Connaught Cup 2008/09

[FahyForever]

Understood. Thanks for the reply anyway.

[1924]

Was at the match , Tony G was the ref with Paul Mc G one of the linesmen , didnt know the other. In the first half one of the Westport lads No 2 followed through with a kick on West defender which Paul brought to attention of ref . Got yellow but going on rules should have walked ...Red!!! Saw it myself !!! Ref did well in a tough job with probably more Westport support than home side , who were very vocal towards him. Their No 7 Horkan was also booked , bit of niggle there .....
Didnt envy his job stuck in the middle between two sets of very vocal supporters , but did well i thought. Not an easy job by any means . West won fair and square without playing to their full potential.


this was a neutrals point of view on the galwaysoccer.editboard.net

Lads,Im not having a go at either,what I want to say is that Referees do not have to answer to any authority....well none that I know of anyway.They have a tough job to do and like players or managers do get it wrong sometimes...Thing is that when they do,they are never disciplined by anyone and do not have to answer to anyone.Some of them love the power trip and will act on it in any way they seem fit.I know a guy that was sent off in the wrong from the line a few months ago,he actually never even said boo even when he was sent off.Afterwards he asked the ref why and the ref could not give him an answer of any description.What galls me is that if someone had been abusive or used foul language,they deserve to go,but when asked what he had done wrong,there was a blank responce.The guy in question had never been sent to the line in his life.

"Even when they are wrong they are right"

[FahyForever]

I agree totally, it´s absolutely soul-destroying to train hard and put in an honest effort only to see your chances squandered by incompetence, despotism or bias. And I agree that officials who appear to show signs of some or all of these qualities should be reported and dealt with. The problem, of course, is the lack of people willing to do so difficult a job. The Mayo referees committee chairman spoke at the AGM of refs being abused by players when out socially with their wives and families, which is horrible behaviour, so it´s not hard to see why they have problems finding genuine candidates and have to fast-track semi-qualified officials into league matches.

There is also definitely a minority of officials who do it for the ´power´ as 1924 mentioned. These guys remind me of kids who were picked on at school and resolved to become Guards so they could seek retribution on all the boys who ever called them names. It´s the same with some refs. As the last boy picked for the five-a-sides every lunch break, they vow to ruin the lives of players forever by bullying them from behind the comfort of their whistles.

I genuinely feel sorry for Westport if they were the victims of bad officiating, but just to reiterate my point for the man who can´t understand it: it´s not the opposing team´s fault. And they have no obligation whatsoever to offer a replay to Westport.

[1924]

I agree totally, it´s absolutely soul-destroying to train hard and put in an honest effort only to see your chances squandered by incompetence, despotism or bias. And I agree that officials who appear to show signs of some or all of these qualities should be reported and dealt with. The problem, of course, is the lack of people willing to do so difficult a job. The Mayo referees committee chairman spoke at the AGM of refs being abused by players when out socially with their wives and families, which is horrible behaviour, so it´s not hard to see why they have problems finding genuine candidates and have to fast-track semi-qualified officials into league matches.

There is also definitely a minority of officials who do it for the ´power´ as 1924 mentioned. These guys remind me of kids who were picked on at school and resolved to become Guards so they could seek retribution on all the boys who ever called them names. It´s the same with some refs. As the last boy picked for the five-a-sides every lunch break, they vow to ruin the lives of players forever by bullying them from behind the comfort of their whistles.

I genuinely feel sorry for Westport if they were the victims of bad officiating, but just to reiterate my point for the man who can´t understand it: it´s not the opposing team´s fault. And they have no obligation whatsoever to offer a replay to Westport.

I have to say one thing.....The mayo referees by and large are very good and in no way was I ever referring to them.What I do find is that the quality of referees once you go outside the county is not of the same standard as that of the mayo league refs.
Its like the standards the Mayo league have set.....what with nearly every team/club having fantastic facilities in mayo.If every County could take a leaf out of The Mayo league and the standards they have set

[Leveller]

I have to say one thing.....The mayo referees by and large are very good and in no way was I ever referring to them.What I do find is that the quality of referees once you go outside the county is not of the same standard as that of the mayo league refs.
Its like the standards the Mayo league have set.....what with nearly every team/club having fantastic facilities in mayo.If every County could take a leaf out of The Mayo league and the standards they have set

Very true.

[threefivetwo]

not saying it in a bad way but i think it's awful bad that westport are putting in an appeal about the game and looking for a replay, when will ye ever just take a beatin??? they bet ye last year as well and even though it might have been under bad circumstances this year a beatin is a beatin so please dry your tears, i don't know any other team that would actually cry so much and try to get a game replayed after they lost, brings back memories of the junior cup when ye lostand couldn't take it, we didn't do it when it happened us in limerick!!! i'm obviously a mayo man and i get on with most of the westport team but i just think it's childish the way ye are going on!!

