GLF 63:GB defends referees - shock!
REFEREES
One of my favourite subjects, as those of you have read August's G.L.F. will know, but this time I am nearly going to defend officials!
Firstly, the offside law and the constant moans that fans have about offside decisions. When you see the decisions on TV you get the chance to see it with lines across the field or shaded areas while the play is frozen. Sadly our linesmen don't have this technology.
The offside law has become so complex I am sure I read somewhere it was impossible for the human brain to take in the number of factors that are involved;
1.Is the player active when the ball is played
2.Is it first phase or second phase possession
3.Is he seeking an unfair advantage
4.Is the player level with the last defender
5.Did the ball go forward
6.Can they cope with defenders rushing out and forwards streaming forward.
7.Should I give the forward player the advantage.
8.etc, etc
They then have the stupid suggestion that he should wait until the player touches the ball before raising his flag. As far as I can see the players think they're being allowed to play on, only to have the flag raised a good few seconds after the ball was played.
I just wish that we could go back to the old offside law where a player was offside, as in Bill Shankly's words, "if he wasn't interfering with play what was he doing on the park."This would make it easier for linesmen to get more decisions correct and help the fans understand what is happening.
Taking a wider look at referees I found it funny recently listening to fans of different clubs moaning about refs. After the Airdrie Scottish Cup game I heard a Diamonds fan moaning that we got everything from the ref because he was looking after the SPL team.I then attended Hamilton v Partick a couple of weeks after that, this time the Accies fans were moaning that Thistle were getting everything because they are a Glasgow side.
Then I thought of how we felt we got nothing from the two refs in the Old Firm double header at Christmas, particularly McCurry and Prso's penalty!
Does this mean that referee's always favour the bigger team every time they go out to referee, as I have heard the Old Firm complain they get nothing when they go into the European games. Remember the fuss the million fans who travelled to Seville made when Porto went unpunished for their Petrov impressions!
At the end of the day, (cliché number 132) referees are a necessary evil that we need to put up with in the game, without them we have no games to watch.
Graham Barnstaple
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