Dublin bias, crap officiating etc.

**Colm** · 01/11/2003, 2:12 PM

I'm getting so sick of this. We were robbed yet again last night.
There are two trains of thought on this, one would be to blame it all on the Dublin bias, the other would be to blame it all on the appalingly poor standard of officiating in the el.
We have been robbed so many times this season, a few prime examples being... Jim O'Neill in our first trip to Dalymount this season, Paul McKeon in Waterford and the linesman last night.
Theifs the lot of them!
What about Pat Kelly's role in all this? He's supposed to be the referees assessor, well why doesn't he do some assessing then? He must see what we see, how can he justify these pitiful diplays of officiating? When a few of us had words with him after last nights game all he did was stand there with a smug grin on his face. In fairness, I know he has got hard and thankless job and he seems like a pleasant enough fella but he really has to sort this mess out.
The Dublin bias struck again last night and yet again we have come home with nothing as a result.

Neil · 01/11/2003, 3:26 PM

I thought the ref had a good game, in fairness, EXCEPT for not giving that peno.

The linesman on the other hand was rubbish/blind/biased.

**Ref** · 01/11/2003, 3:33 PM

Originally posted by Colm
What about Pat Kelly's role in all this? He's supposed to be the referees assessor, well why doesn't he do some assessing then? He must see what we see, how can he justify these pitiful diplays of officiating? When a few of us had words with him after last nights game all he did was stand there with a smug grin on his face. In fairness, I know he has got hard and thankless job and he seems like a pleasant enough fella but he really has to sort this mess out.

what would you have liked Pat to say?

he wasn't the match assessor last night. he was just at the match.

**Dr.Nightdub** · 01/11/2003, 3:56 PM

If it was Dublin bias, how come fans of ALL the Dublin clubs are forever being driven to distraction by refs? Also...McKeon's failure to send the Sligo player off against Shels - hardly pro-Dublin bias. The fact that Jim O'Neill is allowed anyhwere near a whistle - hardly Dublin bias.

Most fans are paranoid that one ref or another is pro-such and such or anti-such and such. I think it simply goes back to an abysmally low standard generally. Bias doesn't come into it.

**patsh** · 01/11/2003, 4:07 PM

Don't really think bias came into it.
I didn't see the Doyle incident, but a bad decision from the ref according to some.
A poor enough performance by the linesman, I think he made a terrible decision regarding the ball Rutherford "kept in", but not one report in the 5 I saw said it was out. So.....

**tiktok** · 01/11/2003, 7:45 PM

i don't think we can keep pulling this dublin bias card to be fair, the ref was good, the linesman very poor, and not just on the rutherford decision, but i think it's just that the standards are low within the league.

people can talk day and night about training and assessment that the officials get, but too many people from too many clubs are consistently let down by the LOI officials. in my opinion, it's not bias.

**niamh** · 02/11/2003, 7:06 PM

We've gone over and over this. The refs in the league aren't the best. Unfortunately the eL doesn't have the opportunity to drop the refs that aren't up to standard on a regular basis. There aren't enough refs in the country to ref all the games. It is a genuine problem.
The English leagues can do saw. On Saturday Andy D'Urso, the Premiership ref, was reffing Division Three, Swansea and Bristol Rovers. He had an absolute shocker.
There isn't a Dublin bias among refs, no matter what anyone says. The league authorities on the other hand is a different story.

**ccfc till i die** · 02/11/2003, 9:13 PM

That thing in England actually wasn't true. Every ref in England has to do a certain amount of lower division games, it was just a coincidence that his games in the third division was directly after a crap performance in the premiership. They don't get 'sentenced' to the lower divisions or anything.

**tiktok** · 03/11/2003, 9:27 AM

they can be dropped a division if they underperform as far as i know.

**wws** · 03/11/2003, 10:14 AM

Jim O Neill is from waterford

**niamh** · 03/11/2003, 10:52 AM

Originally posted by ccfc till i die
That thing in England actually wasn't true. Every ref in England has to do a certain amount of lower division games, it was just a coincidence that his games in the third division was directly after a crap performance in the premiership. They don't get 'sentenced' to the lower divisions or anything.

Eh...he was a Premiership ref who had a crap match reffing a Division Three match. Some of the decisions were totally uncalled for. V picky. He, Andy D'Urso was the star of the show, not the players or teams sort of attitude. And some refs have that sort of attitude here too.

**Ref** · 03/11/2003, 11:06 AM

WHO watches English Third Division games????

**�anna** · 03/11/2003, 12:59 PM

Originally posted by Ref
what would you have liked Pat to say?

he wasn't the match assessor last night. he was just at the match.

that is exactly the type of smug crap colm was talking about. I made a comment to Pat Kelly about refereeing in the league- his response was: "I'm looking for referees. I think you'd make a good referee." What part of me saying that there was a serious problem with officiating, that it was turning people off this league made him think I'd be interested in becoming a whistling-hitler? If I wanted to be a ref, I'd have asked him.

The man is a disgrace. His arrogance is mirrored by the "performance" of his officials. He thinks he is untouchable. Typical FAI. Why do we bother

**wws** · 03/11/2003, 1:16 PM

Originally posted by �anna
that is exactly the type of smug crap colm was talking about. I made a comment to Pat Kelly about refereeing in the league- his response was: "I'm looking for referees. I think you'd make a good referee." What part of me saying that there was a serious problem with officiating, that it was turning people off this league made him think I'd be interested in becoming a whistling-hitler? If I wanted to be a ref, I'd have asked him.

The man is a disgrace. His arrogance is mirrored by the "performance" of his officials. He thinks he is untouchable. Typical FAI. Why do we bother

LOL. You're lucky he didn't deck you.

**�anna** · 03/11/2003, 1:24 PM

Originally posted by wws
LOL. You're lucky he didn't deck you.

and vice-versa

What I actually said was that it was no wonder people watched other leagues instead of our own becuase the officiating was so bad. I wasn't trying to have a go or anything. I've heard plenty of non-eL fans laugh at refs here when there are games on telly, I've heard plenty of eL fans wonder why they bother with this league when their enjoyment is spoilt by poor officiating. I was just stating fact. Bad officiating costs this league fans. Of course there are other more serious problems, but it is an issue.

**Ref** · 04/11/2003, 10:56 AM

Originally posted by �anna
I wasn't trying to have a go or anything.

thats not what i heard.

**�anna** · 05/11/2003, 11:18 AM

Originally posted by Ref
thats not what i heard.

If I'd told that individual what I really thought of him, I'd still be working on getting my bail together

**S.E.P.1990** · 05/11/2003, 4:16 PM

If anybody wanted to see an exhibition of atrocious refeering they should have been at Tolka last night. (though this is not to say that Bohs didnt deserve to win).

This clown (sorry dont know his name) consistently ignored blatant fouls by Bohs players (esp. in the first half) two of which led to the fouled Shels players being taken off injured. On the opposite side of the coin he then gave a free kick against Jason Byrne for a raised foot when the nearest Bohs player was 2 foor away from the ball!!!

C'est life!