[couchpotato]

not saying it in a bad way but i think it's awful bad that westport are putting in an appeal about the game and looking for a replay, when will ye ever just take a beatin??? they bet ye last year as well and even though it might have been under bad circumstances this year a beatin is a beatin so please dry your tears, i don't know any other team that would actually cry so much and try to get a game replayed after they lost, brings back memories of the junior cup when ye lostand couldn't take it, we didn't do it when it happened us in limerick!!! i'm obviously a mayo man and i get on with most of the westport team but i just think it's childish the way ye are going on!!

-MOD EDIT-TYPE OUT YOUR WORDS PLEASE.---------

Are westport putting in an appeal??????

[west awake]

westport have appealed thats for certain,west utd fc have recieved a copy of the appeal,they have appealed against the standard of officials,the state of the pitch,what they see as inadequate roping off of the pitch,they have appealed to why there was linesmen present,when originally there wasn't supposed to be 2 linesmen,they have appealed to why west didn't play in there original home pitch,which west moved from because it has been deemed unsafe by the top groundsman in the country,they also said they were only informed of the change of venue sunday morning which is lies as our secretary contacted the westport secretary on the friday to tell westport the change in venue,phone records will confirm this,they also appealed about having to tog out in the mervue clubhouse which they had to pay 30euro for the use of,the west complex was opened for them but they declined this invitation,said they were running late,i have one question,WHY WERE THEY RUNNING LATE,WHEN IT WAS WESTPORT WHO GOT THE GAME CHANGED TO 12 O CLOCK FROM 2 AND WEST ONLY FOUND OUT ABOUT THE CHANGE OF TIME BY ONE OF ITS MEMBERS READING IT IN A MAYO NEWSPAPER?surely west should of been informed,we were the home team and should of had choice of time,never mind not 2 be even consulted about the change,it really seems that westport really are bad loser's.

[Terry]

How late were they ? I seen the westport bus in mervue at 10.50am sunday morning, and was wondering why they were there ?

[GoodFootball]

westport have appealed thats for certain,west utd fc have recieved a copy of the appeal,they have appealed against the standard of officials,the state of the pitch,what they see as inadequate roping off of the pitch,they have appealed to why there was linesmen present,when originally there wasn't supposed to be 2 linesmen,they have appealed to why west didn't play in there original home pitch,which west moved from because it has been deemed unsafe by the top groundsman in the country,they also said they were only informed of the change of venue sunday morning which is lies as our secretary contacted the westport secretary on the friday to tell westport the change in venue,phone records will confirm this,they also appealed about having to tog out in the mervue clubhouse which they had to pay 30euro for the use of,the west complex was opened for them but they declined this invitation,said they were running late,i have one question,WHY WERE THEY RUNNING LATE,WHEN IT WAS WESTPORT WHO GOT THE GAME CHANGED TO 12 O CLOCK FROM 2 AND WEST ONLY FOUND OUT ABOUT THE CHANGE OF TIME BY ONE OF ITS MEMBERS READING IT IN A MAYO NEWSPAPER?surely west should of been informed,we were the home team and should of had choice of time,never mind not 2 be even consulted about the change,it really seems that westport really are bad loser's.

Your post backs up Westports right to appeal! There's no rule that says you cant appeal if you feel wrongly done by. Apparantly alot of neutrals from galway thought they were wrongly done by too.

Leave it to the officials to decide

[west awake]

Your post backs up Westports right to appeal! There's no rule that says you cant appeal if you feel wrongly done by. Apparantly alot of neutrals from galway thought they were wrongly done by too.

Leave it to the officials to decide

how do i back them up?i told you what grounds they were appealing on,the linemen were appointed by the referee's inspector,which he has the authority to do,west changed venue which they were entitled to do as they were the home team and there own pitch was unsafe,did you expect west to travel to westport?inadequate roping of the pitch?the rules state that a pitch does not have to be roped of for a quarter final,west roped it off anyway,it was broken by westport supporters,hardly west's fault,complaining about having to pay for changing rooms?thats there own fault,they said they didn't have enough time to get across town,yet there is no traffic in town on a sunday morning,west had there complex opened,westport didn't turn up,west had no problem getting across town,the only west players to tog out in mervue were the one's who live in the eastside beside the pitch,there complaint about officials?sour grapes,the decisions that went against westport were the correct ones,the only bad one they got was when the linesman flagged when westport had a 3 on 2 situation,the ref blew up,reason for the flag,westport supporters were breaking the rope and nearly out on the pitch,they should of stayed behind the rope and they might have won 3-2,the appeal is the biggest joke i've ever seen in junior football,i actually hope they win it and west can give them a football lesson like they did last year up in westport.

