Referee!

[John Smith 0]

There were one or two posts here in the close season about the standard of refereeing that they expect this season.

What do you think so far? Are the Premiership referees any better? Could you do better?

[nolegs 0]

I thought last nights was far too fast with the yellow cards in what was a game that never "dirty" just a normal competative game

[rich 0]

i''d say in general premier refs are better even though they force the best ones, like danson,
to retire far too early and I''ve doneit before and I
couldn''t any better, it''s a thankless task not helped by
the stupid unclear laws, the lack of support from the fa and
of course the speed of the game.

I say two referees, one per half, and two assistants,
is the way forward, but that''s just me.

[Evil Monkey 52]

As I said after both Saturday''s and last night''s games - Whilst there is a clear and ever-growing divide in quality between the Prem and the Fizzy league, one thing remains consistent throughout the Football League, from top to bottom - the shocking standards of refereering!

It is a serious problem in this country at the moment - Most referee''s don''t know how to read the game, or analyse what has actually happened in a rational manner.  I don''t think its going to get any better until we start coaching them better! Let''s face it, if English referees had Collina teaching them, the standard would go up immeasurably and we might actually start to be able to enjoy the beautiful game, without the whistle being blown and free kicks given for simple tackles.

Last night''s wasn''t too bad, to be fair, but Saturday was shocking!

[John Smith 0]

Interesting that you suggest Collina as a coach. Remember that the Italian FA have suspended the folically challenged one on more than one occasion for "failing to apply the laws of the game".

Should we actively encourage referees to follow him and make it up as he goes along? Or should we have referees all using the laws as written by the International Football Board?

[Dicky 0]

Cov game ref was truly awful.  Last night I thought he had a half decent game (for a ref!!).

[LinkNR9 0]

I think that the Championship refs are better than the Prem, simply because they don''t always suck up to the big Clubs in the same way that Prem refs do. Last season, any 50/50 decisions against "bigger" Clubs seemed to go against us, because the refs didn''t want to get on the wrong side of the Fergies and O''Leary''s of this world! 

[0ridgemanddMMyyyy0Falseen-USTrue 0]

IMO the two referees we have had this season have both been poor last nights was only to willing to hand out yellow cards for next to nothing while pulling and pushing in the area went unpunished. Saturdays missed so much including an elbow into the face of Mackenzie (on his already broken nose) well off the ball.

I believe much of todays problems lie with the top man K Hackett whose attempts to appease managers and top players mean that some are addressed by their first names whilst some are not. Inconsistency is the thing that frustrates me most do we remember a certain G Poll and his favourite team Arsenal last year when he failed to send off a player. The same referee also allowed such a constant abuse from Rooney (in a Man Utd game) that the headmasters association asked for football not to be shown until after the watershed. He allows Arsenal to take quick free kicks yet insists other teams wait for the whistle. Surely if one team can take a quick free kick then all teams should be allowed the same decision every time why do they have to wait for the delaying tactics of the defending team.

I just wish football would take some lessons fron Rugby Union refs.

[John Smith 0]

What could football referees learn from rugby referees?

What would you do to improve refereeing? What could be done to make it more consistant?

[Shack Attack 0]

Prem refs are biased towards the big clubs while Champ refs are just imcompetent. That''s the only difference really.