Football Focus

[The Fatadder]

It would certainly help if some refs would improve their standards of consistency.

 

A friend of mine works for the FA, and while we were at uni went to a conference with 'a top premiership ref' whos name annoyingly I cant remember. Part way through his speach he says that "he is much less likley to call a foul by an English player than a foreign player because the latter are 'a bunch of cheats'" he then stopped, threatened everyone in the room to delete the voice recordings that had been made, before continuing along similar lines.

 

Since then I've got little faith when I see a game full of bad decisions, though after the refereeing in the Arsenal vs Utd game its good to see dodgy decisions affecting Utd. Serves them right.

[Calnefoxile]

I was trying to stay out of this discussion on Fergie/Managers in general & referees, but I feel I ought to wade in with my 2penneth worth.

 

I do agree with Red Devils posting about what Fergie has bought to English football in the way he has nurtured young talent into world class players, with the likes of Beckham, Giggs (yes I know he's Welsh), Rooney et al, but and its a big but, to me he still needs to watch what, how and to whom he says things during and after games. To watch the way he berates the 4th official when a decision goes against his players is disgraceful, now I'm not saying that the passion should be knocked out of players/managers because that would water down the game to people who passionately support their football team, but there are times and places for asking questions. I'm also not saying that Fergie is the only one who does this, Wenger/Benitez are just as culpable of this, in fact I've seen most Premiership Managers doing this.

 

There was a rule passed a while ago that the Captain is the only person allowed to approach the Ref for an explanation of a decision, this is still not being enforced hard at all, we've all seen the players running 30/40 yards to affront a ref for a decision they don't agree with, IMHO referees have got to start being more card happy when this happens, tell them "Back off you will be sent off" and if they don't, send them off. The same should be for Managers, the 4th official should have the authority to send a Manager off, if he thinks the verbal attack warrants it, I know the Ref can send a Manager to the stands, but he should be able to send them from the field of play, straight to the dressing room like the player, because the Manager can still influence a game from the stand.

 

I also believe that Referees should be allowed to give interviews after a game and if necessary explain a decision and if they have got it wrong, they should have the b"??$s to publicly announce "Ooopps I got that one wrong, that should have been a penalty/sending off/yellow card...etc" I know they cannot influence the outcome after the game, but the FA make decisions about Players after the game, after they've read the referees report!!!

 

In the mean time, the FA have got to start stamping down on Managers who step out of line and berate Referees to the point of personal insults to them, and I think this is what has happened to Fergie this time around, it was seen as a personal insult about Mr Wiley and has been dealt with as such. Managers, and I mean all Managers, have got to understand that the Referee is the one in charge of the game and until some sort of technology is introduced to ASSIST the refs, then I am afraid their decision made at that moment of the incident is final, whether it is the right decision or not.

 

Sorry for my rant, but I do get annoyed when some people think the sun shines out of Fergies/Wengers/Benitez's backsides, just because they are Premiership sides and 1 decision can cost the club millions, money isn't everything in football.....

 

Regards

 

Neal.

 

P.S. I would say the same if it was Nigel Pearson and it was a last minute penalty against us that cost us promotion via the play off final, oh hang on we've been there before

[The Fatadder]

 

There was a rule passed a while ago that the Captain is the only person allowed to approach the Ref for an explanation of a decision, this is still not being enforced hard at all, we've all seen the players running 30/40 yards to affront a ref for a decision they don't agree with, IMHO referees have got to start being more card happy when this happens, tell them "Back off you will be sent off" and if they don't, send them off.

 

 

This was one of the other things mentioned in the talk I refered to in the previous post. Again with a very negative attitude towards it.

 

I still think one of the best things they could do would be to mike up the ref like it is in rugby, so that at least fans could hear the refs side of things while the game is ongoing. But of course they cant do that because of the likes of Roony swearing all the time (and of course the refs failing to book them for it...)

[Steve K]

If that last post was from Henry Winter, then I'm afraid it's below his usual standards. It's self-contradictory and nonsensical.

 

No-one would suggest that referees are above criticism, and no-one could deny the great career which Sir Alex has had, and continues to have. However, not even he should be allowed to insult a referee in the way he did. The fact that the powers-that-be at the FA are, in Henry Winter's words, "Lilliputians" does not give them any less right to punish a clear wrong. In fact, I think SAF has pretty much got away with things - after all, a touchline ban is not a stadium ban, and Sir Alex could probably pay a ??20,000 fine from money dropped down the back of his sofa.

[Ohmisterporter]

, and Sir Alex could probably pay a ??20,000 fine from money dropped down the back of his sofa.

 

I wonder if I could borrow his sofa?

 

Geoff.

[dseagull]

Most of the local programme was washed out today - but WHAT a performance from Peacehaven in the FA Vase!

 

 

PEACEHAVEN achieved the result of the day with a fabulous 5-1 win away to Chalfont St. Peter, currently third in the Spartan South Midlands League. Callun Saunders and Craig Bunch scored two apiece as Peacehaven incredably scored 4 times in 5 second half minutes to clinch their place in the next round.

 

 

Wouldn't have thought that was physically possible!

[BoD]

Wouldn't have thought that was physically possible!

I dunno, what with the strong winds that we have been having ......

 

 

 

[highpeak]

My thrills and frustrations about football are a bit more personal in that they revolve around refereeing and coaching (O-30 women).

Thrills: I passed my fitness test this morning and improved on my performance over last year, which is a surprise because this fall I strained a hamstring and had the flu, so I haven't really been doing much training. For my age/grade I needed 1800m in 12 minutes, managed 2500m, allowed 9.5 seconds for a 50m sprint, managed 7.7 and did the 200m sprint in 35, allowed 40. I am especially pleased with the 50m sprint because I am not exactly built for speed, and it was especially good to do it under the nose of the assignor I work for in the Sunday morning men's comedy league so that he can see I am still fit enough to do O-30 matches.

Refs seem to be more in the spotlight of late than I think any ref would want to be, and it doesn't help matters when the understanding of the laws on the part of players, managers and commentators is not accurate or current. The referee world doesn't help matters because I don't think a good job is done on educating non-referees (actually, we struggle to educate referees at times!) but some of the things you hear are so inaccurate that it beggars belief I would like to see some of the critics take the ref class and have a go at refereeing.

[Del]

Most of the local programme was washed out today - but WHAT a performance from Peacehaven in the FA Vase!

 

Excellent! I know Peacehaven well, having lived there for about four years and playing amateur football on the pitch behind theirs.

Used to watch them often.

[The Fatadder]

Well this morning I am rather angry,

Once again a key Arsenal player has picked up a serious injury on international duty putting him out for the rest of the season (so our chances for the title have gone from looking pretty promising to yet another 4th place over night.)

 

Whats really annoying me about it is that this keeps happening with 'friendlies', games that serve no purpose other than making their respective FAs a couple of quid in the bank. Its about time that it was made optional for clubs to release players for friendlies!

 

Just hope now that there is a similar agreement between club and the Dutch FA as there is between clubs and the FA, so at least we can milk them for a couple of million while he's out, maybe if they are financially punished enough by causing these injuries they may start to think twice about so many pointless games!

[highpeak]

Good game this morning: O-40 State Cup match, bit of an upset. White not too happy that I waved away a couple of penalty shouts, but to be honest there was minimal contact and the attacker made a three course meal out of an appetiser.

 

Coaching hat on, big disappointment. For me, there are four outcomes to a match, in order of desireability: play well and win, play well and lose, play poorly and win, play poorly and lose. Today it was the last of those. We deserved to lose, couldn't string three passes together, played far too many vertical passes, too much long ball, too many unforced losses of possession. Drives coaches mad.

[Calnefoxile]

Hows this for a disgruntled football fan

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/6579407/Grimsby-Town-fan-letter-the-full-text-of-Poojahs-rant.html

 

Regards

 

Neal.

[Steve K]

Hows this for a disgruntled football fan

 

http://www.telegraph...ojahs-rant.html

 

Regards

 

Neal.

