Referees: Premiership -v- La Liga

MrJoeSoap

Was just watching the La Liga review and was baffled by the number of yellows and reds being dished out by Spanish referee's, so I looked into last weekends statistics.

• 10 La Liga Fixtures: 67 yellow cards, 12 red cards
• 9 Premiership Fixtures: 39 yellow cards, 1 red card

Now call me old-fashioned, but surely Spanish referees are taking the proverbial. An average of close to 7 yellows and 1.2 reds per game is disgraceful to me. I've seen most of the incidents in question (5 reds in one game ffs) and reckon 2/3's of them were complete over-reactions on the part of the referee.

If you're interested, Serie A came somewhere in between the two with 46 yellow and 3 red.

I'm just wondering what others think of this, do you think there is there a higher standard of refereeing in any particular European league?

therecklessone

I don't watch enough continental football, but I do see a lot of English football.

English officials are maddeningly inconsistent in their approach to the game. I think referees assisstants in particular need to start earning their wage, too many are afraid to say a word until the man in the middle makes the call himself.

In their defence, I do think they show more common sense towards the game than their continental breathern (from what I've seen) and on average let the game flow a lot more.i think referees need to bear in mind that they can make or break a game with their application of the rules, with fans paying big money to see top flight football they deserev a spectacle.

Necronomicon

Agreed, the continental refs can be very nit-picky. English refs let the game flow more, maybe because they're used to the faster pace of the Premiership. To be honest though, I'm baffled at that statistic that there was 12 reds in La Liga over the weekend....5 in one game?! That's ridiculous. I wonder how many of those were genuinely sending-off offences.

MrJoeSoap

Necromomicon wrote:

5 in one game?! That's ridiculous. I wonder how many of those were genuinely sending-off offences.

It was in the Malaga-Santander game.

• The first was for two yellow card offences, only saw the second but it was extremely harsh by the looks of it.
• The second was a deserved straight red for a horrendous elbow in the face.
• The third was harsh, a player was fouled as he shot from about thirty yards. Defender was adjudged to be the last man but the foul was commited after the shot had been taken.
• The fourth was for a second yellow, again quite harsh.
• The fifth was a terrible decision. A poor tackle but warranted a yellow at most. Ref gave straight red.

Surely after sending 4 players off the ref would go easy? Especially as it didn't appear to be a particularly dirty game.

Also, Punal was sent off for Osasuna against Real Madrid for an apparent "elbow" on Roberto Carlos, who then miraculously recovered (after about 5 complete rolls on the ground) to sarcastically clap the player off the pitch.

therecklessone

MrJoeSoap wrote:

Also, Punal was sent off for Osasuna against Real Madrid for an apparent "elbow" on Roberto Carlos, who then miraculously recovered (after about 5 complete rolls on the ground) to sarcastically clap the player off the pitch.

In fairness, from what I saw of that game it was a scrappy affair with Osasuna late in the tackle time and again.

MrJoeSoap

Ah yeah I'm not doubting that, there were 10 yellows in that game (6 for Real, 4 for Osasuna).

cournioni

MrJoeSoap wrote:

It was in the Malaga-Santander game.

Looked like a great game judging by the highlights!

Big Nelly

Watched the Madrid game and one of the lads that doesnt normally watch Spanish footie couldn't believe how bad it was. IN the first half the ball was oinly in play for a grand total of 18mins. Was a joke. I think nearly everyone on both sides had a yellow card by the end of the game and there was one red after about 10 mins.

Then watched Revista de la Liga and every game in the highlight seem to have red card. Was a joke. One team ended up with 8 was it on the pitch by the end of the game? funny thing as they said on Sky if that happened in English footie press would go mental at the players and there would be a big enquiry into the players actions. What happens in Spain? they said it was all the refs fault and wasn't the players. Now excuse me but if you see a player and go over and clean his head out of it with your elbow then its a red card. Any ref will give that

Just goes to show that the FA in Spain haven't a clue how to run there league.

chiller

Big Nelly wrote:

Watched the Madrid game and one of the lads that doesnt normally watch Spanish footie couldn't believe how bad it was. IN the first half the ball was oinly in play for a grand total of 18mins. Was a joke. I think nearly everyone on both sides had a yellow card by the end of the game and there was one red after about 10 mins.

Then watched Revista de la Liga and every game in the highlight seem to have red card. Was a joke. One team ended up with 8 was it on the pitch by the end of the game? funny thing as they said on Sky if that happened in English footie press would go mental at the players and there would be a big enquiry into the players actions. What happens in Spain? they said it was all the refs fault and wasn't the players. Now excuse me but if you see a player and go over and clean his head out of it with your elbow then its a red card. Any ref will give that

Just goes to show that the FA in Spain haven't a clue how to run there league.

saw that game i agree with u its a bunch of spainish idiots running the fa and they let the players and the refs away with murder the refs should be fined if they make bad calls plain and simple! and clubs should b fined if the team can not conduct themselves proberly on the pitch. the premiership has a much higher standard of discipline than any other league in the world! its true, its true!

mchurl

Over the last couple of weeks in La Liga th referees have been making some terrible decisions. I cant remember the game but i think esoanyol were involved and the referee sent off a player for a tackle that would barely merit a yellow card in england. The ref's in Spain are far too strict and the reactions of a lot of the players doesnt help either.

MrJoeSoap

It will be interesting to see how the referee's act tonight in La Liga.

There were 4 bookings in the Barca match last night, a fairly average figure I reckon.