Hanney lastnight was atrocious. Not biased, just incompetent.
Also, how come our match and the Bohs match both had Dub refs?
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?
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![]()
Hanney lastnight was atrocious. Not biased, just incompetent.
Also, how come our match and the Bohs match both had Dub refs?
Listen, anybody who thinks that 'Dub Refs' are actually biased to teams from Dublin are seriously deluded. Referee's from Dublin, like referee's from the country are plain and simply incompetent. That's it. They fück up decisions for ALL teams. In fact, if there is any bias shown toward any team that I have ever witnessed it is more to do with 'home decisions' than where a referee is from.
I gather the suggestion that is trapsed around these parts is that if a ref hails from Dublin and is refereeing a match between a Dublin and country team then he is likely to show favouritism to the Dublin side? How does anyone work that out? Who's to say (IF a referee was biased in any way) that he was a Rovers fan but refereeing a match between Bohs and Galway. Are you suggesting that he'd favour Bohs?? Give me a break.
Last night our 'Dub Ref' should have sent off Colin Healy, he should have carded Joe Gamble for the same offence he carded Killian Brennan earlier and he punished Stephen O'Donnell twice for tackles in which he cleanly won the ball, resulting in a yellow card following the second one. That's bias? Get off the stage will ye!
Typical of some of the posters chip-on-the-shoulder attitude towards teams from the capital.
I got no lips I got no bones where there
were eyes there's only space
It wasn't a penalty. Murphy should have been booked for diving. Watch it on TV Monday night.
The goal Galway got should have been a free out for hand ball. Stop winging.
The fact is Jeff Kenna and the rest of the Galway defense were skinned by UCD's fast forwards. Also, Galway went gung ho out attack and you don't do that against UCD
on referees, I personally cant stand alan kelly but its an awful job and teams
should at the end of the day blame themselves for their positions particularly in a league
Yes it was a dive. He didn't even protest after because he knew it was a dive.
The sending off was a laugh though. It was a trip near the corner flag
Galway's goal took a massive deflection; was going into Gregg's arms otherwise.
The sending off was clear - Lester wrapped his arms around Timmy and dragged him down in the same position from which we'd just scored ten minutes earlier.
Also, we've had a flag for years. Just lazy!
Edit - looking at the video, the second peno call looks a dive alright. Galway fans have been complaining elsewhere that both our goals were offside (they clearly weren't; Fitz was in an offside position for the first, but it was the Galway defender whose header sent him clear) and that their red wasn't justified (it clearly was). At what stage do we expect an apology from those fans that maybe the referee was correct and they were wrong? Or will all this get quietly swept under the carpet until fans reckon they've been screwed again and start calling refs incompetent when in fact, it's the fans who are incompetent?
Last edited by pineapple stu; 09/08/2008 at 8:07 PM.
"Must you tell me all your secrets when it's hard enough to love you knowing nothing."
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Well that was a Saturday well spent for you!!!!!
A handball is a handball, a tackle without getting the ball is a foul, a deflected shot going beyond the end line off a defender is a corner kick. Some basic rules of the game and not one word uses more than 10 letters
If that happened, and I don't doubt you, I don't condone it, but next time you visit, don't put yourself in that position again and instead go to the away fans section. Was very surprised to see UCD fans in the new stand
You have got to be kidding me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Your first time outside of Dublin was it?
"Billy Corgan, Smashing Pumpkins."
"Homer Simpson, smiling politely."
Hanney was shocking the other night, he missed two clear penalties in the build up to Murphy's goal. The UCD defender was clumsy and Murphy's penalty shout should have been given. The red card was harsh, but what you don't see on youtube is the dozens of other ridiculous decisions he made.
Mark Gough the previous Monday is another inept idiot that has been given a ref's kit as some kind of sick FAI joke. Watch a couple of examples of his refereeing here at around 1.05 http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=LvV3i8XeOCU and here at around 1.49 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A02dZdGh850
And the rumour is they are sending this clown to Terryland again on Friday. If the FAI are trying to turn people off going to League of Ireland games they are doing a great job!
Galway United - Connacht Champions 2008
Dont care what anyone says here im still thinking of packing it in.As i said been a season ticket holder for 9 years and just cant take the constant anger and frustration i feel after most(not all) games.Ye have no idea what its like that you cant even look forward to your teams game anymore because in the back of your mind you know your gonna feel worse at the end of it.And i know we(galway utd) are where we are for MANY other reasons.Thats not the point,the point is a REAL fan of an e.l club is 70% sure this will be his last season due not to the football but to the officating.
Strikes me as tough that you don't know the rules of the game, to be honest.
The reasons you speak of - are DVDs among them?
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