My god the amount of moaning and whinging that goes on on this site is beyond belief. People talk about referees turning people away from games due to decision making. If you look at all the threads on here the vast majority of them are of a negative nature. Has anybody thought of the affect that has on the image of the league or if indeed that air of negativity is turning people away?Quote:
Originally Posted by deecay
How about the sub standard facilities at some of the grounds in our league,has this had an impact on why people do not come to our games? Some stadia have improved dramatically in the last few years but work is still to do. Progress being made!
How about the standard of players in the league, has that had an affect on why people do not come to see games in the league? Over the past few years the quality of player has improved but previous to that lets face it most of the players were average doing their very best in a part time role. Never before have so many players from the league moved abroad to perceived larger Clubs. Progress being made!
Even Managers are improving due to coaching courses and so on but before that the tactical ability and nous of most coaches was probably basic at best. Again, Progress being made!
How about the amount of negative press and media, has that had an impact on people's perception of the league and turned them away? Or indeed tv pundits and punditry. Surely when TV has a captive audience they should talk up all things good rather than portraying things in a bad light so that the product can be sold. After all, it has worked a dream for BBC and Sky down through the years
The point that i am trying to make is that Match Officials are no different. Going back a number of years irish referees were older, less fit and maybe less educated in the laws of the game. As with Clubs, a huge amount of work is going on behind the scenes geared towards improving our match officials. They are younger, fitter and developing all the time in terms of game education. It is the same work that is being done in the likes of Germany, England, Spain, France, Italy etc.. with their match officials. Make no mistake about it, referees will make mistakes and no amount of coaching will legislate for that but all the work that is being done in terms of education and development is all geared towards making each match official the best that they can possibly be.
Somebody made a point about fitness and that irish match officials are not fit. I would like people to know that FIFA set a specific fitness test for referees and assistant referees and unless that is passed then no official is permitted to operate in their respective leagues. This test is set by highly trained personnel in the area of Sports Science. Irish referees are fitness tested at least 4 times a season and their level of fitness matches and surpasses the required standard and expectation and that is a fact. I also know for a fact that other countries match officials are struggling to attain that standard.
I know that the majority of posters on this site are supporters and match officials are an easy target. At times they make themselves an easy target but some of the flack that is dished is undeserved. I have looked at all the recent threads relating to refereeing and the vast majority of arguments are based on individual opinion as opposed to actual Laws of the Game which is all part and parcel of football..opinion. But match offiicals are governed by the Laws of the Game. A copy of the Laws of the Game can be downloaded from the FIFA website and for anyone who is interested, i promise that it will make interesting reading and throw up its fair share of surprises for most.
Progress is being made with Match Officials whether people want to believe that or not. FIFA and UEFA seem to think so. It is not easy being a Match Official in modern football with improved technology analysing and over analysing every decision numerous times. We saw in the Euro Championships this year some decisions where the refs were crucified by the media but when the dust settled the decisions were proved correct. That has been the case with some of the decisions in the EL this season also. Every referee will make mistakes and that is unfortunate. I dont believe any of us have ever seen a match official who has not made a mistake during their respective careers and that is no different in any other country.
I dont expect to convert the 'non believers' with this post, the aim was merely to point out that match officials like lots of other things in our leaque are improving and the structures for further improvement are in place.
If there are to be responses to this post please make them as constructive as possible rather than smart ass one liners. Then a decent and productive discussion can take place:ball:
