Did anyone notice the difference between refereeing standards at both levels this weekend? I wonder if the Sky cameras had been at the Albion the 4th official would have dared make that call and I wonder if both Barnes and McCann would have got yellows (or both red?).
There is no doubt in my mind that the pressure is on referees in the premiership to keep the crowd entertained whereas in the league it is down to interpretation of the rules, keeping on the right side of the assessor and learning the game - hence the amount of new referees of a younger age in the championship/1 and 2.
Sky and the pundits and the clubs would just not tolerate 9 v 11 as early as the 15th minute and Gary Neville (yeah I know) confirmed this by congratulating referee Dowd yesterday for not booking players too early and making a rod for his own back. I would suggest there are very few sendings off in the premiership this season and most of those are for 2 bookings.
Lastly I cannot remember a 4th official ever making a pitch decision for a referee in English football. What a precedent this could set (Grant Holt sent off for an elbow on Saturday
?) Surely a 4th official can only make a decision on an incident on the pitch if he is consistent and makes calls throughout the game. If, as was the case, he is chatting to the bench, looking at his board, etc it just won't work.
Finally, as an ex Class 1 Ref and a biased Brighton fan, what is wrong with having a word with players (particularly in the early stages)
Yours disgustedly, Brigadier Challis (Retired) of Tunbridge Wells (Mrs)
There is no doubt in my mind that the pressure is on referees in the premiership to keep the crowd entertained whereas in the league it is down to interpretation of the rules, keeping on the right side of the assessor and learning the game - hence the amount of new referees of a younger age in the championship/1 and 2.
Sky and the pundits and the clubs would just not tolerate 9 v 11 as early as the 15th minute and Gary Neville (yeah I know) confirmed this by congratulating referee Dowd yesterday for not booking players too early and making a rod for his own back. I would suggest there are very few sendings off in the premiership this season and most of those are for 2 bookings.
Lastly I cannot remember a 4th official ever making a pitch decision for a referee in English football. What a precedent this could set (Grant Holt sent off for an elbow on Saturday
?) Surely a 4th official can only make a decision on an incident on the pitch if he is consistent and makes calls throughout the game. If, as was the case, he is chatting to the bench, looking at his board, etc it just won't work.Finally, as an ex Class 1 Ref and a biased Brighton fan, what is wrong with having a word with players (particularly in the early stages)
Yours disgustedly, Brigadier Challis (Retired) of Tunbridge Wells (Mrs)