Well what a week that was for the ‘man in the middle’!
Referees from all over the world have been taking it tight this week, be it in Spain where an Assistant got whacked in the face with an umbrella or in Germany where one of the countries top officials tried to commit suicide in his hotel room before a big game. He was found by his two assistants who saved his life. It makes our whistlers’ strike action last year look pretty feeble, even Hugh Dallas didn’t go to those lengths to get out of an old firm game at Parkhead!
But, as a qualified ‘Ref’ myself, I appreciate how much of a task it is to keep everyone happy when you’re trying to keep the beautiful game in order. With players being so fast and so much technology magnifying your every decision, it’s no wonder that our German friend decided that it was Auf Wiedersehen.
Looking back at the major incidents of the weekend, or 2 in particular, Inverness’ sending off and the Blackburn ‘corner’, it is easy to point the finger at the Ref and think that he got it wrong. I’m not coming from the school of thought that “I must defend all referees”, far from it, I will give my honest opinion on these decisions.
So let’s look at the ICT sending off. The ball was played in the air between 2 players, ICT’s Tansey, who’s approximately 6′ tall, and Celtic’s Georgios Samaras, who’s approximately 6’4″ tall. Tansey jumped to win the ball with Samaras coming in from his blind side. Tansey put his arm in the air, making contact with the Celtic striker. Samaras fell to the ground holding his face and whistler Stevie O’Reilly decided that this was violent conduct and flashed the red card. To my amazement and that of everyone else sitting around me watching the game. Firstly, O’Reilly’s positioning was all wrong, he was on the blind side of the incident to where the offence took place so automatically that makes me think that his assistant must have made the call… but he was at the halfway line 50 yards away from the incident. To take all things into account, the sun was low that day and if a player goes down holding his face in agony, when I’ve been in that situation I’ve thought, “he must have been elbowed”. I have always been told to ‘call it as I see it’ though, and as there’s no way O’Reilly saw it an appeal is inevitable. An appeal I believe will be successful.
Now, onto the corner that never was a corner. Blackburn players Pedersen and Yakubu cheekily conspired to immitate the Manchester United corner routine from 3 years ago when Rooney and Giggs wrongly had a goal disallowed. Ironically, the goal from 3 years ago should’ve stood and the one from the weekend should’ve been disallowed. That’s something that I think was going through Andre Marriner’s mind at the time, because, believe it or not, referees are football fans as well. Putting myself in his position, I’m guessing his thoughts were along the lines of, ‘I remember this happening at Old Trafford and the furore that it caused, I’m going to let this go’. Yes Andre, it did cause a furore, because they actually took the corner! Pedersen and Yakubu however didn’t!
Marriner’s position at the time of it was good, he was at a diagonal with the incident, which is FIFA textbook refereeing. Unfortunately, he then forgot the next textbook instruction by taking his eye off the ball and looking into the six yard box. By this point, Pedersen was charging towards the Wigan goal and had centred for Hoillet to finish at the back post. Marriner then trotted away, probably thinking – to again put myself in his shoes – ‘I’m going to get a pat on the back for that!’. No Andre, watch the game! It’s when the basics aren’t followed that it really gets my back up. Quite often in the pub when there’s a dubious decision I can feel all the eyes turning to me and asking “What would you do there?” More often than not I can defend the referee and give his point of view, but not for these 2 incidents at the weekend. Back to Sunday league duty gents!
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About the Author
Rob Kane has two great loves in his life, Comedy and Football, so to combine the 2 of them is a match made in heaven.
His Comedy career began 5 years ago when he was encouraged to take part in Viv Gee’s Comedy Course in Strathclyde University. In his first year of performing he got to the final of the prestigious ‘Amused Moose’ competition and since then he has won the ‘Beat the frog’ in both Manchester and Preston, got to the final of the ‘Scottish Comedian Of The Year and had his own solo show at the Glasgow International Comedy Festival in 2010.
Since he can remember he has always had an interest in football, earning the affectionate name of ‘stoat the baw’ from his Grandad when he was a child because he always has a ball under his arm. In his modest football career he has played at all levels of amateur, junior and professional. He came through the ranks of Clydebank FC, playing with them since he was 8 till he was 18. When Clydebank folded he had a brief stint at Falkirk 19’s but was released to the junior game and signed for St Anthony’s where a nasty injury cut short his junior career. At amateur level he has played for numerous clubs all over Scotland and continues to do so. Rob is a qualified referee and has been officiating games for 4 years, he also has coaching qualifications and is looking to build on these in the near future.
Follow Rob on Twitter: @JustRobKane
