Referees

[avvenalaf]

Good one Knappagh Red. Wilfred Wallace a blast from the past. I can still hear the crowd screaming abuse at him. Its frightening to think hes an assessor.

Ah, Wilfred - the only referee I ever saw who was booed onto the pitch.

[mint sauce]

as suspected, very little talk about the ref on MNS, watching the highlights has just made me mad again

[oldrover]

Below is email I had sent to MNS...having watched the programme would now add that ONeill's comments were adisgrace

Dear Con

As a Sligo Rovers supporter of over 40 years my faith is finally weakening, not I might immediately add in the bit o’ red but in what passes for refereeing . For quite some time I was content to put it down to incompetence. Having witnessed the performance of the man in the middle (from Dublin!!)at the Rovers v Shams game on Saturday I am beginning to believe Stephen Kenny is right.

A penalty and a blatantly wrong call on a corner hands the match to a team the powers that be would wish to see dominate the league. Maybe Dublin refs just subliminally favour their local teams or maybe there is something more to it in a league where some teams have grounds provided by county councils and others by the FAI and where FAI budgeting rules are applied in an apparent uneven manner. It raises the question of fairness and indeed conflict of interests

The reality is that, relative to population, support for the league is far greater outside of Dublin but continued unfairness will eventually kill off that enthusiasm. What about a level playing pitch.

[Redkenrover]

as suspected, very little talk about the ref on MNS, watching the highlights has just made me mad again

Ya, once again MNS fudged the issue, "camera was on the wrong side" I appreciate that it is difficult to see all the action with one camera but there was more time spent on Johnny McDonnell's new appointment and interview than on the main talking points in the match, the main thing to come out of it was the game between Shams and Bohs at the weekend.

[mint sauce]

great email mate, but at times i think its not just the refs are in favour of dublin sides, sometimes i think MNS are as well

like the ref on saturday night, they were giving us nothing

i have only been following sligo a few seasons, and i have been finding in really disheartning my self this season with the amount of desisions that have been going against us

[rovers100%]

i emailed too so hopefully mns will take notice Hi Con, i am emailing you due to the continuing great offer the loi have given me as a football supporter throughout the year. At 15 euro for a loi game it is superb value considering not only do i get to see a football match i also get a free 90 minutes of stand up comedy from the man in the middle of the pitch with the whistle !!! its cheaper then going to a tommy tiernan gig and twice as funny. Con througout the year i have been bemused with the decisions i have witnessed from our referees. I have never seen such ineptness from so called professionals in my life. week in week out i feel like leaving the ground due to the games being ruined by decisions that would confuse the great einstein himself. I have wrote to alan kelly snr in the fai on previous occasions and have got a positive responce and even got an invite to fai hq to meet him to go over he process of refereeing reviews. A fantastic offer which i shall take up but the refereeing has been poor for years now and if it has not be fixed by now i fear it never will. the people reviewing the refs were poor refs themselves and i know this as the one allocated in our region was so bad if ya look up bad in the dictionary you will find his name. !!!There is a recession in the country con and i feel my 15 euro is cheated off me every time i follow my club be it home or away. Please please please can we have a discussion on your show because im sure the former players and managers beside you in all honesty if the had to put their hands on their hearts would agree its gone on for years and it does not look like it will improve. thank you con, i have declined from naming my club or the refs and referees acessors as i want an unbiased view from yourself. Hopefully we will see a discussion on your show soon but i fear it will take a few bad decisions against shams or bohs before it will be highlighted !!!