Referees in need of 'schooling'

[Old Popsider]

I think that the majority of readers on here will agree that the present standards of Football League referees in nothing short of abysmal at times. We've witnessed some bloody awful referees this season, more so than other seasons for some reason.

Perhaps now is the right time to bring someone like Luigi Colina over to England and get him to try and bring our refs up to his standards?

We used to have some decent refs but they all seem to have retired and gone elsewhere.

The FA/FL could pay Colina to give refereeing masterclasses and show just how a game should be properly refereed. He wasn't perfect but at least his standards were pretty high and he didn't stand any nonsense from some of the more prima donna tendencies players.

[DonnyNoel]

For a quick win I'd like to see retired refs brought back as 4th officials. It doesn't make sense to me that every weekend 20 (supposedly ) top referees cover 10 Premiership matches. Its rare a 4th official is called into action - mostly its man-management of the dugouts. Let Jeff Winter and Paul Durkin carry on being pals with premiership managers and let the other 10 referees officiate in the championship where I reckon the pace of the game isn't much different to some top flight games.

[watto-drfc]

if they all refereed like Mark Halsey we wouldn't have a problem, hope to see him back soon. good luck to him and his family.

[Filo]

I reckon most refs are the victims of bullying at school, it`s like a sort of nerds revenge  

[The Red Baron]

The ref we had last night was no good for my blood pressure! I've not really had a problem when I've seen him before but he was awful. You ask for consistency from a referee and he was certainly that- consistently bad and consistently favouring the team in blue.

However, when I watched Rovers in the Conference I used to think the standard of refs was generally poor. Lo and behold, now most of the refs we see in the Championship have crossed our path some time in the Conference days. Some have improved (Miller is a good example, although he does still upset people on a regular basis) but some are as bad as they were all those years ago.

I've also noticed how poor most of the assistants are. The one on the West Stand side against Forest was in a class of his own, but they seem able to miss the most obvious things. Some also seem to have some very individualistic interpretations of \"offside.\"

[The Red Baron]

Filo wrote:

I reckon most refs are the victims of bullying at school, it`s like a sort of nerds revenge  

Either that or they work in the Prime Minister's office (allegedly)  

[RobTheRover]

There was something last week on Football Heaven and one caller was praising Mr Singh as one of the best refs!

Crikey o'Riley!  He must have come on leaps and bounds from the Conf/Div3 days.  Anyone remember him running the line at Oxford Utd in Div3?  He was bouncing about like his OCD and ADD were having a right old battle to take control of his motor skills.

[River Don]

It is very noticeable how Trevor Kettle is a name frequently disparaged on Football Heaven by supporters of all the local sides.

[bobjimwilly]

The question is, who wouldn't want to shove Kettle's whistle up his arse and tell him to blow it then?  

[Donnywolf]

Is it just me or would the 4th official be better employed in one half of the pitch as a (get this) REFEREE to partner his opposite number in the other half also a REFEREE ...

....or

1) to stand by a Dug Out trying to keep grown men inside a dotted line

2) to hold up a board showing the added time that the REFEREE not him has kept account of

3) to pretend to look at the soles of Players coming on as Subs

If it is the former then a lot of the decisions made from too far away would be reduced because the Ref in each half would not be covering as much ground laterally and ably assisted by the Lino (yeah right) they could run the show much better

Maybe it is just me but where was the Ref on Tuesday when :

a) 3GR had his foot race with their scorer and

b) when 5BS got sheared off by their Centre Back