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The Footie Thread

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Having thought about it, booking players for dissent is never going to truly stop it happening. It might stop extreme incidents, or limit them. But, how can we truly expect players to stop many of their actions of dissent, when they are fueled by instant emotion rather than based on any logic? How can we expect players to tone it down, when there are tens or thousands of their fans, and opposition fans surrounding them, hurling all sorts of abuse at the officials when something doesn't go their way. How can we expect players to stop this emotion when pundits will spend half their analysis telling us how incompetent officials are for making one or 2 big mistakes, but never giving any credit for the 95% of decisions they got right. Even look at the discussions on this thread. People will, on one hand, curse certain decisions and scream how incompetent the officials are, and that they shouldn't be in a job. Then a little later, the same people will say players should respect the referee.

A player might just be able to hold their emotions better than others, and simply stay as quiet as they can. That isn't respect though, that is simply being quiet and not getting into trouble.

I've always felt a far better way of dealing with it is humanizing officials. Let them speak to players, even better if the fans can not just see this, but hear what is being said. Listen to them talk to assistant referees and VAR. Understands their thought process. If they are going to start waving a card around, talk to the player each time to explain exactly why a card is being given. If for dissent, explain that and make it clear to players and fans exactly what is going on. If, while in conversation with the referee a player continues to be abusive or childish, despite a clear warning to calm down and stop the abuse, by all means give a second booking and red card. Ideally, we could hear all this live. But as a minimum, could officials release their match report a few days later. We are no longer guessing why some decisions were made, but we can actually see exactly why they were made (I'm assuming these reports are not released, I've never seen them anyway)

I'm not sure asking referees to simply wave around more yellow cards is actually going to help in the long run, and may actually result in more mistrust and anger towards officials. By the letter of the law, Nunez should have been sent off at weekend early in game. In reality, I don't think it should even get to that, and it ruins games of football (even if it would have made it better for my team). When he was initially booked for kicking the ball away (assuming that was the reason), the referee should have brought him over and talked to him. If the player was still wound up and acting overly emotional or sarcastic, the ref can continue to talk to him, calm him down, and warn him if he can't calm down, continues to be silly, he'll have no choice to get sent off. I think in 99% of cases, the player will calm down in 10-15 seconds and both the referee and the player will walk away on better terms.

That all being said, if the majority think that throwing around yellow cards for most episodes of heightened emotion is necessary, then do it. Do it absolutely all the time. If 4 or 5 players are getting sent off every game, keep doing it. Only if they do this for a prolonged period of time, will we know if it is making the game better or worse.
Unfortunately these prima Donna’s know the refs havnt got the balls.
Oliver on Sunday was an exception .
when I was playing in the 70s it was always there but not so much in the pro game( sure it went on)
any other occupations you would be sacked for talking to a fellow worker like that.
But footballers are multi million pound assets and are hard to control without discipline.

There is a line but it’s not just players ,the guys on the line are just as bad.
 
Maybe the relegation battle isn't over .. if nunes is coming in forest easily could drop

Luton to take advantage
 
Unfortunately these prima Donna’s know the refs havnt got the balls.
Oliver on Sunday was an exception .
when I was playing in the 70s it was always there but not so much in the pro game( sure it went on)
any other occupations you would be sacked for talking to a fellow worker like that.
But footballers are multi million pound assets and are hard to control without discipline.

There is a line but it’s not just players ,the guys on the line are just as bad.

Time to bring in the elite women's ref for the premier league .. don't have the ego. Do the job professionally and no player in their right mind would abuse them like they abuse the men because the fall out would be massive
 
I don't watch a lot of rugby. However, what I do tend to see it referees seem to be great at communicating with players, and will take time to speak to them clearly. What's more, there are times the audience also gets to hear what the referee is saying.

