The Ref Stop

Line or middle?

Simple question which is easier.?

  • Assistant Referee

    Votes: 19 39.6%
  • Middle Referee

    Votes: 30 62.5%

  • Total voters
    48
Not disagreeing, just a dangerous road to go down, ranking mistakes. If that sole error is the reason he is dropped (if he is dropped) this weekend, I think that's very harsh. Is he suddenly going to become better by not taking a game this weekend? Surely what we all strive to is improvement....

Agree, think it's more of a public reaction though - 'oh look at us football fans, we've dropped him so he won't make the mistake again'. He'll be back the week after and no one will bat an eyelid.
 
The Ref Stop
Is it that different from what happens to players? Small mistakes don't affect much in playing time. But a really bad mistake can cost a player playing time--and will cost a marginal player more than a star. But the core consequences come from repeated poor performance (or, perhaps more precisely, performance below what is expected from the next player trying to get playing time). (And we don't, so far as I know, have any idea if this AR had other performance concerns from the powers that be.)
 
Its rare to actually hear of an official being given the weekend off "to go shopping instead" is the quote I read....
As Alex says, it seems to have been done to prove some kind of point that officials are accountable

I think players are different, if you have a free scoring no9 who aint scored for 3 games, chances are you do play him week 4 and 5 because, you know he is good and will produce
Same as gk who is your best player last season, has 2 games in a row where he lets in easy goal, you don't tend to leave him out on the 3rd game, and if you do, you don't tend to say "he is dropped"

I also am none the wiser as to any other errors but if its based on 1 offside, my own view is, harsh, very harsh
the other AR missed a (more?) crucial one and a clearer goal scoring opportunity in the last minute and was only got out of jail because the player did not score.....the actual error, was the same.
It only be natural to watch his colleagues on MOTD tomorrow night and see what happens next weekend to anyone who makes a similar error, because an AR in the Premiership will get a crucial offside wrong this weekend.
 
For me, it's not about getting the decision wrong. It's about getting the process badly wrong. Fixating yourself on play behind you without checking the offside line is something any AR should never do let alone a PL one and when there is every chance of the ball being put through any moment.
 
For me, it's not about getting the decision wrong. It's about getting the process badly wrong. Fixating yourself on play behind you without checking the offside line is something any AR should never do let alone a PL one and when there is every chance of the ball being put through any moment.


I hear you but the flip side is you are saying, had he been in the right place, and called it wrong, it would be ok then
We all know you cant look up a line and along an offside line at the same time. yes, we can check back and forth, granted, but he has simply been guilty of being human. Its not the worst error an AR has ever made and we would easy find similar examples in this weekends games, unfortunately for this guy, his has been at a vital point and in front of the worlds glare.
As you even say, correctly, every chance the ball being put through....and as we know, its jackpot if on the line we see line and kicker at same time......he admittedly gave himself little chance of getting it right, but even putting him in a lower league is based on that one call is harsh. He's been top league for years and does not suddenly on one incident become a poor lino.
 
It riles me when commentators and newspapers quote stats that only involve the Premier years as the top flight, like Vardy with the goals in consecutive games, he was miles off the all time record... football has been around over 150 years and not just 27....
 
I hear you but the flip side is you are saying, had he been in the right place, and called it wrong, it would be ok then
I mean, that's pretty much the exact principal used by observers all the way up the football pyramid. I've even been explicitly told by an observer after a match that "I don't have 20 camera angles and replays to help me judge if the decision is right or wrong. If you're in a sensible position and you understood the decision you made in the context of the laws, you get a thumbs up from me."

And I've had the other side of the coin as well. I was the AR making a very contentious no-flag on an offside decision that left to a goal. The observer happened to be bang in line with me and said I got the decision spot-on - but he absolutely slated the ref for his poor and indecisive handling of the arguments around it. The correctness/incorrectness of the decision is a nice detail, but I imagine the ref lost marks in either teamwork or match control as a result of that correct decision.

I appreciate it might be a little different when you get to a level where there are enough angles to prove that a decision was wrong, but as @one says, there are some serious flaws in the "process" here that should be picked up on regardless of the actual final decision reached.
 
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you are saying, had he been in the right place, and called it wrong, it would be ok then
Not really what I am saying. In this particular case if he followed 'the right' process, it was so far offside, unlikely he would have got it wrong.

Wrong decisions are only forgivable as human error in that level if they are difficult/close calls. If you are in the right spot and do everything right but still miss a player who is 2 yards offside, that is still not forgivable.

Either way I am not saying someone should be dropped on one bad error.
 
Not really what I am saying. In this particular case if he followed 'the right' process, it was so far offside, unlikely he would have got it wrong.

Wrong decisions are only forgivable as human error in that level if they are difficult/close calls. If you are in the right spot and do everything right but still miss a player who is 2 yards offside, that is still not forgivable.

Either way I am not saying someone should be dropped on one bad error.
My two cents on this: if I was the 23rd best AR in England and I’d been doing my best to get to the top flight, I’d be pretty miffed if the guy wasn’t dropped after that overall display.
 
My two cents on this: if I was the 23rd best AR in England and I’d been doing my best to get to the top flight, I’d be pretty miffed if the guy wasn’t dropped after that overall display.
Agree it was a dismal performance. It wasn't just one incident. But it was one game. I am sure it will not work in his favour when it comes to looking at promotions and demotions. I doubt PL ARs (are they called SG ARs?) are promoted or demoted based on one game. Sure he should go down the pecking order in the top flight but I am fairly sure panel selection is based on season long performances and done once a season.
 
It riles me when commentators and newspapers quote stats that only involve the Premier years as the top flight, like Vardy with the goals in consecutive games, he was miles off the all time record... football has been around over 150 years and not just 27....
But they dont do that. Its called a premier league record. Not an all time record. Each competition has its own records so its fair cop to say it like that. No one is taking away the all time records they still stand. But the game changes and it doesnt hurt to "reset" the stats sometimes..
 
But they dont do that. Its called a premier league record. Not an all time record. Each competition has its own records so its fair cop to say it like that. No one is taking away the all time records they still stand. But the game changes and it doesnt hurt to "reset" the stats sometimes..
Records are records, polish the new silverware, change the branding but its still Division One....
 
Records are records, polish the new silverware, change the branding but its still Division One....
Except it isnt. Division 1 is now called the championship. The premier league was setup as a breakaway from the football league so is in fact a totally independent competition to what was before it, that is entitled to hold its own records as an independent organisation.
 
Except it isnt. Division 1 is now called the championship. The premier league was setup as a breakaway from the football league so is in fact a totally independent competition to what was before it, that is entitled to hold its own records as an independent organisation.

Splitting hairs as ever @JamesL , its Division 1, the first tier of English football.... No issue with Prem records, its when they don't qualify it and ignore the other 130 years of history....
 
Except it isnt. Division 1 is now called the championship. The premier league was setup as a breakaway from the football league so is in fact a totally independent competition to what was before it, that is entitled to hold its own records as an independent organisation.
It may be an independent organisation but the last season before it existed......guess where all the division one teams disappeared to.........
 
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