Not sure how fans of Darlington are feeling, but their team is another 4 points behind that of the Grimsby fan!

 

He certainly didn't hold back, did he?

[highpeak]

So Poojah, tell us how you feel...

 

Looks like a collective effort to put the Grim in Grimsby. Scunthorpe United players should not get complacent.

 

Being a football fan is so much fun. Think of things like beer. If you'd been drinking Old Pudpuller's Liver Compromiser for years and then some money-grubbers changed the brew to save money and it tasted like the proverbial gnat's, then you'd simply find another brew and tell folks to stay away from your previous favourite suds. But sports enthusiasm has this hold on us and you can't just switch allegiances when your team is rubbish. Well, not if you want to have any credibility with your mates.

 

Mr Poojah is going to keep going to watch Grimsby no matter what. He probably feels a lot better after writing his letter, but he'll be back, suffering to the end. And enjoying every match in a masochistic sort of way. As we all do.

[dseagull]

 

Mr Poojah is going to keep going to watch Grimsby no matter what. He probably feels a lot better after writing his letter, but he'll be back, suffering to the end. And enjoying every match in a masochistic sort of way. As we all do.

 

Never a truer word spoken!

 

Tomorrow Hailsham are away at Lingfield. It's a 60 mile round trip on a Tuesday night. In our last match, we lost 6-1. Last time we played Lingfield was on the 15th of August, in the FA Cup. We lost 7-1.

 

Why then, are me, my brother, and no doubt a few other hardy souls making the trip?

 

Because we do - and that's all there is to it. It might sound totally mad to most people, but not to football fans - and, as derided as the game may be by some, there is a mutual 'culture' amongst fans that all would understand. It's what we do.

[Big_Stu]

New Zealand is going to the World Cup!!!

 

Go the mighty All Whites!!!!

[highpeak]

Never a truer word spoken!

 

Tomorrow Hailsham are away at Lingfield. It's a 60 mile round trip on a Tuesday night. In our last match, we lost 6-1. Last time we played Lingfield was on the 15th of August, in the FA Cup. We lost 7-1.

 

Why then, are me, my brother, and no doubt a few other hardy souls making the trip?

 

Because we do - and that's all there is to it. It might sound totally mad to most people, but not to football fans - and, as derided as the game may be by some, there is a mutual 'culture' amongst fans that all would understand. It's what we do.

Last week, on a chilly evening, I set out to work an O-40 match under lights at a high school in the next town. The first half was reasonably pleasant, cool, but no wind. During the half time break we felt the first scuds of rain. By the time I blew the whistle for the kick-off, the rain was steady. Three minutes in, the rain is diagonal. Five minutes in, it's sleet and horizontal. Now it's hail. "Hey ref, it's easing up, I feel a bit warmer!" "That's hypothermia setting in lad" I was thinking it was going to be a long 45 minutes and wondered at what point could you say that the hail and sleet was making it hard to see (the field was artificial turf, so no real chance of declaring it unfit) when a dramatic flash of lightning put a sudden stop to proceedings.

Thirty minutes before we can restart lads, that's the guidelines I have to follow. Aw ref, let's play another ten minutes and see what happens. Flash, boom. OK, that should show you why we're not doing that, I enjoy having a house to live in and have no wish to be sued.

Well, who's won? Not up to me lads, if you don't want to wait for the storm to pass, I'll write it up and let the league decide.

At this point the home team, who were losing 0-3, said they would take the loss, they wanted to go home. And so it ended.

Now, if that lightning hadn't intervened, I know we would all have stayed to the bitter end, wet through and frozen. We're all mad.

[43110andyb]

Not sure how fans of Darlington are feeling, but their team is another 4 points behind that of the Grimsby fan!

 

He certainly didn't hold back, did he?

Were all optomistically un-optomistic about staying up. "oh the the football league is upside down - the football league is upside down"

[dseagull]

Well, another 60 miles on the clock. How did it go?

