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Tomorrows Ref is from the West Midlands - Surely thats not right
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shaolinpunk
[Insert witty title here]
One of the comments suggests he and his family are Villa fans. If true, he might be generous to us.
Then again he could give them most of the decisions to avoid any suggestion of bias.
In short, no idea.
Then again he could give them most of the decisions to avoid any suggestion of bias.
In short, no idea.
Clive Walker's slaphead
New member
- Mar 10, 2006
- 515
How can that be right that he can officiate in a game that features a club on his doorstep. On the link provided it even says 'unsurprisingly he's never officiated a game featuring Birmingham'
rcf0712
Out Here In The Perimeter
It's The Championship folks, not a Sunday League game - these people are professionals who want to aspire to the EPL. Being biased towards (or against if he's a Villa fan) people with the same dodgy accent will not get him far up the ladder on his chosen path.....
His name, is an anagram of 'Drongo Villa Ref'.
Twinkle Toes
Growing old disgracefully
Not 'alf as dodgy as the way you must sound now (if it's actually true that you reside in Perth). People who live in glass houses...
Pinkie Brown
Wir Sind das Volk
Agree. This appointment was totally unnessary. I don't doubt for one moment, Oliver Langford will referee to the best of his abilty. Neverless, his home location plus his confession of being a Villa Fan will raise questions, even if generally unfounded. It can put extra pressure on a Referee to maybe give 50/50's the opposite way of his alleged bias when there are questions over him.
Remember the away game at Reading around 2003 when the original Ref was replaced at half time by the forth official - who came from Peacehaven. The Home Fans kicked up a stink afterwards. Needless to say, we beat Reading that night. However, the view of many that night was, the replacement Referee was favouring Reading more in the decisions. The theory being, he didn't want to be accused of bias towards his hometown team.
Despite many being incompetent, Referee's are (to my knowledge) not outright crooked. Referee's in Europe (Italy in particular) & latin America have been nobbled in the past. Fortunately that hasn't been an issue in the English game. All Referee's aspire to officiate at the highest level. They know they are always being assessed, so they will always perform their function to the best of their ability, even if more often than not, they make a mess of things.
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ees complicated no?
New member
Am I the only one who couldn't give a sh.. ?
BensGrandad
New member
So long as he doesn't turn out like Prosser a Yorkshire man in the RAF who refereed us against his local side (Sheff Utd? ) to disastrous affect at Withdean.
Joey Jo Jo Jr. Shabadoo
I believe in Joe Hendry
- Oct 4, 2003
- 11,820
Prosser wasn't a Yorkshireman, he happened to live in West Yorkshire for his RAF job, Sheffield United are from South Yorkshire, hardly his local side.
Prosser was shit in tha game, nothing to do with him favouring his local side, just a toatally shite performance from a ref.
Sussex on Leith
New member
Agree. Newcastle fans were querying the choice of ref for their league cup game at Man U this week because he lived five miles from Old Trafford. In the event he had a quiet and competent game and the fuss was forgotten as quickly as it had started.
As with the Useless Prosser, place of residence and allegiance are two different things. I live a mile from Easter Road but could referee a Hibs game without fear of bias (if I actually was a ref, which I'm not), but couldn't in all good conscience referee an Albion game and expect to be completely even-handed - or, more accurately, be perceived as even-handed. If this ref was a lifelong Blue, it would be all over the internet, with people who used to sit next to him at St Andrews queuing up to talk about it. And he'd surely have been required to declare anything like that by the league. If, on the other hand, he just happens to live in that area, and/or takes a mild interest in the fortunes of one Birmingham club or another, he's not going to compromise his career to give one team or another a leg up.
(I reserve the right to come back and edit this post on Saturday evening when he's given Brum a dodgy pen and sent off three Albion players for no reason...)
Shirty
Daring to Zlatan
We'll be out of sight long before any dodgy refereeing decisions can have an impact on the game 
BensGrandad
New member
I must have got it wrong because I thought that he came from Sheffield originally and was stationed down the west country in the RAF and was listed as coming from there.
I notice that the refs town of residence is not shown now, due to them receiving abuse, I think it was said.
Titus
Come on!
Try Ex-lax.
The thought of a repeat of the Burnley home match last season might be at the back of my mind. Still can't forget that game completely ruined.
pwlr1966
Active member
- Aug 7, 2011
- 270
