[Archived] Rovers And Refs

[philipl]

So here we are folks, four games into the new season and

- conceded 4 penalties

- two red cards

- nine yellow cards

I've not watched much Prem football this season so far but I simply cannot see any justification for those statistics other than the referees of the Prem have declared war on the Rovers.

This is sheer victimisation by the officials pure and simple.

Just imagine what we would be hearing if any of the media darlings had suffered such terrible officiating.

[modes98]

Even Mark Clattenburg, our ref, let us down!

We have been on the end of some awful decisions.

[percy]

I've not watched much Prem football this season so far but I simply cannot see any justification for those statistics other than the referees of the Prem have declared war on the Rovers.

This is sheer victimisation by the officials pure and simple.

Get over it. You sound like AESF.

[colin]

Last season's reds & yellows on a particularly colourful site

clicky

Looks like we are carrying on, nowt like a bit of consistency eh?

[FourLaneBlue]

Rovers finished bottom of the fair play league in the previous two seasons and are leading it again by some distance once again this term...is that all down to some big conspiracy against little old Rovers? Expected better of you Philipl.

The reason Rovers have been poor so far this season is down to themselves. Why try to blame refs?

Edited September 10, 2006 by FourLaneBlue

[SAS]

i blame tony blair...

[philipl]

So three of the four penalties and Todd's sending off were perfectly OK?

All this gathering of refs to analyse games by the professional refs is all well and good but it seems to be leading to a levelling down of standards rather than improvements.

In particular, they all seem to have decided that Rovers are fair game. The fact that we are not playing well doesn't detract from the awful refereeing we are suffering from.

I am not saying we are angels. I am saying that I can see no reason why Rovers are conceding a penalty a game and are bottom of the fair play league in comparisson with at least half a dozen other Premiership clubs this season.

Hughes obviously has an opinion on it.

Edited September 10, 2006 by philipl

[John]

Or you could simply say we are a shambles when we do not have Nelsen. Or that we are playing our right full back at left back.

Cover it up whatever way you want.

[Mr. E]

Well yeah, but then it feels like the referees hate every team I support.

Edited September 10, 2006 by Mr. E

[bob fleming]

The "new one" that the refs are picking up on is the shirt pulling in the box. The John Terry penalty was probably just about fair enough but the Zurab penalty yesterday was a disgwace. You'll see this "shirt pulling" in every single game up and down the land, it's just that we're the only team to have two penalties awarded against for it.

It's almost as though the refs have been told to clamp down on it and are doing so only against Blackburn Rovers.

Whilst we're on this subject am I the only viewer who when watching Match of the Day or Sky Sports and sees a bad tackle go without a booking, thinks "Savage would have been booked for that, no question, in fact he'd have been sent off by now". Similarly when watching fairly innocuous challenges does anyone else think "One of our players whould have received a yellow card for that."

Is there anything I can take for this?

BTW the way I don't see it as a conspiracy as such, I just think the refs are fed subliminary messages when they meet up at their underground bunker every Tuesday. Posters are probably scattered around the place or on the drive in to the place that state things like "Blue & White is Bad", "Halves are Evil", "Welshmen with Blonde Hair and all Australians must be Punished", and "Hate. Kill. Blackburn"

Having said all that I'm also aware that we probably wouldn't be having this discussion had we won yesterday. The defence looks dodgy (centre halves) to say the least and although the Sheff U strikers should have had a field day they shouldn't have had the two penalities.

Regards

Pananoia Pete

[gumboots]

You are not alone! I too find myself thinking the ref would have given a free kick against us if we'd done that. I thought it was just the onset of middle age

[thenodrog]

Just small club syndrome. West Brom / Bolton / Us have usually got the shittyend of the stick. Watford too are suffering. The only cure as I have said many times before is video usage for imp decisions.

[G Somerset Rover]

I think it's a fair thread. Whilst some of our players don't exactly help themeselves sometimes, certain players in my opnion are more harshly treated than others. I posted it a while back but a couple of the sky pundits-Alan Macincally I think, believes that Todd imparticular gets different treatment from refs due to his 'thug' reputation.

[daren]

The reasons given for not using the video replay function for important decisions were

1. It'll slow down the game. This argument at least has the benefit that there's some credibility there. The trick is deciding how the video would be used. More on that in the conclusion

2. The controversy is a large part of the enjoyment of football. This argument is based on "fan awareness". A controversial decision (like the goal that wasn't for Spuds last season) is talked about for weeks, and raises the awareness of football. This is true, but is that really the image that the game wants to promote?

Sky Sports offered to rig all the goalmouths in the premiership with four cameras that would definitively show if the ball was across the line, at their own expense, some seasons ago, and it was refused by the FA. Strange.

