did have a good game (better than the Scarborough game and when she was assistant ref for Luton Town v QPR) and most of her decisions I felt were correct, except for a couple of incidents, one of them being when we should have had a penalty. But compare the number of mistakes this referee made on Saturday, compared to the mistakes other referees made in individual matches; not a lot of difference I think.

 

Amy Rayner is a brave woman, she seems to be like Christiano Ronaldo; she enjoys the stick and the chants she gets from the fans: http://www.football-league.premiumtv.co.uk/page/Interviews/0,,10794~730145,00.html

 

There is obviously going to be some discrimination towards Amy Rayner; to be fair, she is not my most favourite referee, but actions made by the Luton Town manager, Mike Newell, shows that there is discrimination towards the concept of women refereeing in men's football, as was seen at Scarborough last season.

 

This argument can go both ways, in terms of women not being able to referee men's football. There are male referees who referee women's football and the argument is that can it not work vice versa.

 

But looking back at the Stevenage game on Saturday, I was mostly the players fault for the result, not the referee's. Surely, we can all agree that we did not deserve to win that match anyway.

[kattyann]

Thank god at last! An unbiased view of a female in the 'man's game'. It is a well put arguement, but no doubt there will be some people that can not handle the fact that both males and females make mistakes and r human.

 

kev for your view i thank u

[eufckev]

To be clearer on what I posted, I have just said that Amy Rayner makes the same number of mistakes as any other referees.

 

I am not sure whether to be for or against women referees in men's football. I am neutral! After Saturday's match at Stevenage Borough I did not know what to think.

 

Quote:

kattyann said:

Thank god at last! An unbiased view of a female in the 'man's game'. It is a well put arguement, but no doubt there will be some people that can not handle the fact that both males and females make mistakes and r human.

 

kev for your view i thank u

 

There are a shortage of referees in this country and we need to make the most of what we have got, so it is worth trying out woman refereeing men's football.

 

If we are going to have 'more Amy Rayners' (as said on www.thefa.com), lets have a ref who's fitter and a bit younger, someone to look at! (lol)

[kattyann]

I have had this disscussion many times on here and was just surprised that someone actually agreed with me. Good to hear positive comments.

 

TBH i wouldn't care if a ref or lino was purple with pink spots, as long as they did a competent job that's all that i worry about.

 

Don't blame ya for wanting them better looking tho! Must say Graham Poll is nasty to look at! <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

[Jimmy]

Unfortunately for Amy her decision to play the game away at Scarborough when the pitch was clearly unplayable still annoys a number of Fleet fans.

 

At Stevenage she did OK and to blame her for the loss, as some of our more gormless fans did, was nothing short of stupidity.

[eufckev]

Quote:

Jimmy said:
Unfortunately for Amy her decision to play the game away at Scarborough when the pitch was clearly unplayable still annoys a number of Fleet fans.

I remember that day, still haunts me to this day, that was the match that started off the criticism about Amy Rayner. That was the worst referee I saw on that day, but the Stevenage game was a more or less average one for a referee.

Quote:

Jimmy said:
At Stevenage she did OK and to blame her for the loss, as some of our more gormless fans did, was nothing short of stupidity.

At that Stevenage game, it was frustrating for us as fans seeing our side go down three goals to nil, and us fans do go and blame the referee, but that's what happens at every match. If the result does not go our way, we instantly blame the referee, until you look back on the game afterwards. I think some of the fans were influenced by what happened up at Scarborough last season, hence what my first reaction was when I was told who the referee was.

After the Stevenage match, the fans were saying "it's not the ref's fault we lost" and others were saying "it was the ref, she ain't fit to ref". I just did not know what to think. But I think it was a combination of both, but mostly because our style of play was not good enough for us to win the game. We showed too much respect towards Stevenage Borough that day!

[Hannah]

I don't want to be sexist against my own gender here, but If I'm going to give my honest opinion then so be it! Its not that I dont think women should referee games.. it doesn't bother me as such, but I prefer the guys to do it, just because thats the way its always been (poor argument, I know) and this new wave of women refeeres takes the attention away from the game because they are under such scrutiny from the fans.

 

I go to an all girls school and surrounded by feminism left right and centre (plus having a very feminist sister) and it drives me crazy! Maybe thats what has fueled this view.I'm all for gender equality, but are women really losing out if they don't referee a football match?

 

Some things just are because they are!

 

*gets ready for abuse thrown at me*

 

=]

[StuThompson]

I suppose the arguement can also include ethnic minorities. One of the best refs I have seen happens to be asian (mr Singh) but people will still knock him. I haven't seen Amy but she's at a disadvantage so probably tries a little too hard to justify herself.

[eufckev]

Quote:

Stuart Thomson said:
I suppose the arguement can also include ethnic minorities. One of the best refs I have seen happens to be asian (mr Singh) but people will still knock him. I haven't seen Amy but she's at a disadvantage so probably tries a little too hard to justify herself.

Yeh, a good referee, I remember him at Chelmsford and some of the Chelmsford fans who stood near us in the second half were doing racist chanting towards Mr. Singh. Not needed.

Mr. Singh was good a bit of 4th officialling in the Premiership last season, I saw him when I went to see Charlton v Middlesbrough (only cos it was on a Sunday and it was free for me). He also did the odd Championship match, refereeing, as well.

[Alan W (GNFC)]

Interesting article about Mr Singh can be found HERE. Dont know which games he's talking about, but clearly others agree re Mr Singh.