[Football] Delph sending off v Wigan

[Billy the Fish]

Two footed tackle = straight red.

*Edit* I thought Stephens was also a red

 

[Simster]

In my opinion anyone who compares the two and considers them similar doesn't know football!!!!

In one a player is sliding with ONE foot parallel to the floor and straight towards THE BALL AND WINS IT. In the other a player plays the ball with the bottom of the boot and a moron swings his shin in front of him, made more stupid by the fact he had pre school sized shin pads on.

Fixed.

There's absolutely no way that is red for me, and nor was Stephens. I don't think last night's was particularly dangerous tackle.

That ref struck me as a bit of tit though, he gave a free kick against Sane on the edge of the Wigan box when the Wigan defender went to header the ball with the ball about 3 feet off the ground.

Two footed tackle = straight red.

Agreed. However, this wasn't an example of that.

 

[Bold Seagull]

In my opinion anyone who compares the two and considers them similar doesn't know football!!!!

In one a player is sliding with a foot raised straight towards his opponent who stays on his feet. In the other a player plays the ball with the bottom of the boot and a moron swings his shin in front of him, made more stupid by the fact he had pre school sized shin pads on.

Yep, completely different challenges. The only comparison is that in both cases the referee appears to change their mind after having yellows in their hands.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Whilst he did undoubtedly do that - I'm not sure that was his intention when he first pulled out the yellow, but only the ref himself will know that.

How many other times have we seen a ref, who is going to produce a red, pull out a yellow first in that way? I can't recall it ever happening and although someone may come along and give an example, I think we all know that when we've seen a straight red given at games, it's not been preceded by a yellow "for taking the name" first.

I agree, that is the only similarity. The other reason, mooted last night, was that the ref heard from the linesman, who was closer to the foul, and decided to issue red instead.

 

[drew]

Fixed.

I agree wholeheartedly with you Drew and withdraw my dumb comparison.

Fixed again!

 

[Simster]

Fixed again!

Poor.

 

[Blue3]

Think it should be mandatory that top six Prem clubs should only field 10 players when facing teams lower than championship level plus any replays should be played on a ploughed wind swept field

 

[Is it PotG?]

When FA Cup pitches were as they should be...levellers

 

[Mellor 3 Ward 4]

These days it's a red - as others have said, reckless/excessive force/out of control etc.

I'm glad I'm not playing these days, I would have been sent off pretty much every game - and I wasn't a dirty player, just that the laws are so different now.

 

[Joe Gatting's Dad]

Definitely a red card. Sliding in and studs showing reckless at least and probably dangerous. Did not get the ball.

Shades of Mike Dean - gets his yellow card out but changes it to red on advice of the Wigan players. Possibly an assistant or the fourth official may have changed his mind for him - we shall probably never know.

 

[rippleman]

Definitely a red card. Sliding in and studs showing reckless at least and probably dangerous. Did not get the ball.

Shades of The Complete And Utter Shyster - gets his yellow card out but changes it to red on advice of the Wigan players. Possibly an assistant or the fourth official may have changed his mind for him - we shall probably never know.

But isn't it the "we shall probably never know" that is the problem. Whereas a representative of both clubs is obliged to speak to the media after games, the referees are never held publicly accountable. They escape being asked to explain their decisions and many times over the past couple of seasons the retired professional refs who are part of the TV punditry panel have disagreed with the decisions made.

Sadly, the standard of officiating is getting worse and the fitness levels of most referees is now so far behind that of the players that we see the likes of Jon Moss huffing and puffing his timber around the pitch trying to keep up.

The PGMOL should instruct their members that they must be publicly accountable for their decisions and should have to explain them to the media after the game. Irrespective of whether Delph's challenge was red or yellow, the referee should have to tell the world why he changed his mind.

Do all referees now aspire to be the next The Complete And Utter Shyster making the game all about them? As the quality of football gets better, the officiating of the game seems on a downward trend.

 

[Notters]

Er, is there a clip of it?!

 

[Greg Bobkin]

As far as I'm concerned, anyone insisting that was straight red who also whinged about the Stephens/Boro decision as a complete hypocrite.

But maybe that's WHY people are insisting on it being a straight red.

A dark orange for me. Is there an argument for sin-bins in football for situations such as that one last night? It's probably another step too far in terms of meddling in football, but I'd be interested to see how it went if trialled. One of the problems seems to be the massive inconsistency of referees, but I recognise it's not an easy job and that every situation or foul is different and therefore difficult to draw up a list of right and wrong decisions for each one...

Also, why did he get the yellow card out and then follow up with the red? Has he given an explanation? Does he even HAVE to? If not, that probably doesn't help the situation!

 

[JJ McClure]

But isn't it the "we shall probably never know" that is the problem. Whereas a representative of both clubs is obliged to speak to the media after games, the referees are never held publicly accountable. They escape being asked to explain their decisions and many times over the past couple of seasons the retired professional refs who are part of the TV punditry panel have disagreed with the decisions made.

Sadly, the standard of officiating is getting worse and the fitness levels of most referees is now so far behind that of the players that we see the likes of Jon Moss huffing and puffing his timber around the pitch trying to keep up.

The PGMOL should instruct their members that they must be publicly accountable for their decisions and should have to explain them to the media after the game. Irrespective of whether Delph's challenge was red or yellow, the referee should have to tell the world why he changed his mind.

Do all referees now aspire to be the next The Complete And Utter Shyster making the game all about them? As the quality of football gets better, the officiating of the game seems on a downward trend.

100% agree. We all get drawn in to the decisions that confuse, anger or frustrate us. Sky and the media spend ages talking about and writing about them. If I just knew why a ref made a decision I might not agree with them but I'd be more likely to understand and accept. Either by interview or by making the referees report and referees assessors report available there ought to be transparency and accountability.

 

[drew]

Poor.

Out of interest, how many people are actually agreeing with your comparison with the Stephens incident?

 

[Hamilton]

Come on, got to have a poll for this one...

So, David Cameron. You called the poll, and it's 52% to 48%.

That's pretty damn conclusive I'd say!

 

[Billy the Fish]

Two footed tackle = straight red.

I've just watched it again where they replay it from different angles. I'm no longer sure that it was two footed. When I watched it earlier it was the camera shot directly behind Delph which makes it look like a two footed jump. The other angles show that his back foot was actually trailing, so I've changed my mind - yellow card.

 

[Bold Seagull]

I've just watched it again where they replay it from different angles. I'm no longer sure that it was two footed. When I watched it earlier it was the camera shot directly behind Delph which makes it look like a two footed jump. The other angles show that his back foot was actually trailing, so I've changed my mind - yellow card.

What difference does it make whether it is two footed? The law of the game actually states:

Any player who lunges at an opponent in challenging for the ball from the front, from the side or from behind using one or both legs, with excessive force or endangers the safety of an opponent is guilty of serious foul play.

People seem to suggest that as long as its not two footed then its only a yellow. That is not the correct application of the laws. The only reason you think that challenge last night is not a red is because a) you believe it wasn't excessive force or b) it wasn't endangering the opponent - whether it was two footed isn't a test as to which card it is.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Er, is there a clip of it?!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyMWR9ST3PY

 

[Mellotron]

As far as I'm concerned, anyone insisting that was straight red who also whinged about the Stephens/Boro decision as a complete hypocrite.

My whinge about the Stephens decision was that the ref changed his mind on seeing the severity of the injury (never the right way to judge a foul), and that he did nothing about Ramirez hitting his hand.