Referees

[ivoralljack]

Posters on here, especially myself, have often queried the credibility/competence of match officials. The various football authorities and governing bodies vehemently deny any wrong-doing by their elected officials conveniently forgetting the scandal in Italy some years ago, which resulted in Juventus being fined and relegated when they were found guilty of bribing match officials. SO IT DOES GO ON.

Now this situation has reared its ugly head again in Spain where Barcelona have been charged with having illegal dealings with match officials. We all remember "Fergie Time" where extra minutes invariably were unaccountably added on when United needed another goal. As far as I'm aware no official investigation was ever made into these allegations, which became a bit of a joke as the years passed by.

But it was no joke to the teams that were affected by this convenient arrangement that enabled United to glean points that, by rights, they should have failed to get during the proper length of the game. Over many years of watching the game, long ago I came to the conclusion that some referees were corrupt and must have accepted some kind of payment to engineer a result in favour of a particular team - such team usually being one of the so-called "Big Six".

This is a disgusting situation and it is my fervent hope that IF Barca are found guilty, they will be fined millions and relegated from the top division. I would also urge for them to be banned from European competition for a minimum of five years. Hopefully this will deter other teams from being involved in corrupt practices. Furthermore, I would like to see a nuts and bolts overhaul of the game in respect of match officials where, if any are found guilty of dubious behaviour in the future, they will be heavily fined and banned for life.

 

[Yankee_Jack]

As you might expect this being seized upon by La Liga and Real Madrid are also piling on. Anything to stick a knife into the Catalans.

 

[ivoralljack]

The bastards are at it again!! Os were beaten by Sarries yesterday in what was a tight game until the final quarter. During the game I was far from happy about some of the officials' decisions but, being far from conversant with the ridiculous rules that abide in rugby, I accepted what was going on. Then I read reports on the game today and the internet was AWASH with angry posters saying what a disgrace the referee was.

It seems from what I was reading that this official was incompetent to the point of corruption(?). Some of his biased, and critical, decisions were clearly proved to be wrong by video evidence yet this arsehole will be allowed to get away with it. Sarries, arguably the strongest team in Europe, might well have won anyway but this referee seemed determined to make sure they did. It's WRONG, it's CHEATING, it's DISHONEST, it's CORRUPT!!!!!

Yet referees in all sports insist that they are paid respect. Far from being respected, there are many who shoud be unceremoniously booted out on their cheating/incompetent arses. But nothing will be done as ever.

 

[ivoralljack]

Yet more examples of bent/crap officials on the weekend. Brighton lost to Spurs 1-2 but probably should have won 5-2. They scored two goals that were disallowed yet replays showed they should have counted and then they had two nailed on penalty shouts rejected. VAR saw the same replays that the rest of the world saw yet they CHOSE to get them wrong. So they were wrong not once but FOUR times. Even a born-again cretin would have difficulty doing that, so the question no doubt now being asked is how much money changed hands to engineer this result? Oh, and Brighton have received one apology and not the four they should have had. And, of course, apologies are of no use whatsoever to Brighton who are now counting the cost of lost points, lost money and a much diminished prospect of European football with all that that brings. Shameful, and, in my opinion, potentially corrupt.

Next up is my beef with penalties. Penalty king Ivan Toney missed his first in the Premier League because the keeper correctly guessed and saved his low shot. A second penalty was later awarded to Brentford in the game and the kick was almost identical to the first but this time some height was put on the shot and in it went. The keeper went the right way but was beaten by the height of the shot, a point that was recognised by the commentator. Will these professional players EVER learn?

 

[Yankee_Jack]

Did anyone see the elbow thrown by the linesman at the 'Pool player after first half whistle in the 'Pool v Arsenal match.

Assistant referee Constantine Hatzidakis 'punished enough' for Andy Robertson incident

The assistant referee involved in an incident with Liverpool's Andy Robertson has already been punished "enough", says the head of a referees' charity.

www.bbc.com

"Punished enough" ... from what I saw Robertson didn't touch the official but the official definitely popped his elbow up into the player's face.

 

[CroJack]

Wigan player deliberately lifts his leg and kicks Paterson. 100 % penalty.

 

[ivoralljack]

Yes, I saw that. VAR would have overturned that decision had the system been in use. But then again maybe not.......

 

[Yankee_Jack]

Cheating bastards ... FA to take no action following Robertson incident

Linesman: "It was certainly not my intention to make any contact with Andy as I pulled my arm away from him."