 

Lingfield 1 - Hailsham Town 2

Goatcher (Pen), Barden)

 

A chillly night, and a long drive, but a great result. Lingfield certainly had their chances - an early clearance off the line, and some poor finishing as welll, but Hailsham took the lead through Tyler Goatcher's penalty midway through the first half, and held on for that vital lead into the interval. Second half saw Lingfield throw on the strong Hughes, always a handful up front, but it was Hailsham who started the brighter, and after some nice play, earned a second penalty. This time, the 'keeper guessed correctly to deny Goatcher - to be fair, it was a good stop - but a second came minutes later when Nick Barden's corner sailed into the net at the far post. There could have been more - Goatcher and Harris both coming close, but just unable to convert following some poor defending. Lingfield then lay seige to Okky's goal, and 10 or so from time, won a penalty, which was neatly converted. The final moments were admitedly nervy, with Hailsham, forced to defend deep, pulling off some fine tackles in and around the box, whilst skipper Alexander reacted superbly to block a late goalbound effort. The win, on effort at least, well deserved - and three very hard fought points will come in very handy! Word for the officials, who were strong, and did very well in the face of some strong Lingfield provocation, which culminated in the manager being sent from his dugout with 20 or so to play.

 

That's why we do it. So, so proud of them all, 100% each and every one of them. Fantastic!

[highpeak]

I really think football at that level, even if it doesn't have the skill of the elite players, is closer to its roots. On my next visit to the old country, I have to choose between watching Buxton or Derby. I'm thinking a visit to the Silverlands is a better idea.

Highest ground in the league pyramid.

[Steve K]

Buxton... Highest ground in the league pyramid.

Talk of the league pyramid reminds me of a thought I had last week when there was all the discussion about whether Rangers and Celtic should be invited to join a new 2-tier Premier League. As ever with the FA, this was needlessly complicated - talk of a 2-tier PL, with limited (or no) relegation, is, at best, the wrong answer to a question that wasn't even asked, IMO.

 

If some Scottish teams want the opportunity to compete against the best in England, here's what I'd propose:

 

Place the entire Scottish league system in the English "pyramid", just below the current Championship. The SFA could organise their own divisions how they wanted (10-12 teams per division, or 2 larger divisions), but at the end of each season, the top two teams from the SPL are promoted to the Championship, along with the top 2 from the English League 1. The bottom 4 from the Championship are relegated, to either the SPL or League 1 as appropriate, with some juggling of league sizes as necessary (also, if a team like Carlisle got promotion to the Championship, but was then relegated, they could choose to join the SPL). At the same time, the Scottish leagues are required to open up according to the English model, so that the bottom teams from Division 3 are relgated to either the Highland, East of Scotland or South of Scotland Leagues.

 

While we're at it, if the Welsh FA feel left out, the WPL could also be added to the pyramid, just below either League 2 or the Blue Square Premier (Conference, as was) - I'm not sure which level would be more appropriate to the standard of the Principality League.

 

Is there anything in the above that wouldn't work for any reason, or should I write to the FA forthwith, and claim my commission? Feel free to ask me questions - I'm happy to expand on my scheme!

[highpeak]

What you are talking about quickly gets very complicated. You would, in essence, be dissolving three national governing bodies and replacing them with one, we'll call it Football UK. Or maybe not.

 

FIFA would probably like it as they could get rid of the present International FA Board and stop having to go to places like Llandudno in February for their annual meetings.

 

The national FAs wouldn't like it for pretty much the same sort of reason.

 

Whether the resulting national team and league would be stronger or weaker than it was before is open to debate, but it would have some impact on the club sides who compete in Europe, since seeding depends to some degree on the rankings of national teams and leagues. The Scottish teams wishing to join the Premier league would probably not compete in Europe very often, so any benefit they could have gained from the merger would be moot. The Scottish league is ranked 13th, the English league 1st; the Scottish national team is 23rd, the English national team is 7th. These rankings count as 33% of a club's coefficient, the other two thirds is the club's own performance in European competition, no Scottish team is in the top 20 at the moment. The English teams would presumably see their rankings decline for a while depending on how coefficients were recalculated as a result of the merger, so they wouldn't like it much.