[FahyForever]

How do people see the Objection going? Obviously Westawake thinks it will be rejected for the reasons he has explained, but what about the Westport lads? Are ye confident it will be successful? If you thought there was no chance I guess you wouldn´t make the objection in the first place. On whats grounds would you say it might be passed? There seems to be a lot of different charges according to Westawake´s account of things.. Do you think that it will be because of an amalgamation of these things or will one single charge be enough to have the game replayed if deemed justified? If so, which one is the most likely to sway the Connaught Council??

[west awake]

In the previous round Oranmore were well and truly shafted by the Mayo officials. Although Westport were the better team 2 dubious penaltys to say the least were awarded to Westport by local officials. Penatly awarded when Oranmore were one up and the other when Oranmore were on top in the second half after just scoring twice. Didn't hear Oranmore crying over those decisions. Well done to West and best of luck in the next round. Westport maybe next year!!!!!!



oranmore's account of the last round of the connacht cup in westport on www.galwaysoccer.editboard.com

[FahyForever]

Just had a look at that Galway website. Some of the remarks on it are a disgrace. Some utter moron called Murty had this to say:

Let all those whinging Mayo f**kers remember they wouldn't have a bob to their names only for all their illegal relations that have moved up here and taken all the jobs .They are worse han the Mexicans in the States , ye can tell them all by their wooly haircuts and tan brogue shoes . Their always asking bands and deejays to play the green and red of mayo and are usually louder than a bus load of spanish kids during the summer. I mean to say Westport , for feck sake , their most famous citizens are the fecking monkeys in the House . Better pitchs , sure ya , but at least , bad an all as things are we have hospitals , university ,and a decent place to live , ye hairy legs in Westport have got the whole thing wrong , get the basics first then get your nice pitch .By the way Westport clowns , here we also have Sportsground , Terryland , Mervues complex , Drom , NUI,G pitchs , Rangers pitchs , Knocknacarra , Millers lane , Pearse stadium etc etc , the fact ye lost to a team that used HOME ADVANTAGE to its ADVANTAGE is brilliant , fecking brilliant ....na na, na na na . Up yers , by the way , has it dawned .......ye are out of the Connacht cup , a competition no matter what type of grass ye think ye float on ,is a competition recently dominated by Galway clubs .......... thats right , come on east and west , pity ye couldnt grace the final ! By the way Westport Zoo fc , a third division side in Galway went further than ye !

... So it´s good to see the voice of reason alive and kicking in Galway. Absolute disgrace that moderators would allow that kind of neaderthalic sentiment to stay on their pages. Totally sickening. Please God Castlebar win it now...

[buddyb]

In answer to Fahy Forever and others in above posts , l have been reading with interest all the views on the now infamous , Conn. Cup QF!!!!
Firstly , i am an associate referee in the Galway district who reffed approx 20 games this season prior to damaging my Achilles tendon .......1 Red Card and about 8 yellows in total during that period. I actually attended the game and i live as close to Castlebar as i do to Galway, so would have no interest as to the outcome. Here is an unbiased version of events......
The first thing that stood out was the amount of Westport support at the game , well done to all. When the game commenced it was apparent from the outset that Westport were not going to be bullied , as might have occurred in the past , but were going to meet fire with fire . Westports no 2 was lucky to be on the pitch after only 5 mins for a kick after the ball was cleared . AS a ref i would have sent him off as it was worse than the recent incident involving Rory Delap and Wright-Philips, both of whom got 3 game bans.David Horkan , albeit in my opinion the best player on the pitch by far also got booked and persisted with niggly fouls throughout the game and was also lucky to stay on the pitch????
As far as i could see , the two penos were rightly awarded and if anyone was to blame it was your keeper who despite his height wouldnt catch a cold.
The Galway FA have a policy of using 3 officials , even in league games that might have a tendency to boil over. As a manager of an underage (u13s)side 3 yrs ago and on reaching the QF of Irish Cup , our club were informed that it was mandatory to have the pitch "roped off" and three officials.
As for the incident involving the linesman who flagged , i had a good view of this and what occurred was that the Westport support on the half-way line were standing on the rope and had actually brought about an infringment by encroaching on to the pitch , straining to get a view of the play as it progressed up the wing. The linesman raised his flag early but was not seen by ref. When he eventually saw the flag he went back and spoke to him , asked the crowd to retreat and most importantly "dropped" the ball where the initial infringment took place- on the half-way line. Correct decision!!!
It was a fiery atmosphere, between arguably the best two teams in Connaught, and the West support can be very vocal , but to be honest they were outdone by the visitors who probably aimed more at the officials. In my opinion the referee, a Cork born man , is one of the best Soceity referees in the county and i believe he handled the game well in very difficult circumstances!!!!
I firmly believe that West will win Conn Cup and Prem League this season , even though they were not at their best and i also believe with a surface like Terryland , the game would have been over in the 90 mins , with only one winner. Saw them earlier in season V Tuam Celtic (5-1) in the above mentioned ground and no one in the West (pardon the pun) would have touched them on the night .....
Finally , i think from a neutral point of view Westport are wrong to object , they were beaten by a better team who gifted Westport 2 goals , its bad for football and in the unlikely event of being successful will open a huge can of worms for future games in all counties and competitions , hopefully The Connaught FA wont be conned into giving a replay !!!!!!!!!!!

