[Football] Big Team Bias

[Swansman]

Having a ref from the City of one of the teams is unacceptable imo too. Imagine the fallout if there was a Brighton born ref in charge of one of our games favouring us

This part is weird, I dont think its within the rules in any other league as far as I know. Really odd.

 

[trueblue]

Mostly unconscious bias on the part of refs I think. But on a marginal decision (e.g. giving Brighton 2 penalties against Manchester United, for instance) they stand to cop a lot more flak for going against a ‘big’ club. It can put them on the back pages for days. Unless they actually seem to revel in controversy like Mike Dean, not desirable.

If they’re from somewhere like, say, Manchester as well, that flak might well be even more noticeable.

 

[Giraffe]

Big players and sub consciously favouring the bigger team, because to give a decision against them is a much bigger thing that will get blown up by the media much much more.

 

[Weststander]

Non top 6 Newcastle given late pen award at much hyped and media loved Spuds.

Three Leicester pens at the richest club in the world.


Seems a bit of a mixed bag.

 

[Deleted member 2719]

Here are three comparisons.

Two tackles on Connolly vs two tackles on Shaw:

Seemed like four identical tackles. We were denied two penalties whilst the ref gave them free kicks (one leading to a goal) and yellows for the same type of foul on Utd players.

Defenders fouled in the box:

Man Utd’s awful defenders and keeper dived about 6 times in their own box when under pressure, a freekick was given each time. Where as Dunk was dragged out of the way by Maguire who kicked his leg which then made contact with the ball and that was a goal. Seems that there was no VAR to overturn a Man Utd goal unless their player is a metre or two offside.

The ball goes out:

The ball seemed to go out of play with us in the first half. A fraction of it might have been on the line but we did not get the decision. Just before Utd’s winner, it seemed like the ball was about an inch out, they got the benefit of the doubt.

And as for the Fergie time at the end! FFS [emoji35]

Exactly this, can someone tweet the feck out about this to Lineker he likes to get involved with controversy.
See if he can be arsed to get involved in this.

 

[monty uk]

Sometimes, football simply brings an ejaculation of joy that can't be suppressed. The beautiful game. #emotional.

Please. You have just created a mental image that I do not care to hold in my mind.

Kindly withdraw it forthwith.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Please. You have just created a mental image that I do not care to hold in my mind.

Kindly withdraw it forthwith.

Withdrawn.

Actually that doesn't really improve matters, does it?

Skype next week some time.

 

[Eeyore]

VAR decisions last season...



Maybe we should stay quiet on this one.

There is no evidence of bias.

 

[vagabond]

VAR decisions last season...

View attachment 128851

Maybe we should stay quiet on this one.

There is no evidence of bias.

That’s hardly case closed evidence is it though?

In fact just one part of the picture.

Where in your detailed stats would it show Man Utd getting to have a corner in the 97th minute after 5mins injury time?

Where would it show penalties that should have been given that weren’t and vice versa. And so on.

You may agree/disagree but that image doesn’t prove much either way.

 

[BadFish]

It's just the way of the world. The Premier League was always intended as a showpiece for teams like Man U, Arsenal, Spurs, Chelsea etc – teams that have global followings and are hugely marketable.

Teams like Brighton, West Brom, Fulham, Palace etc are bit players and they come and go from season to season. Our marketing potential is smaller and our fanbases are essentially local.

We all know that's the deal. The media will always fixate on the fortunes of those big clubs – and for us supporters of the smaller sides, the thrill is really all about climbing as far as we can and spoiling the party from time to time.

I think we get a pretty fair press. In seasons when we were defensively solid, but dull to watch, the media said as much. Now we're pacy and exciting – and often very unlucky – pundits give us plenty of credit.

In the scheme of things, let's be realistic: the bigger story is not Palace beating Man U, or Brighton deserving to beat Man U. It's "why are Man U struggling against teams like Palace and Brighton?"

You are spot on here. One thing is for sure, we were never going to win that game. The only thing that may have happened is that Man U would have lost it.

Ironically everyone seems to moan about the narrative. My Man U mate (amazingly, from Manchester) is complaining that had Liverpool or City had the same result they would have been credited with grinding out a result. I think that he may be singing a different tune if he had watched the game.

