Red cards for swearing at referees...

[Gullflyinghigh]

[h=3]Offences which could earn players a yellow card[/h]

• Visibly disrespectful behaviour to any match official;
• An aggressive response to decisions;
• Confronting an official face to face;
• Running towards an official to contest a decision;
• Offensive, insulting or abusive language and/or gestures towards match officials;
• Physical contact with any match official in a non-aggressive manner;
• A yellow card for at least one player when two or more from a team surround a match official.

[h=3]New red card offences[/h]

• If a player confronts match officials and uses offensive, insulting or abusive language and/or gestures towards them;
  [*]Physical contact with match officials in an aggressive or confrontational manner.

Does this leave the door open for a particularly mischievous scamp to get under a referee's skin through affectionate contact/behaviour?

To have someone of a Joey Barton mindset (aware he's in Scotland now but you get the idea) sincerely congratulating the ref on every decison with a manly hug and a handshake would presumably throw them right off their game, with no sign of aggression or disrespect to punish them for...flawless plan.

 

[Seasider78]

I am all for anything that improves the respect shown towards referees but I would have liked this to have been linked to a more sensible policy of questioning decisions from the teams captain.

The standard of refereeing in this division has been declining for years and some of the decision making is shocking and made without any accountability for the referee.

So yes more respect from players but stricter control and higher quality refereeing so players have fewer reasons to become irate

 

[Triggaaar]

I am all for anything that improves the respect shown towards referees

I'm sure it would improve if they stopped being ****s.

 

[Gwylan]

Cant remember the last player i saw get sent off for saying naughty words can you ?

There was a Wycombe player sent off for swearing at a lino - Boxing Day about 13 years ago. He chose to mouth off just as the crowd went quiet so it was particularly obvious

 

[vegster]

Going to be hilarious... we will need about 20 translators in the technical area translating all the premiership's foreign imports when they don't get a free kick ....

 

[Titanic]

Going to be hilarious... we will need about 20 translators in the technical area translating all the premiership's foreign imports when they don't get a free kick ....

They are nearly all about physical behaviours and visible aggression... not about muttering swear words under your breath:

• Visibly disrespectful behaviour to any match official;
• An aggressive response to decisions;
• Confronting an official face to face;
• Running towards an official to contest a decision;
• Offensive, insulting or abusive language and/or gestures towards match officials;
• Physical contact with any match official in a non-aggressive manner;
• A yellow card for at least one player when two or more from a team surround a match official.

• If a player confronts match officials and uses offensive, insulting or abusive language and/or gestures towards them;
• Physical contact with match officials in an aggressive or confrontational manner.

 

[vegster]

They are nearly all about physical behaviours and visible aggression... not about muttering swear words under your breath:

• 
  [*]Visibly disrespectful behaviour to any match official;
  [*]An aggressive response to decisions;
  [*]Confronting an official face to face;
  [*]Running towards an official to contest a decision;
  [*]Offensive, insulting or abusive language and/or gestures towards match officials;
• Physical contact with any match official in a non-aggressive manner;
• A yellow card for at least one player when two or more from a team surround a match official.

• If a player confronts match officials and uses offensive, insulting or abusive language and/or gestures towards them;
• Physical contact with match officials in an aggressive or confrontational manner.

All those highlighted will probably involve some verbal in my book, for instance when a player " Runs towards an official to contest a decision " he's hardly liable to give him a letter now is he ?

 

[Titanic]

All those highlighted will probably involve some verbal in my book, for instance when a player " Runs towards an official to contest a decision " he's hardly liable to give him a letter now is he ?

I think it is usually pretty obvious when someone is being aggressive or disrespectful. If they are stupid enough to run up, eyes staring, hands waving, spittle flying to say 'Well done ref' or 'That was a really sound and sensible decision ref' then they will soon learn!

 

[Lady Whistledown]

The standard of refereeing in this division has been declining for years and some of the decision making is shocking and made without any accountability for the referee.

Has it really, though? Is there any evidence of that, or is it simply that football, even as you go down the pyramid, is so high profile these days that every wrong (or perceived as wrong) decision is available for us all to see, virtually instantaneously. Not only on highlights shows, but on rolling sports news coverage, websites, mobile phones, in gifs and Vines and YouTube clips.

A controversial decision in a game between Morecambe and Exeter City might be seen by millions of people now, whereas if the same game and decision had occurred twenty years ago, the only people who'd have noticed it would have been the 1500 or so at the game. And even half of them probably missed it at the time.

Bad decisions, abysmal decisions, slightly divisive ones: they've always occurred, in every single game in the entire history of football. I'm not convinced they've got any worse over the passing of time.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

Does this leave the door open for a particularly mischievous scamp to get under a referee's skin through affectionate contact/behaviour?

To have someone of a Joey Barton mindset (aware he's in Scotland now but you get the idea) sincerely congratulating the ref on every decison with a manly hug and a handshake would presumably throw them right off their game, with no sign of aggression or disrespect to punish them for...flawless plan.

A small flaw in that plan, is that 'non aggressive contact' is a yellow.

 

[Titanic]

Has it really, though? Is there any evidence of that, or is it simply that football, even as you go down the pyramid, is so high profile these days that every wrong (or perceived as wrong) decision is available for us all to see, virtually instantaneously. Not only on highlights shows, but on rolling sports news coverage, websites, mobile phones, in gifs and Vines and YouTube clips.

A controversial decision in a game between Morecambe and Exeter City might be seen by millions of people now, whereas if the same game and decision had occurred twenty years ago, the only people who'd have noticed it would have been the 1500 or so at the game. And even half of them probably missed it at the time.

