Post by ojiveojive on Sept 25, 2006 8:18:14 GMT
I was so angry at this referee that I wrote to the Referees Association. I did not name him in the email but he is the worst I have seen in many a year. None of the partisan "we should have had a pen" stuff (we should have had two) but the more dangerous practice of the flailing elbows every time a player goes up for a ball. This is what I wrote:
Dear Sirs
I watch non-league football in the Conference North. I would implore you to remind your referees in that league, that elbows in the face (or, I assume, anywhere else) are violent conduct and as such should be punished with at least a yellow if not a red card. In the games I have watched this season I have seen three players withdrawn with broken noses and several patched up after sustaining cut eyebrows, all the result of elbows in the face. I have seen referees indicate that they are penalising for an elbow then not further punishing the offender with a card, whilst the victim has to leave the game. I was at a game on Saturday when a player was poleaxed by an elbow in the first few minutes. The referee took no action other than to award a free kick. This set the tone as players then felt they could exact retribution on each other with arms flailing all over the place and no action from the referee. It was so bad that eventually, still in the first half, a player returning from four weeks out with a broken nose, had it broken again. The punishment? A yellow card. The offender then continued to use his elbows without admonishment from the referee for the rest of the game. This season in particular I have seen players go down, clutching theirn faces, with blood clearly visible and referees waving play on! A smashed nose is a head injury, isn't it?
I have been watching football at all levels for fifty years and I have never seen such poor refereeing, with regard to the matter of 'elbows', as I have seen in the Conference North this season. I hope that your association can get a grip on the situation before someone loses an eye or worse.
There, rant over.
Dear Sirs
I watch non-league football in the Conference North. I would implore you to remind your referees in that league, that elbows in the face (or, I assume, anywhere else) are violent conduct and as such should be punished with at least a yellow if not a red card. In the games I have watched this season I have seen three players withdrawn with broken noses and several patched up after sustaining cut eyebrows, all the result of elbows in the face. I have seen referees indicate that they are penalising for an elbow then not further punishing the offender with a card, whilst the victim has to leave the game. I was at a game on Saturday when a player was poleaxed by an elbow in the first few minutes. The referee took no action other than to award a free kick. This set the tone as players then felt they could exact retribution on each other with arms flailing all over the place and no action from the referee. It was so bad that eventually, still in the first half, a player returning from four weeks out with a broken nose, had it broken again. The punishment? A yellow card. The offender then continued to use his elbows without admonishment from the referee for the rest of the game. This season in particular I have seen players go down, clutching theirn faces, with blood clearly visible and referees waving play on! A smashed nose is a head injury, isn't it?
I have been watching football at all levels for fifty years and I have never seen such poor refereeing, with regard to the matter of 'elbows', as I have seen in the Conference North this season. I hope that your association can get a grip on the situation before someone loses an eye or worse.
There, rant over.
