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Referee Interview.

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As most of you would have seen on MOTD last night, Mark Halsey gave a short, yet touching interview about his last game as a Referee.I''d been somewhat critical of his decision making in the game, yet in hindsight he seemed to get the majority of decisions correct.Within 2 minutes of his interview he was a world wide trend on Twitter receiving unanimous praise for his efforts as a Premier League Referee and fight with cancer.Although nothing was mentioned about the game, in the short interview we actually saw the human side of a referee.In an age where the referee seems to be the only person in football who remains isolated from the fans / media / players / pundits after the game has ended.Do you think it should be compulsory for the Ref to have a short interview after the game, perhaps picking up on a few key decisions they made during it.I honestly believe it would benefit the game and attitude towards referees in general.

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Agree with your sentiments re: Halsey

Disagree with your idea of referee interviews after the game, I just believe they would be making a rod for their own backs and scrutinising their position even more.

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Absolutely agree that refs should be allowed to be more media-friendly. It''s only the dinosaurs at the FA that won''t allow it.

In fact, why not have an ex-referee on the TV pundits panel for live games and MoTD? A large percentage of the discussions are always about refereeing decisions, so surely it would make sense to have somebody who knows what he is talking about? It would certainly make a change from boring old Lawro, Hansen, Shearer etc.

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[quote user="Power Hamster"]

In fact, why not have an ex-referee on the TV pundits panel for live games and MoTD? .[/quote]That''s exactly what Mark Halsey is going to do, he''s going to be a summariser/studio pundit for the new BT Sports channel.

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[quote user="Matt Juler"][quote user="Power Hamster"]

In fact, why not have an ex-referee on the TV pundits panel for live games and MoTD? .[/quote]That''s exactly what Mark Halsey is going to do, he''s going to be a summariser/studio pundit for the new BT Sports channel.[/quote]

Pleased to hear that. Let''s hope the BBC and ITV will follow suit.

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[quote user="Power Hamster"][quote user="Matt Juler"][quote user="Power Hamster"] In fact, why not have an ex-referee on the TV pundits panel for live games and MoTD? .[/quote]That''s exactly what Mark Halsey is going to do, he''s going to be a summariser/studio pundit for the new BT Sports channel.
[/quote] Pleased to hear that. Let''s hope the BBC and ITV will follow suit.[/quote]

Haven''t SKY being using ref''s spokesmouth Alan Wiley for a few years now as well?

 

The thing with refs as pundits is they generally defend the refs even when the decision is clearly wrong - generally as they will be friends with the ref in question. It''s like when players still playing are asked to be pundits, generally give really bland comments because they don''t want to offend other players who might be friends or managers who they might hope will sign them one day.

 

MOTD have had a ref on before I''m pretty sure - and they weren''t that interesting, so they brought back laugh a minute Alan Shearer.

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[quote user="Bethnal Yellow and Green"]

[quote user="Power Hamster"][quote user="Matt Juler"][quote user="Power Hamster"] In fact, why not have an ex-referee on the TV pundits panel for live games and MoTD? .[/quote]That''s exactly what Mark Halsey is going to do, he''s going to be a summariser/studio pundit for the new BT Sports channel.
[/quote] Pleased to hear that. Let''s hope the BBC and ITV will follow suit.[/quote]

Haven''t SKY being using ref''s spokesmouth Alan Wiley for a few years now as well?

 

The thing with refs as pundits is they generally defend the refs even when the decision is clearly wrong - generally as they will be friends with the ref in question. It''s like when players still playing are asked to be pundits, generally give really bland comments because they don''t want to offend other players who might be friends or managers who they might hope will sign them one day.

 

MOTD have had a ref on before I''m pretty sure - and they weren''t that interesting, so they brought back laugh a minute Alan Shearer.

[/quote]

I think it would have to be a retired ref, not a current one.

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[quote user="Matt Juler"][quote user="Power Hamster"]

In fact, why not have an ex-referee on the TV pundits panel for live games and MoTD? .[/quote]That''s exactly what Mark Halsey is going to do, he''s going to be a summariser/studio pundit for the new BT Sports channel.[/quote]There is also a very entertaining retired referee Dermot Gallagher that appears regularly on the Talksport ''thesportsbar'' show with Andy Goldstein and Jason Cundy, who gives his views on recent referee decisions etc.  

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[quote user="Power Hamster"][quote user="Bethnal Yellow and Green"]

[quote user="Power Hamster"][quote user="Matt Juler"][quote user="Power Hamster"] In fact, why not have an ex-referee on the TV pundits panel for live games and MoTD? .[/quote]That''s exactly what Mark Halsey is going to do, he''s going to be a summariser/studio pundit for the new BT Sports channel.
[/quote] Pleased to hear that. Let''s hope the BBC and ITV will follow suit.[/quote]

Haven''t SKY being using ref''s spokesmouth Alan Wiley for a few years now as well?