The thing is, I would be quite happy if there was a video ref, a fifth official, who could just buzz the ref if there was a problem with a decision. If the ball crossed the line, or a penalty was (or wasn't) given, he could just let the ref know. It's then up to the ref to decide if advantage was given, or if further action could be taken (in a situation like the Ben Thatcher challenge at pompey). It would just add some consistency to decisions, and that's what's been sorely lacking over the last few years. Personally, I sympathise with the ref. It's a big pitch, the play generally moves very quickly and most incidents happen in a blur. It's a tough job, and the more help they get the easier it is for them to get it right.

On the penalty for shirt-pulling note. Has anyone else been awarded a penalty for a similar incident? If they have I haven't seen it. It's fine if everyone gets more or less the same treatment, but that's just not happening. I would also like to see an appeal system for yellow cards, so that incidents like Savage's booking against chelsea can be looked at. That was a terrible decision (slow-mo showed that Essien clocked Savage, and didn't even TRY to go for the ball) and it will affect Savages ability to influence the game in the match, his personal yellow card situation (an earlier ban, perhaps) and the clubs overall standing in the fair play league.

[thenodrog]

I would also like to see an appeal system for yellow cards, so that incidents like Savage's booking against chelsea can be looked at. That was a terrible decision (slow-mo showed that Essien clocked Savage, and didn't even TRY to go for the ball) and it will affect Savages ability to influence the game in the match, his personal yellow card situation (an earlier ban, perhaps) and the clubs overall standing in the fair play league.

Any normal person would revue the match afterwards and in the above case would not include the caution in his report. But we all know that refs are not normal people don't we? I find it really odd that despite TV evidence to the contrary and numerous pundits proving that they got certain decisions wrong it appears that the majority of referees are quite happy to appear completely stupid, stubborn and intransigent buffoons. It's small wonder people hate em is it?

[Fife Rover]

i blame tony blair...

Utter cobblers! It's Gordon Brown's fault!!

[Alan75]

Utter cobblers! It's Gordon Brown's fault!!

HECK........I saw that Brown was on the bench, but didnt realise it was the Brown......

[they_think_its_all_rover]

I heard if a team is worst in fair play league 3 years running, you get a points deduction at the start of the next season... is this true?

[andrew92]

that would be stupid, im sure its not true, were you hear that from.

[DavidMailsTightPerm]

I do think that most of the smaller clubs in the Premiership do get the s**ty end of the stick - but think that much of it is down to crowd influence. This is where Rovers are at a disadvantage - the only time we have large crowds is when we have a large away support - which effectively evens out any "crowd pressure" advantage.

IMHO the linesman at the Sheff United game was as good an example of this as I have seen.

Another thing that can't be ignored is media coverage - make a hash of sending off a Rovers player - and you may get a sentence at the bottom of the match report. Send off a Chelsea player incorrectly - and you will be splashed all over the back pages.

Edited September 10, 2006 by DavidMailsTightPerm

[Presty On Tour]

I heard if a team is worst in fair play league 3 years running, you get a points deduction at the start of the next season... is this true?

that would be stupid, im sure its not true, were you hear that from.

i heard this too, when we were bottom of the fairplay league 2 seasons ago they gave us a warning and said it had to improve.

when we finished bottom last season we were given a fine and told if it didn't improve this season it may result in a bigger fine and a points deduction.

[Hughesy]

4 Penalties – Todds & Neill’s were never ever penalties.

Zurab & Ooijers are dodgy as nobody else has had this rule imposed on them as yet.

2 sending offs – 1 was (Neill), 1 wasn’t.

So out of 6 major decisions affecting us. 3 have been wrong, 2 have been dodgy and 1 has been spot on.

No 1 likes us, we don’t care. (Well we do really)

[Billy Castell]

Well if 'they' want a war, lets have one. Andy Todd should have the specific mission to break as many bones as possible, whilst the axe should fall on the knees of any media darling like Gerrard, Terry or Henry. Sniper rifles should be placed on strategic positions to take out any wandering journalists. Hit squads should be sent out to assassinate the Preston hairdresser and Alan Green, the Walker Trust should sign a couple of F-16 pilots and planes, and the FA should be blown up.

It is all a self fulfilling prophecy this 'Blackburn are dirty', so we get it hard, whilst hacks like Carvaliho get away with shirt pulling, rugby tackles and all sorts. Whilst we were dirty for the first half a season under Hughes, we were fighting for our lives to stay up. Things got a lot better last season, but still the label stuck. I can't help feeling this reputation for being the new Milwall is counting against us, whilst blatant cheats like El-Hadji Diouf, John Terry, Didier Dogbrush etc. get away with cynical play.

[American]

I think in general, the Prem refs are pretty poor. Poll was the "best" and sent to Germany - we see how that worked out.

We tend to dwell on the negatives and forget the calls that worked in our favor.

[DAZCLARKE]

It just seems that after every game now we are talking more about something the referee has done than the actual football. That goes for most games, not just ours.