[Archived] Man Utd Vs Tottenham

[jim mk2]

Anyway, this is a fascinating article making an almost heretical case for technology by challenging the received wisdom on the corruptibility/impartiality of English referees.

Another thought-provoking article from the Guardian but I think they are wrong in this case. English referees are basically honest and isolated cases apart (the Peter Swan/Tony Kay 1960s Sheffield Wednesday scandal being the most notorious), so is English football.

[Atty]

Another great decision there by the Manchester united referee association just like the handball at ewood but they didn’t kick much of a fuss up with that.

There has been loads of decisions in the past like that most of them at old Trafford go unnoticed unless it happens to a big club then it get noticed. The FA and the premier league have been corrupted for the last ten years but no body has the guts to stand up to them. If that goal would of happened to us then no body would of kick up such a fuss but with it being Tottenham and all the London press then it’s all over the papers.

I think if I was a scummy red I would be embarrassed with my team cheating like they do week in week out if its not rude or Ronaldo diving its referee and linesman helping them out.

I just hope man utd get what they deserve one day and nobody will have any sympathy for them what so ever.

[stuwilky]

EDIT - cant be bothered.

Edited January 7, 2005 by stuwilky

[AllRoverAsia]

I hate Man U FFS

[RangerRover]

I am 100% against the use of "technology" to eliminate this sort of farce - and, granted, it is a farce tonight.

And I'm also going to defend the linesman, although I will admit that had Rovers suffered from that decision I would struggle to do so.

Football has survived well into it's second century without the use of microchips in the ball or cameras on the line.

Only the advent of multi-channel TV and 24 hour sports news channels has accelerated the clamour for the use of technology.

Human error is a factor in the game.  Strikers miss penalties.  Keepers slice clearances (or throw shots from the half way line into their goal).  Russian linesmen give debatable decisions to win World Cups.

And tonight, in a situation where the ball moved dozens of yards in either direction within seconds, a linesman who will surely be described as "rotund" in tomorrows papers put his head down and legged it (after 90 minutes of legging it) towards the United goal line.

And missed the moment - clearly.  To accuse him of cheating is crass and unfair.  The failure - IMO - is not that individual - it's the whole team of match officials.  There are four of them at pitch level, and the number of times they fail to use each other is ridiculous.

At Premiership level, there is also a ref assessor at every game in the stands.  Rather than turn to solutions which overrule human error, I think there is a case to force all the 5 officials at games to work together to minimise the chance of mistakes.

Tonight, probably at least 3 of the 5 saw that Spurs scored a goal.  But the rules / protocol don't allow them to contribute, if - as tonight - the ref has trusted the judgement of the official closest to the incident.

It's a team game, and the match officials at games have to start acting as a team.  Tonight's incident has highlighted it, but the number of times a linesman fails to help a ref is inexcusable.

But my main objection to technology is because it can never be replicated at lower levels.  At the level I play, you accept the decision of the referee.  Sometimes there are linesmen, sometimes not.

There will never be cameras and microchips.  There will always be human error.  And the day you introduce different rules depending on the level of competition is the day football falls to bits.

A very good post - possibly with only one issue which has to be addressed.

The technological divide between top flight and lower level clubs already exists and in many cases favours lesser clubs whose games are not televised. How many players this weekend will escape punishment because a punch - or any violent incident was missed because cameras were not present. Should thugs at lower level get off Scot free ? Of course not, just as shots which clearly cross the line in the Mendez case should be given as a goal.

You say you accept the decision of the referee at the level at which you play but I'm guessing you'd also accept FA intervention if an opposing player assaulted a Blackburn player in an incident which was missed by the officials but picked up by the cameras.

As I said, the technological divide already exists - but let's even it up for fairer play all round - which might not go down well with some of the cluggers who get away with murder.

[blue phil]

Anyway, this is a fascinating article making an almost heretical case for technology by challenging the received wisdom on the corruptibility/impartiality of English referees.

Actually, it's just another load of absolute ###### from the Guardian.

You're right , Tris . An absolutely non-sensical article which states that we may have a problem with dodgy officials in this country but yet does not give one single piece of evidence to support its case . The only cases it mentions are from games played abroad with foreign officials .

Absolute rubbish journalism - even jim wasn't persuaded by it ....