[GoodFootball]

In the previous round Oranmore were well and truly shafted by the Mayo officials. Although Westport were the better team 2 dubious penaltys to say the least were awarded to Westport by local officials. Penatly awarded when Oranmore were one up and the other when Oranmore were on top in the second half after just scoring twice. Didn't hear Oranmore crying over those decisions. Well done to West and best of luck in the next round. Westport maybe next year!!!!!!



oranmore's account of the last round of the connacht cup in westport on www.galwaysoccer.editboard.com

First of all, final score was 6-3, not really a close game that was decided by the refs decisions??

The first penalty was a clear handball in the penalty area. Westport went 5-1 up with 10 mins left, took the foot off and Oranmore scored 2 late and then a penalty was awarded for a bad tackle in the box which was scored to leave it 6-3. Flattering to Oranmore, more so!

Nothing dubious about either penalty by all accounts.

As you said yourself the better team won...to say that they were shafted by mayo officials is bitter!!

[Billynose]

First of all I haven't heard of one neutral from galway say Westport were wrongly done by.

Second of all according to the Oranmore website (which is surprisingly unbiased) the reporter said it hit the defenders back while he was on the ground and that the second penalty was a well timed challenge. Now I'm not saying he's right (nor do I care) and I didn't see the game but surely going by Westports logic they should have been able to appeal if they felt aggrieved. Now if every team starts doing this the game will turn into a complete farce. As an aside I wouldn't call it bitter either, they freely admitted Westport were the better team.

Finally, FahyForever regarding that comment from Murty, granted the grammar etc is terrible (that is my main gripe with the Galway forum, I don't care for perfect grammar but a little effort would be nice) but it's actually significantly better than some of the rubbish spouted in this thread.

[buddyb]

Having a family member living in Castlebar , for 20 yrs + , whos 15 yr old son has represented this country at two different sports , with success , i hate to think how Westport will react next time ye beat them in Cup Comp or any other Mayo Club for that matter, IF THEY ARE SUCCESSFUL IN THEIR APPEAL???? Will the toys be thrown out of the pram once again AND HEAD STRAIGHT FOR THE APPEALS "COURT".
Huge can of worms could be opened here and for the sake of football i hope the Conn FA see sense..............
Nice one Billy !!!!

[FahyForever]

Having a family member living in Castlebar , for 20 yrs + , whos 15 yr old son has represented this country at two different sports , with success , i hate to think how Westport will react next time ye beat them in Cup Comp or any other Mayo Club for that matter, IF THEY ARE SUCCESSFUL IN THEIR APPEAL???? Will the toys be thrown out of the pram once again AND HEAD STRAIGHT FOR THE APPEALS "COURT".
Huge can of worms could be opened here and for the sake of football i hope the Conn FA see sense..............
Nice one Billy !!!!

To the Galway lads.. I have already posted on this forum that I think criticising the West team for not offering a replay on a neutral venue was wrong, but the post by Murty was just totally out of line and offensive. I notice he´s only 18 and that might account for the immaturity of his post, but the fact that the moderators allow this kind of offensive garbage to stay on the forum (despite their written policy of screening sensitive or offensive posts) is blatantly wrong. Personal insults should be left out of what is already a ´huge can of worms´ as you call it yourselves. Every team has the right to object when they feel it´s justified, but it should be confined to a footballing issue, rather than a Mayo V Galway one.

Fair play to the Galway lads who posted here for keeping their posts unbiased and not reducing themselves to mindless slurs and insults.

[Closing Time]

Come on Fahy that post was just a jealous Galway young fella wishing he was a Mayo man. IMO Westport Utd has acted disgracefully. They should have taken it on the chin and go and win the CSC. Cant see what they have appealed against. What rules have West broken. Just poor form just very poor form. I have no problem with a letter of complaint going to the CFA but why blame West. Poor, Poor, Poor Westport. Next they will be complaining that the ball wasnt round enough.