Football Refereeing

blackbelt

DDC1990 wrote: »

I know referees like to let a team back in the game, but this was rediculous. .

As a an adult (junior) and minor level I have to take this up from my point of view.No referee is out to get a team despite what fans think (which is understandable) as the fans are the ones on the sideline supporting their team and everything that goes against their team is the wrong decision.That is bias playing up.There are poor referees out there though.

I think a referee is out to ref the game fairly and have a good game without criticism of any sort but he is not out to cost a team by getting them back into the game.I refereed a game where the final result was 4-17 to a point as the final result and I had no intention of being softer on the losing team.

I do however agree with a lot of your points regardin the minor referee on Sunday.That was never a footblock and the application of the footblock rule only comes into effect when an opposing player dangerously puts his foot in to prevent the player in possession from picking up,kicking the ball from his/her hands.

The Mayo player simply stretched his leg out

When the ball was in flight going toward the goal.So we have now had two decisions going in favour of Meath over Mayo in Croke Park.The previous time being a soft penalty going to Meath seniors when it was clearly a Mayo sideline in the run up to the "penalty" in 2009. Then you have the 1996 All Ireland Final and the schmozzle that put Mayos heads down.

Mayo must really hate Meath.

JFlah

rebel girl 15 wrote: »

Most of the regular posters in here would know me as fairly unbiased, and knowledgeable about the rules but I thought Coldrick made some bad calls in the first half, especially with the pickups. I didn't see a foul in the last free he gave Donegal, but I could be biased in that one, thought it was a 50:50 challenge. In fairness, he was good overall, so can't fault him

There is big problems with both halves of the official guide, rugby in comparison is very black and white, whereas GAA has a lot of interpretation and grey areas left to the referees which ends up with a lot of disparities between games. Problem is that intercounty referees are very focused on the assessor that is rating them, and that can play into getting calls right and wrong on the day.

The abuse referees are getting at club games is actually stopping the growth of younger referees in the game - potential new intercounty referees are being hindered at club level

Intercounty referees actually lose money doing games - between the cost of travelling to the game and then feeding their umpires on the way home etc. A lot could be done to improve the rule book to help referees. I'll have a think and come back with a proper list!

Could,nt agree more I'm involved with u10 girls team and some of the abuse refs are getting even at that level in what are 100% non-competitive games is disgraceful. Knock on effect besides people being un-willing to ref is kids being taken from clubs to other sports by parents that find the behavior of the 'adults' un-acceptable.The same parents are also the ones that 'encourage' their kids by telling them everything they are doing wrong and NEVER praising what they do right!
Good one recently at a girls u10 blitz one parent was giving so much abuse and criticism to the ref that he handed her the whistle and says
"there you go see if you can do better" , not a word out of her for remainder of game

On another note re Coldrick I generally find him ok , despite his constant explanations to players but even as a Kerry man I though Cork got the shorter end of the stick on Sunday, an example that stood out for me was lateish in second half. Colm O Neill was blown up for a foul on a Donegal defender when quite obviously another Donegal defender who was on the ground fouled O neill as he rose and prevented him getting the ball, Donegal eventually scored from the play

Pegasusbridge

blackbelt wrote: »

As a an adult (junior) and minor level I have to take this up from my point of view.No referee is out to get a team despite what fans think (which is understandable) as the fans are the ones on the sideline supporting their team and everything that goes against their team is the wrong decision.That is bias playing up.There are poor referees out there though.

I think a referee is out to ref the game fairly and have a good game without criticism of any sort but he is not out to cost a team by getting them back into the game.I refereed a game where the final result was 4-17 to a point as the final result and I had no intention of being softer on the losing team.

I do however agree with a lot of your points regardin the minor referee on Sunday.That was never a footblock and the application of the footblock rule only comes into effect when an opposing player dangerously puts his foot in to prevent the player in possession from picking up,kicking the ball from his/her hands.

The Mayo player simply stretched his leg out

When the ball was in flight going toward the goal.So we have now had two decisions going in favour of Meath over Mayo in Croke Park.The previous time being a soft penalty going to Meath seniors when it was clearly a Mayo sideline in the run up to the "penalty" in 2009. Then you have the 1996 All Ireland Final and the schmozzle that put Mayos heads down.

