The Ref Stop

Liverpool vs Arsenal

A number of comments have been deleted. They belong on fans forums and BBC Have Your Say feeds. Not on here.

Disagree with the penalty calls? Fine. Say so and why “Salah took a tumble” “That decision makes life difficult for the rest of us” etc. No problem with those.

Think the team has had a bad game; not their best; general off day, again all fine.

Suggestions of bias, incompetence or otherwise questioning the integrity of the match officials however, are totally uncalled for and will be removed.
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@Tealeaf lays the law down! :)
 
The Ref Stop
At least one comment could easily have been construed as suggesting Michael Oliver stood to benefit from favouring a particular team/player.

That’s dangerous ground to venture into, so if proactively deleting it makes me harsh then so be it. Content on here is monitored by other organisations related to refereeing, and the moderators see a fair amount of correspondence from them, and it’s not always complimentary.

It’s better I delete it than see people hit with a FA charge.
 
How would they identify who to charge?

That would require cooperation from the sites owners?

And this is the misconception that discussions boards are anonymous. They are to an extent, but if any member goes beyond a certain line their anonymity will disappear. If anyone makes any comments that are potentially libellous and we are asked for their details we are legally obliged to pass these on to the relevant authority.

If you don't believe me here are a couple of examples ...

https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/law/fo...-18000-over-struck-off-libel-/5061422.article
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/10/19/swfc_net_libel_case/

So please play nicely. If you don't and you find that you have to reportage your (or mummy and daddy's) house to pay for legal fees don't come complaining on here afterwards … !
 
It’s better I delete it than see people hit with a FA charge.


And this is the misconception that discussions boards are anonymous. They are to an extent, but if any member goes beyond a certain line their anonymity will disappear.

The FA have absolutely no authority to demand that the site's operators reveal anything at all. The suggestion that people might end up being disciplined by the FA as a result of something they post here directly implies that the site's operators would voluntarily share people's details with the FA. I doubt that is the case but it would certainly be worth clarifying.
 
The FA have absolutely no authority to demand that the site's operators reveal anything at all. The suggestion that people might end up being disciplined by the FA as a result of something they post here directly implies that the site's operators would voluntarily share people's details with the FA. I doubt that is the case but it would certainly be worth clarifying.



If a referee was to take legal action on something they read on here then the site would be required by law to give up details, for example, a deformation of character process
I also though cannot agree the, or any FA can demand identities.
 
If a referee was to take legal action on something they read on here then the site would be required by law to give up details, for example, a deformation of character process

It would be only be required if a Judge ordered it. Or, in the case of a criminal investigation, if a police officer of rank inspector or above authorised a RIPA notice.

But the question is whether there is a risk of being subject to disciplinary action by the FA as a result of posts here. There may indeed be a risk but only if the site's operators voluntarily give out details despite not being required to do so, and despite such disclosures almost certainly being in breach of data protection law.

I doubt very much that they would do so but since it's been directly implied that they would I think it would be worth somebody clarifying this point.
 
It would be only be required if a Judge ordered it. Or, in the case of a criminal investigation, if a police officer of rank inspector or above authorised a RIPA notice.

But the question is whether there is a risk of being subject to disciplinary action by the FA as a result of posts here. There may indeed be a risk but only if the site's operators voluntarily give out details despite not being required to do so, and despite such disclosures almost certainly being in breach of data protection law.

I doubt very much that they would do so but since it's been directly implied that they would I think it would be worth somebody clarifying this point.

Unless there’s legal grounds to do, sending out personal information to third parties such as the FA is a breach of GDPR. If there are legal grounds, you still wouldn’t give it to the FA, it would be a police matter.
 
I think this is the best example of a thread going off topic: Liverpool vs Arsenal > Michael Oliver > UK data protection laws
It may be off topic, but it’s worth establishing the boundaries of personal opinion when it’s been implied that our personal information will be given to the FA if requested
 
Well, whatever the case, we as referees should know better than to imply bias and y'know 'fiddling' with the decision-making at any level. I can make an exception when we're doing our 'fan' moments, but once that's passed we should be able to reflect that the decision was more than likely correct and/or made with the best of their ability at the time.

I'm sure that is all we ask for in our own matches.
 
Just to be clear, I didn't say that private details would be given to the FA. I said "relevant authorities", and both articles I posted related to legal requirements for the forum operators to provide the details of members.

I'm a member of another refereeing forum and the operators on there were contacted by PGMOL lawyers seeking to take action after a member accused a referee of deliberately influencing the result of a game. And we have fairly recently on here been threatened with potential legal action by a third party after someone posted potentially libellous comments about them.

Just remember if you post on here it is effectively the same as posting under your own name on Facebook, or giving a TV interview and making the same comments. You are not completely protected by anonymity, as much as you think you should be. Opinions are fine, any kind of accusation of or suggestion of bias are absolutely not and will be harshly dealt with.
 
Just to be clear, I didn't say that private details would be given to the FA.

You didn't, but another moderator said "It’s better I delete it than see people hit with a FA charge."

I suspect that moderator had not really thought through the implications of that statement. Since he or she is probably a volunteer moderator acting in good faith on a forum we all value I don't think there is any problem with simply clarifying that the FA won't be getting any personal details from this forum unless there is a legal requirement to provide them.
 
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