I stand corrected ... lying cheating bastards. There is nothing on the video that indicates he was pulling his arm away ... which would have been a downward motion and away from the player ... not a clearly upward motion and towards the player

 

[Yankee_Jack]

Constantine Hatzidakis will return to officiating on Saturday after being cleared by FA

Assistant referee Constantine Hatzidakis will return to duty on Saturday after being cleared of wrongdoing by the Football Association.

www.bbc.com

He's back. If a player was ever caught on video doing that to another player never mind an official there'd be ructions. And, if an official, the player could kiss his season and a lot of money good-bye. "Cleared of any wrong doing" ... Disgraceful.

 

[ivoralljack]

Yes, it is disgraceful and corrupt imo. The Spurs/Brighton game involved FIVE, not four, wrong decisions. An apology was issued for one of them. Note that practically all these decisions go in favour of the 'bigger' club and definitely if the bigger club is based in the Capital city.

 

[The Blobster]

Who ever cleared him has a clear future as a VAR operator!

 

[Yankee_Jack]

Time for the supporters in the stand on Hatzikakis' line to let him know that his shit does stink. I can only imagine the scorn he's going to get at Anfield.

 

[ivoralljack]

I see that Barcelona stand accused of bribing the commitee in charge of referees in Spain and it's alleged that historic abuse dates back to 2001. Huge sums of money are alleged to be involved, the purpose being to get favourable treatment from the officials. I've long held the view that many officials are corrupt and this was proven in Italy when one of the world's top clubs, Juventus, was relegated after being found guilty. It does go on.

And in my view it goes on in this country as well despite protestations to the contrary. Even tonight I saw a blatant example of Liverpool being cheated of a legitimate goal. Var, with all the technology involved, ruled for offside, when with my naked eye I could see that the goal was good merely by looking at the cut of the grass in relation to the players involved. I didn't need to draw any fucking lines. It was so OBVIOUS! The MOD pundits agreed, saying it was a disgrace and one of the worst mistakes ever made by a VAR official. The authorities have already issued an apology to Liverpool but a fat lot of good that will do for the club.

Now I want to know what will happen to the idiot who made that decision. At the very least he should be sacked and imo a thorough investigation should be undertaken to establish if any corruption was involved.

 

[Yankee_Jack]

Referee punched: Turkish FA halts league football after club president hits Super Lig official

Referee Halil Umut Meler is knocked to the ground by a football club president following a Turkish Super Lig game, leading officials to suspend all matches.

www.bbc.com

A club President went onto the field after a match and decked the referee. The article is full of condemnation of the assault on the referee, but little said about the officiating that might have preceded and led up to the incident.

Halil Umut Meler was struck by MKE Ankaragucu president Faruk Koca, who ran on to the pitch after his team conceded a 97th-minute equaliser in a 1-1 Super Lig draw with Caykur Rizespor.

Maybe the referee was slowing time in the hope that Caykur Risepor club equalized ... tough to prove but match fixing is by its vary nature and execution tough to demonstrate except by the result.

Not condoning this conduct, of course, as much as there are moments in our fairly recent history where we look at the officiating and wonder WTF is going on. Some of the red cards we've recently had are for "fouls" where contact was at best superficial.

 

[ivoralljack]

The cheating bastards are still at it, the latest disgraceful episode taking place in France as reported recently in The Sun newspaper.

VAR chaos in France where the head of the referees' body has been SACKED for being "too close" to leading clubs.
Stephanne Lannoy was shown the red card after telling the Lille president at half-time that an "offside" goal should have been allowed in their 0-0 draw at Montpelier.
He was also slammed for the "technical inadequacy" among French VAR operators while Ligue 1 VAR manager, Sebastien Moreira, was also dismissed.......

Dismissal, imo, is NOT enough. Heavy fines should be levied and a few jail sentences should also be handed out where approppriate to discourage other cheats from doing the same. Note that it is always the LEADING clubs who benefit from this corruption as they are the teams with the money that's used to influence results. Relegation should be a MINIMUM automatic penalty if they are found to have been involved in any wrong-doing.

 

[ivoralljack]

Horrendous example of biased refereeing again yesterday in my opinion when Munster beat Ospreys in the play-offs. It was a woman referee and even to my limited rugby eye some of her decisions were awful, just plain wrong. I'm not alone in my opinion - the internet was alive with angry posters complaining about her and journalists were in agreement.

