TV Highlights Bradford City 0-2 Southend United

[Fish]

I felt sorry for Clohessy but had no qualms about him being sent off. As soon as he was behind the player he should get well away from legs, especially at that stage in the game. With Bradford chasing the game as they were, any foul which breaks down a good atack no matter where it is on the pitch is deserving of a card. I was at the game and having seen the footage again I'm still not sure there was much if any contact, but the fact is that Clohessy put himself in a very vulnerable position, by being on a stupid yellow and having smashed the ball into the crowd and committed a couple of other fouls as the tempo of the game built. Once beaten as he was, he would have been better off tracking back directly towards goal once beaten, allowing another player to come in an engage the winger.

But let's not blame the ref - he was only doing his job and was spot on with both yellows. Instead, blame the dumb FIFA governin body who won't introduce sin-bins to help out refs in that situation. I'm sure the ref didn't want to card Clohessy again but technically he had no choice. A sin-bin would have been perfect forthat offence, meaning Clohessy wouldn't have got a ban but in the context of the game Southend would have been down to 10men for a period of time. A perfect punishment for breaking play down.

 

[Tommy2holes]

It was a second yellow and tbh i was one that didnt need to be made , but he is only missing the jpt and a chance for someone else to come in.

 

[Onion_Bag_Dave]

Other than at the very top level, most referees are not going to earn a living out of the game. It will take most of them many years to get anywhere near the Football League and I doubt whether too many of them put all that effort in merely to be able to pervert the course of League matches when they eventually get there. You think most referees are useless? Bearing in mind these are the best we have, why might that be? The speed of the game coupled with the cheating I eluded to earlier (combined with complex interpretations of the offside law which are not fit for purpose) actually make it incredibly difficult to referee matches at this level and above.

You state categorically that a freekick and a final warning would have been the right decision. Why? If he did it on purpose, the card was valid. If he didn't what's the final warning for?

We are short of referees on the local Sunday League. Perhaps you'd like to give it a try; you'd be very welcome.

I don't know why you get so uptight about this.

I'm not referring to Clohessy's red card, every player would get sent off for what he did. I just think that you shouldn't be sent off for that.
How is it so possible for the referee to get it so wrong? How is it so possible for the linesmens to literally have no idea when making a decision as to who's foot the ball came off last? In my opinion to be so close to the run of the play, benefits the referee. If I can see that the ball comes off Grants foot and goes off from 50 yards away why can't the linesmen?

I'm not suggesting that officials go through a lot of hard work travelling up and down the country to get to this level and purposely ruin the game, ofcourse that's not the case. But you can't deny that a lot of referees that we get do love being the centre of attention. Many Sunday league referees, referee the game how it should be and I actually believe that a lot of Sunday league referees that I've had in the past and now could easily do a job in the football league.
However the whole 'journey' that these guys have to endure when trying to get to the top is effected by the accessors.
One of my friends was recently given a very bad score by an assessor when refereeing Concord (I think) because he booked players for swearing, this was eventually appealed against. The whole of football is ruined by the assessors in my opinion. (I'm defending referees now) They are being watched, every second by these people who are worse than ticket attendants in my opinion. This means that the game is affected by referees who whilst are being affected by the assessor, they do get things completely wrong.
I do appreciate how hard it is to be an official, I just don't think it is as hard as some people make out.

 

[GBJ]

If I can see that the ball comes off Grants foot and goes off from 50 yards away why can't the linesmen?

Have you stopped to consider, as you're 50 yards away, and ever-so-slightly biased, you might be wrong, and the official (both closer and unbiased), is right?

 

[Onion_Bag_Dave]

Have you stopped to consider, as you're 50 yards away, and ever-so-slightly biased, you might be wrong, and the official (both closer and unbiased), is right?

No, because that particular example is about, Grant kicking the ball out of play last and the linesmen giving us a throw in.
I'm not that biased when it comes to a lot of decisions that officials make, just ones that cost us points.