 

[Sheebo]

VAR decisions last season...

View attachment 128851

Maybe we should stay quiet on this one.

There is no evidence of bias.

That illustrates absolutely nothing - nothing at all - especially about big club bias.

 

[BadFish]

I am still struggling to understand why Fernande wasn't booked for his tackle on Lamptey, although, I really don't understand how rules are being interpreted this season.

Can someone explain that to me?

I know I am probably on my own here but this and Connolly's penalty are annoying me far more than the 'Fergie time' at the end. They add on 30 seconds for a goal and 30 seconds for a substitution so it really wasn't that outrageous. IMHO of course.

 

[HastingsSeagull]

Need to be able to vote for all 3 of middle ones. Happens in other sports too.

 

[Sarisbury Seagull]

Non top 6 Newcastle given late pen award at much hyped and media loved Spuds.

Three Leicester pens at the richest club in the world.


Seems a bit of a mixed bag.

This.

Because they’re usually attacking it seems like they get more big decisions like penalties but it’s been proven many times there’s no big club bias on decisions. It’s just paranoia from smaller clubs fans.

Quite often it’s also just a weak, convenient excuse for a manager to use and deflect attention when his team haven’t played well that the fans then run with.

 

[Sarisbury Seagull]

I’ve just mentioned M Dean on another thread, who was seen celebrating a Spurs goal. Bizarre especially as he’s a Tranmere fan.

It’s a well known fact he was celebrating that he’d just made a good decision in allowing an advantage, not that it was Spurs who scored.

And also if you’re saying Spurs are one of the big clubs who get the decisions, what happened Sunday then?

 

[Mo Gosfield]

I am still struggling to understand why Fernande wasn't booked for his tackle on Lamptey, although, I really don't understand how rules are being interpreted this season.

Can someone explain that to me?

I know I am probably on my own here but this and Connolly's penalty are annoying me far more than the 'Fergie time' at the end. They add on 30 seconds for a goal and 30 seconds for a substitution so it really wasn't that outrageous. IMHO of course.

Five minutes of stoppage time included all the substitutions and injury time. Solly scored in the 95th minute so it was not unreasonable to add on another 30 seconds for his goal. Even being generous, he could have added another minute. The ref had two opportunities when the ball went out of play ( throw-in and corner ) but continued to play on. The cross that was blocked, leading to the corner, appeared to be over the line but was not reviewed. No, the facts are irrefutable. He played more ' over-time ' than was warranted.

 

[wellquickwoody]

I still bloody love VAR, but not the pitch side version.

Each to their own I guess, but I hate it with a passion.

Yes, it allows more accurate decisions. End of positives.

It breaks up play, it slows the game down, it leads to ridiculous scenes like yesterday. Most importantly, it is refereeing for armchair fans. Fans who actually go to games are having a less enjoyable matcha experience.

 

[Weststander]

This.

Because they’re usually attacking it seems like they get more big decisions like penalties but it’s been proven many times there’s no big club bias on decisions. It’s just paranoia from smaller clubs fans.

Quite often it’s also just a weak, convenient excuse for a manager to use and deflect attention when his team haven’t played well that the fans then run with.

This.

After each season, OPTA I think, analyse and tabulate the net points lost/gained from incorrect key decisions. They've been doing this since pre-VAR.

I genuinely had thought that it would correlate to the usual large clubs all gaining, but it was completely random and changes every season.

I accept that officials make blunders galore.

 

[The Wizard]

I don’t really understand the ‘subconscious’ bias theory, if I was a ref and there was any subconscious bias surely it would be for the under dog wouldn’t it? Why would there be any underlying bias towards a big team because of stature?

I do think there is something in the bias theory, I just can’t really understand why referees would be subconsciously bias towards bigger teams.

 

[Uter]

That illustrates absolutely nothing - nothing at all - especially about big club bias.

Small sample, so cannot draw any real conclusions, especially as it's so skewed by Man Utd's +7, but:

Big 6 +1.17
The rest -0.38

If that continues then it's going to be harder to argue that this is just down to randomness.

Maybe it only has a tiny over effect a season, but when you consider other areas where it's possible for bias to occur, e.g. time-keeping, cards, free kicks it could add up to a few extra points a season.