She was even blatant about it with one comment saying she was smiling, comfortable and warm with the Munster players whilst she was courteous but sharp with the Os team. Even my untrained eye noted that she failed to take action when a Munster player deliberately knocked on, which is a MANDATORY, yellow card. Now okay for referees to ignore the rules when it suits them is it? Actually it's been going on for years and fuck all has been done about it because all of rugby has been brainwashed into believing that it's not sporting and even ungentlemanly to question a referee. What a load of bollocks! Incompetent and biased officials get away with murder every week because of it.

There were many, many incidents where the Os were pinged for indiscipline but Munster were allowed to get away scot free for doing exactly the same thing. Scrums were an absolute farce with Munster often been awarded a penalty when they were the ones at fault! You couldn't make it up. Many people apart from me have vented their wrath online about the ref's incompetence/obvious bias. Apparently she's being fast-tracked (OUT of the game with any luck). There's no way a person of her experience and current ability should have been awarded a game of this importance.

The Os were baffled and frustrated by her decisions. Captain Justin Tuperic questioned her a number of times but was virtually ignored even when he had the most valid of reasons to do so. She systematically ensured that any momentum the Os got was destroyed, either by design, ignorance, or a combination of both. In my opinion she's been promoted to handle games far beyond her present ability. Sour grapes? No, it isn't. Munster are a top side so beating them on their own ground was always going to be difficult; a task I didn't feel the Os could quite manage. But it would have been nice if they had been given a fair chance to try. They weren't and, in my opinion, the reason is obvious.

 

[ivoralljack]

My God, will this farce of bent referees ever be properly dealt with by the authorities? The referee in charge of tomorrow's game between England and Holland is a character by the name of Felix Zwayer, a German official who, in 2005, WAS BANNED FOR SIX MONTHS FOR TAKING A BRIBE FROM ANOTHER REFEREE!!!!! Further, he was publicly slated by Jude Bellingham (who was fined) for his terrible handling of the Dortmund/Bayern Munich game in 2021 when the latter, the 'big' team of course, won the game 3-2. The man was found guity of corruption, so how on earth is he still in the game at all let alone handling a game of this importance?

This guy was found guilty of MATCH-FIXING and banned. This is illegal and, imo, criminal. So why was he reappointed? Is German football so badly off for officials that a proven corrupt, referee is allowed to stay in the game? It seems that was Zwayer's reward for exposing, along with four other refs, another referee, Robert Hoyzer, who had crooked links to a Berlin based Croatian gambling syndicate. Hoyzer was jailed and banned for life but Zwayer admitted accepting a £250 bribe. All this was kept under wraps by the German authorities and four years later Zwayer was promoted from the lower tier to the Bundesliga then on to FIFA's world refs list in 2012.

After the match-fixing spat with Bellingham in 2021 (it was about two penalties in the game - one refused for Dortmund and one given to Bayern) Zwayer took a two month leave of absence before returning to action. England fans rightly are incensed asking how on earth can Zwayer be regarded as neutral after the row with Bellingham? They say it defies logic..... and it does. They ask why is he even allowed to be a ref, particularly for this game, when there are so many other qualified, unbiased officials who could do the job?

EUFA have been asked for their comments. Predictably nothing has been heard so far. But wait, is that the sound of a carpet being raised that I hear along with some frantic brushing? For me, there is far too much corruption in football and dodgy officials seem to be a big part of it. My take is that I regard officials as I now do the police - assume they're crooked until they prove otherwise. And apologies to those good folk in both careers who are honest and genuinely do their best. My opinions are not intended for you. You are being let down by the crooks amongst you.

 

[Yankee_Jack]

Conflict of interest and history too close for comfort. This ref should not be officiating at the finals and the England game in particular.

 

[ivoralljack]

Have to say that this referee turned in a decent performance overall. The penalty award to England was, imo, a little fortunate but then VAR was heavily involved in the decision. Really pleased that England got through and maybe just about deserved to but especially pleased for Ollie Watkins given his convoluted route to the top. Now England will have it all to do against Spain who I reckon have been the best team in the competition.

 

[Yankee_Jack]

Foden is reaching his peak. He and Saka owned the first half from England's perspective. Bellingham has been rather bland to say the least. Guehi turned in another solid performance.