Monday 26 January 2015

Former referee: "Lack of consistency from match officials"

Former referee Mark Halsey disagreed with both Swansea red cards at Blackburn




In my alter ego as online journalist/social media dude for a group of football websites, I spoke with former referee Mark Halsey about the Swans' recent game at Blackburn - and in particular the two red cards which saw our tally rise to eight for the season. 

“The first sending-off [Bartley] – it’s clear that he didn’t see it as a Blackburn player was obstructing his view. He must have had advice from the assistant referee. I’d have let play go on personally, but once the referee has given a foul it has to be a red. In my opinion though it was six of one and half a dozen of the other”  
http://supersoccersite.com/ex-ref-recognition-of-excessive-force-all-over-the-place/

 On the second red card (for Sigurdsson):

“I thought it was a yellow. He was unlucky. Craig Pawson saw it as a red for endangering the player's safety”

I've spoken with Keith Hackett (former referee's cheif) on two occasions now, and on both occasions he's been critical of the current standard of refereeing. Mark Halsey also feels there's a lack of consistency in decision making, leading to confusion as to what is and what isn't a red card offence:

“The recognition of what constitutes excessive force is all over the place due to the conditions the referees are working under. Just look at the tackle by Leicester’s Jamie Vardy on Ashley Westwood before Christmas – only a yellow card was given but the Villa player ended up missing a spell through injury. In my opinion that was a definite red card.”  
http://supersoccersite.com/ex-ref-recognition-of-excessive-force-all-over-the-place/

As mentioned, we spoke with Keith Hackett on The Jackcast (use the player below to listen), and he explained that under his watch there regular reviews where officials would get together and discuss decisions that had been made in the previous week's matches. If this is still going on you can only guess what it is they are discussing, as it's quite clear nothing is being done in terms of standardising the decision-making process.



Hopefully with increasing pressure from the section of football lobbying for the use of technology, we see an improvement in the near future. Nobody expects referee's to be perfect, though I appreciate that they do strive to be as good as they can. To err is human. Just be consistent.