The Premier League Owl
Given that The FA will presumably be grinding the gears of its own bureaucracy for an unnecessary elongated period of time over the Mark Clattenburg/Chelsea issue, there’s little value in speculating as to the conclusions which will be drawn from this episode and the disciplinary measures which will accompany them.
The only certainty is damage to English football’s ever more flimsy image.
Increasingly so, the game in this country resembles a school without teachers. The inmates run the asylum. Inappropriate comments from referees, players threatening officials, stewards being hurt, and CEO’s barging into football matters. Being associated with the game in any capacity is become more embarrassing by the week.
This is what happens when cash floods a sport and distorts all sense of context, the characters within have their egos inflated to the point where they believe that their behavioural patterns are completely free from any potential recourse. Football has eaten everything, and football will now do whatever it wants.
It’s this persistent ugliness that exists on the peripheries of the sport, there’s always something – and it’s depressing. We can’t go a week without a negative story; racial abuse, affairs, someone publicly expressing a pejorative opinion about another professional or team. Does it ever end?
I know that we’re all supposed to recoil in horror at what Mark Clattenburg may or may not have said, and that we should be outraged by John Obi Mikel threatening to ‘break (his) fucking legs’, and we should all be chastising Ron Gourlay for involving himself in a part of his club in which he has no place – but honestly, haven’t we all reached the saturation point of our incredulity?
Bans, fines, hundreds of column inches, and a darkening of the stain which already marks the game.
Follow The Premier League Owl on Twitter and Facebook.
William Hill – Free £25 bet for new users.
Paddy Power – Free £25 bet for new users.
The media is the centre of the problem in all these race issues. They overinflate ones thats seems good to their emotions such as the evra and jt incidents and then try to deflate some and see if there is ‘proof’. No one bothered to understand the ‘proof’ in the other two sagas. Football in the UK is run by immatures right from the FA to the club circles down to the media.
Spot on, Devlin. I bet Clatterbag chose not to read over the rules the night before, and figured he’d wing-it, and have the more intimidating team make all the decisions for him. Which is invariably Man Utd.
If the game had been refereed fairly and correctly, then passions would not have been running so high. This is ultimately Clattenburg’s fault for being such a poor ref – and the FA have respnsibility for not allowing video reviews of key incidents and getting control of diving.
One player dives after minimal contact – result: Red Card for the defender
One player dives after minimal contact – resul: Red Card for the attacker
Then an offside goal.
All 3 decisions favouring the same side. Now onder Chelsea were angry.
On the pitch referees are the centre focus, as the neutral that controls the game. Off the pitch they become peripheral and almost anonymous. It’s as if they can go out there and punch someone, and once they leave it’s forgotten about. All that is remembered is that someone was punched by someone, but the identity of the puncher dismissed or ignored. And the some one who was punched becomes the focus, and assumes responsibility.
if he has made rasist comments then he should be banned.but only as long as a footballer.his mike would be on,and heard by his assistants.or is it sour grapes by chelsea,over the sendings off.only time will tell
Can I propose a solution. Create an association for the referees and render them professional. Seriously though. Because the supposed current association of professionals seems mythical, and if true a farce. Referees should be known to be compelled to attend a meeting once a week, not a month and not a fortnight, it must happen before the weekend of fixtures commences. The discussions should be made public, and a review must be published immediately after the weekend’s fixtures. I’m a Liverpool fan from a small town in South Africa. I watch all that I can involving the club, and when fortunate some other fixtures, however I keep up to date (largely thanks to you these days, Owly) and will at the least try watch highlights packages. What I see, and it’s absolutely guaranteed every single week, is a complete mess with regards to officiating. For example last year I watched a Chelsea-Newcastle fixture and saw Luiz take Ba down with a foul from behind on the edge of the box with only Cech left to defend. Luiz was given a yellow, Ba a free kick, and ultimately Chelsea go onto win 3-0. Later that afternoon I watched a Spurs-Bolton match and saw Cahill sent off for fouling Parker on the right wing just passed the half way line. He was given a red for preventing a “clear goal scoring opportunity”. This is in the same league, the same weekend, the same day, and the same afternoon. Two completely contrasting decisions, which begs the question, which of the two knew the rules and which didn’t. This is the best example I’ve come across of late, and it’s the perfect example. What we see from a foreign country is a league in which there is no single set of rules for the game, and the referees make up their own rules depending on the fixture. There is no consistency, and therefore no order. When a school is unruly, it is not the children who are responsible, it is rather those in charge of the school, teachers up to the head master. If each teacher had a different set of rules, with a negligent headmaster, the children would learn to prey on the weaker and more flexible characters, and turn on the harder and stricter ones. Naturally, this is a human condition and is in sports too. Surely a faculty meeting would be called to address the shortcomings and settle on the best and most efficient way of controlling what is their responsibility. I honestly believe the FA Premier League referees do not meet, do not speak, and do not revise the rule book or even have one. What they have in place now is by no means an association of professionals. They actually look like volunteers picked minutes before kick off. The “association” needs to step up, and take responsibility for their “professionals”. Have consistency, and when it wavers, those guilty should be assessed and retrained. I’m not joking. Players, managers even, are punished and disciplined. Referees are left to a few negative newspaper articles… And that’s it really. I’d even go so far as to suggest a points system that promotes and relegates referees every season. A transparent and fair system to encourage referees to improve. The top placed at the end of a season get to ref in Europe, for example, those at the bottom get demoted to the Championship. There’s an air of complacency and irresponsibility. As it goes, the individuals who influence EPL football the most are the referees, and the officials in the FA. Giving Suarez an 8 match ban, and Terry a 4 match ban is racist, I’m sorry to say. It’s like two different associations in charge, let alone panels. I’m all for using discretion, for instance for the sake of football the referee should speak more than card. But each and every decision should and must be scrutinised after each match, so that the officials can learn, and the players, managers and fans know where and why the referees stand. The English FA’s rule book should be like a bible to the referees and they should be able to recite it on the spot, and not have conflicting decisions based upon it. Looking in on the deteriorating state of affairs in the English game, it is obvious the players overall have absolutely no idea what is acceptable and what is not. I say a very thorough and very public revamp is in order, and the players should stopped being blamed, and the referees excused. We know they’re human, but humans can learn, and the humans with whistles aren’t. Done.