Wednesday 12 December 2007

That's Another Fine Mess You Got Us Into


I don't know whether to be pleased or furious that the red card given to Kisnorbo last night, which most agree changed the Ipswich Leicester match last night, has been rescinded.

I am pleased that at least the referee has had the decency to publicly admit that he made a mistake.

I am furious at the way it happened though. The referee was looking to give a free kick but then changed the decision in response to the view expressed by one of the linesmen.

We know mistakes happen. We know that the referee cannot see everything or might see things differently because he is at a particular angle.

But you do have to wonder at the power dynamic in that particular incident. As Holloway said, it's like him picking the team then being overruled by his assistant. They didn't even have a discussion.

I have not seen anything to suggest that there will be learning from the situation. I mean it is all very well to apologise but that does not change the fact that we probably lost 3 points.

One wonders whether with an error that significant there should not be some kind of recompense. I recognise it is not easy though.

The match could be declared void and therefore no points get awarded. I wouldn't be very happy if the boot was on the other foot though (to use a football analogy!) . We don't know we would have won and either way both teams would be disadvantaged in the league because they would have effectively had one less game in which to obtain points.

I would probably declare the game a draw. I recognise it is not a perfect solution though.

It would be some comfort to know that some good came out of it . For example if the rules had been different the referee could have checked his decision out, even if he waited until half time. A quick glance at the video replay and bingo. Sorted!

I know tradition is important, especially in a sport like Football.

But come on FA. Get with the times. We have had the capacity to film things and watch them back for a little while now. We probably now have the technology to replay it on say the referee's watch or a little screen kept in his pocket. Instant replay.

So how come we still end up in these sort of messes?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I agree with you Georgina. The FA, and indeed FIFA should definitely get with the times over technology. They really are a bunch of farts.

Jungle VIP said...

I agree with the fox. Huge sums of money are won and lost over the decisions of referees who are unable to keep up properly with the pace of the game these days.

This makes fans really cross.

http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=-2268814856730763553&q=diving+football&total=401&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=1

JVIP