Ref Watch .... Orient League Cup

[Mick]

Tonight's match official is due to be Fred Graham from Orsett.

Fred got onto the League list in 2004/5 but was summarily removed after just one season, rather harshly in my opinion.

However he stuck at it and fully deserved his reinstatement and has now been back for four full seasons. Has not refereed a competitive match at Roots Hall before but did do the away match at Gillingham a few years ago when he sent of Thurgood.

It is a quck return to Roots Hall as he refereed the Ipswich friendly match (and the Derby one last year).

Very low card count last season.

Assistants are regular visitors David Rock from Hertfordshire (qualified coach in numerous sports) and Gavin Muge from Bedford with Michael George standing by as 4th official.

 

[Magnum PI]

Lets hope he doesnt end being an Orsett C*ck

 

[sirbois]

I am sure even he would think that was funny lol

 

[Nick Prawnby]

Turns out that a referee chum of mine knows Mr Graham well ...
He asked me how he did and I struggled to remember, which is a good sign!
I thought he let the game flow, no problem with the obvious red card and he booked players who deserved it - including two for blatant time wasting which many referees bottle out of.
Good show Mr Fred Graham

 

[Magnum PI]

I thought he was very average... and inconsistent

 

[Flinty]

And he booked the wrong player in the 2nd half just in front if the orient box, it was their ginger lad who was already on a booking but their centre half stepped in and was booked instead !

 

[SHRIMPERPETER]

And he should have booked their goalie again during the penalty shoot-out for not getting on his line which was every time,which would have meant sending him off and one of their outfield players would have had to go in goal!:angry:

 

[lazy]

Were handballs not in the rule book for last nights game?

 

[The General]

He was pap and wasn't supported well by his lino's on a couple of decisions. The corner we should have got in the 2nd half was so obvious by way it looped over was obvious it came off the defender! Missed several fouls on Harris and as soon as Dicko and Harris used their body strength against the impressive Cuthbert and Chorley they got penalised. Generally bad reffing throughout IMO!

 

[Fish]

Generally thought he did OK but missed some flashpoints which made trouble for him later on. There were fouls he should have carded (Hall did one in front of the Orient bench in the second half of normal time) and I've posted elsewhere that he just didn't deal with the Mohsni/Chorley situation until it boiled over. If he'd dealt earlier with the 'banter' which led to the confrontation between Prosser and their chap who got red carded then he maybe wouldn't have had a head-butting to deal with.

Also agree that Butcher should have got a second yellow for his behaviour during the shoot-out.

Don't like picking up on specific decisions (especially ones he didn't give) because a ref can easily be unsighted or have a different opinion based on his different perspective/view (which is often better than ours in the stand anyway), but agree he didn't get much help from his assistants either who SHOULD have seen some basic decisions the other way (such as corners).

Handball is a tough one. Unless the ref thinks the hand has been put there deliberately, he can't give handball, even if the player whose hand the ball hit gets an advantage. There were a few last night where that happened (including one where the lino should have helped but didn't). In hockey (which I umpire) the equivalent is the foot, and we are allowed to give free hits if the ball hitting the foot gives the guy an advantage, even if he didn't mean it. Football would do well to do the same with handball.

In summary, thought the ref got most things right but should have used the control ladder earlier than he did.

 

[Somerset Ex-TTB]

Wasn't sure about his time keeping as well. The 2nd half of extra time was only 14 minutes and 50 seconds long (according to the stop watch on my mobile). I would of expected at least a minute extra if not 2 for the time wasting that Orient did in those 15 minutes.

 

[ace]

Agreed, he booked the goalie for time-wasting, but failed to add any time on. He also should have sorted Butcher out sooner for all his mind games during the penalties, particularly with Dickinson, but didn't have the bottle because he had already booked him. Weak.

 

[Nick Prawnby]

Blimey

wait til we get a really bad ref

there'll be riots

 

[CasualBlue]

I hardly ever moan about officials at matches, I think they have a very hard job on their hands. However, last night I have to say the referee and his two chums were.......****!!