However, it is also true to say that they are different sports. Both contact sports, but in very different ways. I also suspect different elements of society are attracted to rugby than football. In N Ireland at least, rugby was a sport that was never played when you go out with your mates. It was played at Grammar schools, and most of the fans were ex Grammar School type people. Football was more a sport for all classes, and played at High schools (wasn't even allowed to play football at my grammar school). I don't know if this is the same for most parts of the world with rugby, but if it was it could certainly explain different behaviors in players and fans. I certainly recognize the different personalities (generally) in people that play both sports, as I'm friends with many from both backgrounds.

I think it works both ways. Dissent certainly needs to be dealt with to improve behaviour from players and maybe even fans. But humanizing officials and finding a way to get them more respect from fans could also help improve the behaviour of players. If the fans get to know a referee better and generally respect their decision making, and hear how they've come to a specific decision, then there may well be much much less support for the player who then turns around and screams some swear words at him.
Toattly agree.
But the refs “ hide” after the game.
They don’t have press conferences or anything else.
so if they need humanising they need to more visible to the fans.!
 
Time to bring in the elite women's ref for the premier league .. don't have the ego. Do the job professionally and no player in their right mind would abuse them like they abuse the men because the fall out would be massive
if there good enough then why not

These are young men with a fighting spirit.
if we knock that out of them to much you lose the player imo.

All they have to do is publish what the player says to the ref.
Most would be embarrassed if they realised what they say in the heat of the moment.
 
The thing that irritates me most is the way that fouls on forwards is viewed.
If a forward puts the ball past a defender then deliberately runs into the defender's leg then it seems to be accepted that they have the right to go down.
I'd like to see football where they rule that the defender had a right to make the challenge and the forward could have easily avoided contact or had the strength of character to stay on their feet and get a shot in.
Football needs to ask itself why defenders hit the deck less often when forwards mistime tackles on them.

The simulation and looking to be fouled spoils football for me more than the petty dissent.
It's unbelievable that people supposedly in football can't see this. The amount of fouls and Penalties that are given when a defenders leg is outstretched and not even moving and a forward from a couple yards out runs and trips over it. These guys couldn't have played football as a defender
 
It's unbelievable that people supposedly in football can't see this. The amount of fouls and Penalties that are given when a defenders leg is outstretched and not even moving and a forward from a couple yards out runs and trips over it. These guys couldn't have played football as a defender
The one that peeves me the most is.
Players running towards goal fighting for the ball.
Striker is the first to initiate contact with an arm over the chest of the defender.
As soon as the defender starts to fight back they go down and it’s a foul and a yellow .
strikers get away with this all the time
 
Disgraceful stewarding from Chelsea allowing a fan to enter the pitch and confront Dubravka without even attempting to stop him....and then just ushering said fan back into the crowd.

Anyway...Newcastle showed no energy...and the second half and late equaliser was PSG all over again...Chelsea, if they were half decent, would have created seven or eight clear cut chances and should have had the game wrapped up well before the end.
 
City fined £120k for surrounding/pressuring the ref in the game v Spurs. A financial fine is meaningless, at that level anyway. It should have been individual player bans, captain gets banned for failure to control etc.

This isn't a pop at city, it should apply to all teams in that situation. They have got away with it.
Under the circumstances of the ref screwing up, I think the passion, anger whatever you want to call it. It’s not a surprise the ref was surrounded. If it happened every game with City i could understand. But it don’t.
 
Under the circumstances of the ref screwing up, I think the passion, anger whatever you want to call it. It’s not a surprise the ref was surrounded. If it happened every game with City i could understand. But it don’t.
Oh so you think if players are justified in being annoyed it’s ok?
 
Under the circumstances of the ref screwing up, I think the passion, anger whatever you want to call it. It’s not a surprise the ref was surrounded. If it happened every game with City i could understand. But it don’t.
It's no excuse. Be professional or accept the consequences. If not, how do you decide when abuse and intimidation is acceptable? What decision gives you a pass?
 
Time to bring in the elite women's ref for the premier league .. don't have the ego. Do the job professionally and no player in their right mind would abuse them like they abuse the men because the fall out would be massive
Isn't that what's starting with the Fulham v Burnley game. That has a female referee and while not a high profile or historically volatile fixture it will be interested to monitor the players behaviour
 
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