What a Difference A Week Makes

We had two penalties which the Cherries say were disputable, and they didn’t get two which they claimed were more obvious.

There were other refereeing moments of dispute like when Puncheon was pulled back when clean through because one of our players was fouled.

Overall a poor display from the officials and one which we seem to be getting on a regular basis. Decisions for and against last week which left the Cherries faithful saying that they were robbed.

Yesterday we saw Brighton playing Bournemouth live on Sky. The game selected I imagine because of the internationals leaving no premier or Championship games.

So what do we get. Two teams with a lot to play for as they are 1st and 3rd in the league. A hard uncompromising game that again left a whole heap of people bemoaning the deplorable standard of refereeing.

The first incident had Michael Symes of Bournemouth going in late on the diving Casper Ankergren, Brighton’s keeper. He could and should have been able to avoid the contact with his right boot which broke the keepers nose.

Symes at no time tried to take avoiding action, and having taken a step with his left before reaching Symes could have at the least tried lifting his foot.

Dangerous play at the very least but the referee saw different.

The next piece of serious play was again Symes as the aggressor. This time he was seen clearly making a deliberate second motion with his arm as he elbowed Tommy Elphick in the face.

The referee did this time act but what did he do. Simply issued a yellow and allowed Symes to stay on the pitch. Wrong decision again as he had no choice under the letter of the law and should have issued a red.

The fact that he saw the foul and deemed it bookable in itself should have meant a straight red being issued.

Then finally after Brighton had scored and looked relatively safe until Fletcher arrived we had the penalty incident.

Sky cameras ran the incident over again and again and couldn’t even be sure that it was Elphick who handled and suggested that it could have been Fletcher the Cherries striker instead.

That said the ref doesn’t have the luxury of slow motion cameras and instantly decided that it was a free kick to Bournemouth.

This then produced the farcical situation where the Linesman who was closer to the bye line than the edge of the box running down his line to be level with the edge of the penalty area before signalling and putting his flag across his chest.

The referee who had been less than five yards from the incident then ran over to
Mr John Farries his assistant before changing his decision from a free kick outside the box to a penalty.

The Authorities keep telling us that we have to respect referees but I ask you how on earth is one supposed to respect a bumbling idiot.

Last season we ran an article on the poor quality of referees and asked why such decisions can’t be helped with the use of modern technology.

One reason always given is the amount of time wasted whilest consulting the technology. Pathetic, because the time wasted while players argued with the referee was more than the time checking would have taken.

Last week we had four penalty incidents and a couple of other incidents which could have altered the course of the game if decisions had been altered.

It is time for the Authorities to keep pushing for the use of technology. Otherwise the game that we all love could end up more like a game of foot basketball with no tackling allowed.

Gone will be the art of the defender making last ditch sliding tackles as well as the nearly defunct tackle from behind.

I know that this particular tackle is likely to get you a red card if not made successfully, but it is not as bad as some of the tackles seen week in week out which are seriously dangerous.

Last week my team probably had an easier win due to a penalty not being given. This week we have a team not winning a game through a penalty that shouldn’t have been given.

The fact that both games had Bournemouth playing is a coincidence. Though it does show that these things can level themselves out. Not that that should be necessary.

Managers are not allowed to say anything combative or derisory about officials but someone has to.