 

The thing with refs as pundits is they generally defend the refs even when the decision is clearly wrong - generally as they will be friends with the ref in question. It''s like when players still playing are asked to be pundits, generally give really bland comments because they don''t want to offend other players who might be friends or managers who they might hope will sign them one day.

 

MOTD have had a ref on before I''m pretty sure - and they weren''t that interesting, so they brought back laugh a minute Alan Shearer.

[/quote] I think it would have to be a retired ref, not a current one.[/quote]

 

Sorry, I meant retired refs but even they aren''t critical of current refs - certianly not in public. Listen to Alan Wiley, he barely has a bad word to say against any refs.

 

Also, the FA is having massive problems in recruiting new refs - by forcing them to go in front of camera at the end of each game certainly isn''t going to help the situation. I know I really wouldn''t want to do that - the rules could be changed so refs can do interviews if they want, but that would then lead to some refs being seen as loving the attention and more critisim will land at their feet.

 

For me, refs do a pretty good job in the Prem. The system of not having video replays etc. means that there will always be incorrect calls - but that will always be the case in football as so many rules are based on judgement, ''was it a goal scoring chance?'' ''was the handball deliberate?'' ''was the player in control of their tackle?'', and so on. Rules in games where video replays work really well tend to be a bit more black and white.

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Ex refs in various papers that I have read over the years tend to try and find a way to support a ref, only occasionally saying the ref has made a clear mistake.

Some refs would make good use of being more public; they''d apologise for mistakes or at least try to justify their reasoning which would probably make them seem more human and more likable, resulting in fans being less critical. I think half of the infuriation from fans stems from refs/the FA thinking that they are above criticism and almost don''t need to be held accountable when they ruin a game through bad decisions. If they came out holding their hands up or at least showing it was a genuine mistake, then they''d cop less flak I feel.

However, some refs would probably make situations worse through poor media handling and/or arrogance. But whilst that might create more animosity in the stands, they already get a load of abuse for bad decisions anyway, so would it make that much of a difference?

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Aggy, listen to Talksport and Dermot Gallagher and I''m sure that you''ll find it refreshing that he does not always support referees.

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I remember watching our 4-1 defeat at home to Arsenal in 2004 on TV (''Prem Plus'' as it was then), and Graham Poll (the referee that day) came on and did an interview straight after the game, explaining why he didn''t send off Lauren for bringing down Huckerby when he looked clean through on goal.It didn''t seem anything strange at the time as I was quite young, but I''ve never once seen a ref do such an interview explaining a decision since then.

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Don''t referees have to make a report on each game for the FA? I would like to see these made freely available as it would increase transparency on their decision-making.

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[quote user="Northluck C."]I remember watching our 4-1 defeat at home to Arsenal in 2004 on TV (''Prem Plus'' as it was then), and Graham Poll (the referee that day) came on and did an interview straight after the game, explaining why he didn''t send off Lauren for bringing down Huckerby when he looked clean through on goal.

It didn''t seem anything strange at the time as I was quite young, but I''ve never once seen a ref do such an interview explaining a decision since then.
[/quote]

 

did he say "Because he had an Arsenal shirt on?" that was the season the Gunners went unbeaten... i seem to remember some "interesting" decisions going their way... the following week, Graham Poll refereed Arsenal Vs Fulham... Collins John was sent off for fulham for EXACTLY THE SAME that Lauren did to huckerby the week before...

 

the fact he hauled Bergkamp down might have had something to do with it....

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I feel that referees should be anonymous. Who cares who they are and the various posts on here commenting on refs for upcoming city games leave me baffled. The only time I have doubted an English officialls integrity was for the Arsenal away game and that doesn''t seem too bad a ratio compared to the thousands of games of watched.sure refs make mistakes but so do the players!

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[quote user="Tiffey Boy"]I feel that referees should be anonymous. Who cares who they are and the various posts on here commenting on refs for upcoming city games leave me baffled. The only time I have doubted an English officialls integrity was for the Arsenal away game and that doesn''t seem too bad a ratio compared to the thousands of games of watched.sure refs make mistakes but so do the players![/quote]

 

Good point Tiffey Boy - the referees in this country appear to be unbiased, although are not immune to crowd pressure (and SAF pressure, but that doesn''t apply any more!) and try to provide an honest impartial arbiter service to the footballing community.

 

However, the players on the other hand......! The referees now have to take on board blatant cheating, simulation, attempts to get others sent off, dangerous tackles, biting, spitting etc. It seems that players will do what they think they can get away with - whether that involves sticking to the laws of the game or not!

 

Without wearing any green and yellow tinted spectacles, I can''t recall any incident that a Norwich player has performed that would make me ashamed or embarrassed as a supporter. There have been a few that have made me squirm a bit uncomfortably, but I think overall, our team has conducted itself well. A bit less of the personal earbashing from the players, and the more likely the officials go into games involving Norwich with a positive approach.

 

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