Mayo must really hate Meath.

Does it state in the rules that the foot block rule only comes into play if the defender dangerously puts his foot towards the ball? I didn't think it did and so that is your interpretation but another ref might interpret it differently.
Also I'm sure far more then 2 decisions have gone against Mayo for Meath in Croke Park but plenty of decisions have gone for Mayo too. It's too simplistic to blame the ref.

K-9

JFlah wrote: »

On another note re Coldrick I generally find him ok , despite his constant explanations to players but even as a Kerry man I though Cork got the shorter end of the stick on Sunday, an example that stood out for me was lateish in second half. Colm O Neill was blown up for a foul on a Donegal defender when quite obviously another Donegal defender who was on the ground fouled O neill as he rose and prevented him getting the ball, Donegal eventually scored from the play

I think Donegal got a couple of soft frees but Cork seemed to get the benefit of the doubt on barging, Donegal got penalised a couple of times for that. Plus I think O'Neill might have helped McGee misread the ball a little for the goal! Overall he was good, tried to let the game flow which it did and not too over bearing. It was a pretty clean game.

JFlah

K-9 wrote: »

I think Donegal got a couple of soft frees but Cork seemed to get the benefit of the doubt on barging, Donegal got penalised a couple of times for that. Plus I think O'Neill might have helped McGee misread the ball a little for the goal! Overall he was good, tried to let the game flow which it did and not too over bearing. It was a pretty clean game.

Ah yeah I'm not criticizing him really was just a few I thought went Donegals way more than Cork got he had no real bearing on the result , hence good performance. Credit to the players too , they were easy to ref

J Cheever Loophole

I didn't see the minor match, but I've heard enough to suggest that Mayo were hard done by. I think in the modern era, with modern television coverage, the pressure on referees, through minute analysis of their every decision, has never been greater. It is a tough job.

That said, I was flicking channels last night and caught the last five minutes of the Offaly v Kerry match in 1982. Before my next comment, I should state that I vividly recall the moment THE goal went in back then, and jumping out of the seat, and being absolutely thrilled for Offaly. However, watching in the calmness of a quiet Wednesday night, some thirty years later, I would have to say that great Kerry team were on the receiving end of some very dubious calls in the little time I watched.

Now I am not talking about the push on Tommy Doyle, but rather the two frees that brought Offaly to within two points of Kerry. They were soft in the extreme. After Darby's goal went in, Kerry were able to mount one last attack. Tom Spillane went on a run that I thought was illegally blocked, close to goal. The ball ended up with Martin Furlong out in the Canal / Hogan Stand corner, where he lost the ball and proceeded to chase after it like a bull in a china shop, barging into Mike Sheehy who was attempting to gather, and Mike went to ground. Kerry received no free that would have seen the opportunity to rescue the 5-in-a-row dream.

In the interests of balance - has anyone ever seen recently the free given against Paddy Cullen in 1978 from which Mike Sheehy got the famous chipped goal?!? :eek: Even my own beloved Armagh - we got a penalty in the opening minutes of the 1977 All Ireland Final which was essentially a player falling over whiilst trying to change direction on a heavy surface.

All three incidents were in favour of the perceived underdog and hardly an eyelid was batted by anyone - the decisions were just accepted, and yet in two of the matches referred, the decisions had momentous consequences.

Referees are only human - and they are prone to mistakes like everyone else, and that includes being prone to being incompetent, and yes, that can have very harsh consequences on teams on the receiving end. There is therefore room for improvement, but I still think that the referees we have today are probably of the highest standard we have ever had.

blackbelt

Pegasusbridge wrote: »

Does it state in the rules that the foot block rule only comes into play if the defender dangerously puts his foot towards the ball? I didn't think it did and so that is your interpretation but another ref might interpret it differently.
Also I'm sure far more then 2 decisions have gone against Mayo for Meath in Croke Park but plenty of decisions have gone for Mayo too. It's too simplistic to blame the ref.

It states in the rulebook "To block an opponent from kicking from the hands with the boot". Ok they may not be the exact phrases or order of words but the ball was clearly in flight as a shot on goal and the Mayo defender posed no danger and did not block the Meath attacker with the boot from kicking from his hands.

Only referees who are too easily influenced by players who call on it may give it or use poor judgements.