Bad decisions, abysmal decisions, slightly divisive ones: they've always occurred, in every single game in the entire history of football. I'm not convinced they've got any worse over the passing of time.

I would go further and say that the fitness and training of referees is now way beyond that of 20 or even 10 years ago. It is utter nonsense to suggest that standards are declining.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

Anyway, I for one am massively looking forward to the onslaught of cards that is bound to ensue this coming season (apart from any we might get of course), until such time as the footballers finally get it into their skulls that screaming "that's ****ing BULLSHIT ref" isn't really on.

I'm also looking forward to seeing Alan Shearer & Co on MOTD then whining that the officials are "ruining the game" for us as spectators by "not showing any common sense" (moments after demanding more consistency, which of course could only theoretically be achieved by strict application of rules, and not by liberal application of common sense).

The great news for all of us- our resident Chelsea floater excepted- is that I do believe John Terry got another year's contract out of Chelsea after starting his sad-faced final farewell tour last January. I can't wait to see how he gets on with this new stricter interpretation of the rules.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

I would go further and say that the fitness and training of referees is now way beyond that of 20 or even 10 years ago. It is utter nonsense to suggest that standards are declining.

Very true. Highly unusual to see tubby match officials these days. Also, the pompous, lecturing, David Elleray types seem to be dying out too. Mike Dean may well be the last of his kind. We can but dream.

 

[LamieRobertson]

Very true. Highly unusual to see tubby match officials these days. Also, the pompous, lecturing, David Elleray types seem to be dying out too. Mike Dean may well be the last of his kind. We can but dream.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

In case nobody has had the foresight to mention it (and I paraphrase)":

Roy Keane "Oy ref, if I call you a **** will you send me off?"
Ref "Obviously"
RK "If I think you're a **** will you send me off"
Ref "Well I can't do anything about what you think"
RK "In that case, I think you're a ****"

Red card

 

[Gullflyinghigh]

A small flaw in that plan, is that 'non aggressive contact' is a yellow.

Quite possibly, though if the player came across as genuine in their niceness I don't think many refs would actually punish them.

Either way, I look forward to the onslaught of drastically sarcastic footballers now.

'Can't send me off ref, I said it was a great decision, you're a real world beater'

 

[Seasider78]

Has it really, though? Is there any evidence of that, or is it simply that football, even as you go down the pyramid, is so high profile these days that every wrong (or perceived as wrong) decision is available for us all to see, virtually instantaneously. Not only on highlights shows, but on rolling sports news coverage, websites, mobile phones, in gifs and Vines and YouTube clips.

A controversial decision in a game between Morecambe and Exeter City might be seen by millions of people now, whereas if the same game and decision had occurred twenty years ago, the only people who'd have noticed it would have been the 1500 or so at the game. And even half of them probably missed it at the time.

Bad decisions, abysmal decisions, slightly divisive ones: they've always occurred, in every single game in the entire history of football. I'm not convinced they've got any worse over the passing of time.

Well given there are no records kept of decisions made I correctly then clearly not I can only go by my opinion of watching games. I am usually pretty balanced when it comes to judging referees performances and am certainly not someone who leaves every match criticising referees but I have found myself becoming increasingly baffled at the inconsistency in decision making and application of the laws of the game.

Even in the small group of games in our run in we had the odd penalty decision at MK Dons, the Burnley disallowed goal, Barron's clear red and Stephens bizarre sending off. All decisions thousands in the crowd can see but the man closest to the action does not. The sign of a good refereeing is where you don't have to discuss the referees performance at the end of the game yet increasingly we find ourselves in that exact position.

As someone else has mentioned they are fitter but has the quality really improved? Not from where I sit it hasn't

 

[Lady Whistledown]

Well given there are no records kept of decisions made I correctly then clearly not I can only go by my opinion of watching games. I am usually pretty balanced when it comes to judging referees performances and am certainly not someone who leaves every match criticising referees but I have found myself becoming increasingly baffled at the inconsistency in decision making and application of the laws of the game.

Even in the small group of games in our run in we had the odd penalty decision at MK Dons, the Burnley disallowed goal, Barron's clear red and Stephens bizarre sending off. All decisions thousands in the crowd can see but the man closest to the action does not. The sign of a good refereeing is where you don't have to discuss the referees performance at the end of the game yet increasingly we find ourselves in that exact position.

As someone else has mentioned they are fitter but has the quality really improved? Not from where I sit it hasn't

I didn't say they'd improved. I just said they haven't got any worse, in all probability.

As football crowds have increased, and the TV coverage also, then the number of people who witness decisions, and who thus get to pass their own judgement via whatever means has also shot up. If that decision involving Stephens had happened in 1979, it probably wouldn't have even been caught on camera, and we'd all have long forgotten it. As it is, we all got to see, over and over again, that Dean got it wrong, and thus feel far more aggrieved as a result.

Social media also means we debate decisions ad infinitum these days, whereas previously any discussion would have been restricted to a local newspaper report, Jimmy Hill & some bloke on the telly if we were lucky, and you & your mates in the pub (several of whom didn't see MOTD anyway as they were out that evening and nobody had got round to inventing the video recorder yet. Probably).

 

[KZNSeagull]

I believe word was that Taricco wasn't sent off for swearing, but for repeatedly intimating that the referee was crooked and Southampton had paid him to give decisions their way.

I seem to remember the documentary when David Elleray was miked up when Arsenal were playing in the days of Adams, Rocastle etc. The abuse he took was something else, but when Adams ran passed him and called him a cheat, that was when Elleray took offence.

 

[portslade seagull]

As an ex ref for local leagues this has been a long time coming. The Oval ball chasers have had this sorted for years