 

A hermetically sealed Premier league is the American sports business model and no doubt appeals to many teams who have a constant struggle to keep their snouts in the trough. Since the FA opened the door to this sort of thing when they permitted the formation of the Premier league, they'd probably go along with that kind of change, absent some significant injection of testicular growth hormone. For me, the Premier league is becoming increasingly sterile, so you may as well seal it off and resume a more normal contest outside the Money League.

[Steve K]

What you are talking about quickly gets very complicated. You would, in essence, be dissolving three national governing bodies and replacing them with one, we'll call it Football UK. Or maybe not.

In fact, there are already 3 bodies governing Scottish football alone, which no-one except the parties involved can possible deem a good idea. The SPL, SFA and SFL are making such a louse-up that one body could scarcely do worse. So yes, that would be quite a few people potentially out of a job, or certainly being demoted to working for a provincial league. But Scottish football has horribly under-achieved the last few years, and I don't see why two decent Championship sides (on current form, that is) should get a free pass to the Champions' League every year! And I won't even start on Wales 3 - Scotland 0...

 

I see where you're coming from, but my plan doesn't involve a UK national team, because nobody in the UK wants it. Sepp Blatter would love it, of course, but he's an idiot...

[highpeak]

In fact, there are already 3 bodies governing Scottish football alone, which no-one except the parties involved can possible deem a good idea. The SPL, SFA and SFL are making such a louse-up that one body could scarcely do worse. So yes, that would be quite a few people potentially out of a job, or certainly being demoted to working for a provincial league. But Scottish football has horribly under-achieved the last few years, and I don't see why two decent Championship sides (on current form, that is) should get a free pass to the Champions' League every year! And I won't even start on Wales 3 - Scotland 0...

 

I see where you're coming from, but my plan doesn't involve a UK national team, because nobody in the UK wants it. Sepp Blatter would love it, of course, but he's an idiot...

There's actually one governing body, the Scottish FA, the other entities are organisers of a competition. I'll agree that with the money and status involved, the SPL might appear to be on a par with the SFA but the SFA actually has the authority to govern football in Scotland if it so chooses, just as the FA could have done us all a favour and told the big clubs to get lost with their idea of a Premier league.

 

I know your plan doesn't call for a single national team, but as far as I can see the only way FIFA would sanction the league set-up you propose would be as part of a merger of the individual governing bodies.

 

The way the international governance of the game evolved was quite haphazard. First was the FA, formed to unify football in England. Scotland, Ireland and Wales followed suit. In the 1880s the four associations recognised the need for some further unification of laws and procedures and formed the International Football Association Board. FIFA didn't arrive on the scene until 1904, decided to use IFAB's laws as a worldwide code, joined IFAB, got kicked off and then readmitted and eventually came to the current situation where they have four votes, the four FAs have one apiece and you need 6 votes to change anything. So FIFA more or less rules, but the British FAs can play spoiler if they so choose. I am sure FIFA would love to have a freer hand there!

 

Septic Bladder (50 ideas a day, 51 of them bad) is best confined to deciding what should be on the lunch menu, not having any say of substance in matters affecting the game.

 

(IFAB kicked FIFA out because FIFA wanted a cut of gate receipts from international matches. As the home championship (remember that?) was a very lucrative competition, the British FAs were having none of it and handed FIFA (who only had one vote at the time) their hat and coat. FIFA was readmitted when they agreed to exclude the home championship matches from their take. The IFAB minutes are quite amusing, there's no reason given when FIFA is booted off, the motion simply says that IFAB shall be made up of the four FAs. You have to read the minutes from when FIFA is allowed back in to see why they were excluded.)

[Steve K]

Ah yes, sport and politics - always good for a laugh...

 

As far as Scotland goes, you're correct - I admit I shouldn't have used the word "governing" quite so loosely. I was merely trying to illustrate why I thought Scottish football was in a muddle, and my new "super pyramid" idea was just something thown out to see if anyone could better it. I don't expect the FA or the Scottish FA to take the blindest bit of notice, of course!