Watch This - A Refereeing Lesson For Football

[paranoid android]

We were talking about this when we were watching the Scotland/England game on Saturday - rugby referees actually seem competent, and the players seem to actually respect the referee - very little of the petulance we're used to in football.

A lot of pressure on the mic'd-up rugby ref when all c**t can hear every single fucking word they're uttering, mind. 

[Dons_1988]

My problem with rugby, aside from it being total shit, is the snobbish people who look down on football who can’t form a coherent argument about why they prefer rugby.

When I ask them to share why they prefer rugby I invariably get met with some nonsense about footballers diving or feigning injury.

Right, so no actual arguments about the merits of rugby as a sport over football. Also I would be willing to bet that if there was any benefit to diving in a rugby match, there would be people who would do it.

In conclusion, rugby can f**k off.

[Swello]

Rugby doesn't matter - a middle class social occasion and not much else.  It's hardly surprising that it's all so nicey-nicey when the "rival" supporters have all played the Biscuit Game  together at the same school.

[WFAANW]

Rugby lovers are OFTW imo.

Oh and f**k Rugby.

[thisGRAEME]

I shan't be taking advice on how to do sport from folk that watch it four times a year.

Thank you.

[topcat(The most tip top)]

Undoubtedly the number of wrong decisions has been reduced by the technology (especially in big games where there are loads of camera angles available) but it’s not the panacea that the OP portrays it as. The decision on whether to go to TMO is taken by the same fallible referee that makes the call in an untelevised game.

And it’s not just referees who don’t use the system when they should there’s also plenty who overuse the system.
Occasionally slowing the game down may be a price worth paying but there are plenty of instances of rugby referees who just waste everybody’s time getting things double checked that they should have been able to call on their own.

And if you’re going to look at decision review systems in Rugby then you should also look at other sports instead

Tennis, American football and Cricket have technology based decision referrals they also have rules to limit the number of times they’re used

Think about what that means

They have had to put protocols in place to stop too much use of DRS slowing the game down even if that game is a 5 day test match.

[come on shire]

The rugby team entertain me as they're playing well. They didn't lose the chance of victory at the end vs England on Sat as they were too busy seething with Bannockburn before the game had actually finished. That's what your footy team is for.

I'm early 30's. Last time the Scotland footy team were at a major tournament I was winding up P7 :/

[oneteaminglasgow]

footy

Think we can safely ignore your opinion, tbh.

[come on shire]

It's only a word

[JamieThomas]

Aye, a shite one.

[craigkillie]

2 hours ago, paranoid android said:

We were talking about this when we were watching the Scotland/England game on Saturday - rugby referees actually seem competent, and the players seem to actually respect the referee - very little of the petulance we're used to in football.

A lot of pressure on the mic'd-up rugby ref when all c**t can hear every single fucking word they're uttering, mind. 

It's easier to seem competent when most of the action happens at a snail's pace and most of your decisions are about whether Tarquin Double-Barrel was on the top or the bottom of the big pile.

[Guest JTS98]

Rugby union is mince, but I must confess a weakness for rugby league. Spent quite a bit of time watching it in Australia, where rugby is not a sport for public school boys. A couple of observations.

1) NRL uses technology all the time. The majority of tries result in everybody standing around while the video ref checks some aspect of play from two minutes ago to make sure it's cool. This isn't really a problem because rugby is a game that stops quite frequently anyway. Football's not really like that. I can't imagine waiting two or three minutes to celebrate a goal. Would totally kill it.

2) They still get it wrong plenty of times. And there are many decisions that are still near enough impossible to call after umpteen viewings and everyone standing around for ages. Even things that sound simple. Did he get 'downward pressure' on the ball? Did he knock it on? Was he out of play? All things that sound simple but are often impossible to tell even after dozens of viewings. So what's the point?

3) Of course rugby players cheat. League players all do that squirmy thing on the floor where they pretend they're being held down by an opponent in order to try to get a penalty. Sports people will cheat where there's the opportunity to do so.

I'm aware some will judge me harshly for my enjoyment of rugby league. I couldn't care less. The NRL is perhaps the best sporting competition in the world.

[Border Reiver]

Love rugby this is class

[WellView]

Amazing that folk are mentioning the one or two times the video refereeing failed.  Never mind the thousands of times it worked, eh? 

 

[forameus]

I'm not a rugby fan, but I'll watch it at times.  Probably in the same way I watch tennis (that is, probably once or twice a year when it's on).  I don't agree with the lazy "well it works in rugby" arguments that keep getting trotted out, because that misses the point.  Especially when, as others have said, it doesn't always work.  

The one thing I would like to see is the same level of respect that is shown for referees in rugby.  Maybe if footballers had a bit more of that, rather than acting like petulant toddlers all of the time, the referees might actually have an incentive to get better, and less inclined to completely shite out of decisions.  I'd be absolutely amazed if there weren't several examples of referees even subconsciously changing their mindset because a player was being a dick to him.  I know I would.

[Ira Gaines]

Referees have had the option of booking players for dissent. But referees have been lenient on it, and the result has been the players and managers getting worse and worse. Which in turn puts more pressure on the referees, which in turn brings performance down.

Instant bookings for dissent is the way to go. They'll push for instant bookings on taking shirts off and celebrating with your supporters, so why not that? Wouldn't eradicate it immediately but it'd slowly but surely lift a hell of a weight from referees.

[Northboy]

A big factor in rugby is that teams and players get punished for their misdemeanours. Conceding a penalty in your own half usually means conceding 3 points given the standard of kicking in modern rugby. In contrast, footballers are content to concede a free kick anywhere outside their own penalty area - even free kicks in and around the box are, on average, unlikely to lead to the loss of a goal. In terms of sin bins and sending offs, being a player down has more impact on a rugby team than a football team.

[forameus]

29 minutes ago, Randy Giles said:

Referees have had the option of booking players for dissent. But referees have been lenient on it, and the result has been the players and managers getting worse and worse. Which in turn puts more pressure on the referees, which in turn brings performance down.

Instant bookings for dissent is the way to go. They'll push for instant bookings on taking shirts off and celebrating with your supporters, so why not that? Wouldn't eradicate it immediately but it'd slowly but surely lift a hell of a weight from referees.

I would agree, but I think they fear what I would fear if they brought it in - footballers not stopping it (because they're almost to a man inherently thick) and games being reduced to a complete farce because of it.  

If it could be implemented correctly, and players got it through their thick heads that they would get sent off, then it would be the way to go.  But I can just see a few weeks of players getting sent off right, left and centre, and instead of their managers being absolutely seething at them, it'll be at the referees.  Then the decision probably quietly reversed by the SPFL at some point.

That and I'd imagine even if the rule was brought in and referees were told to enforce it more strongly, they still wouldn't. 

[7-2]

43 minutes ago, Randy Giles said:

Referees have had the option of booking players for dissent. But referees have been lenient on it, and the result has been the players and managers getting worse and worse. Which in turn puts more pressure on the referees, which in turn brings performance down.

Instant bookings for dissent is the way to go. They'll push for instant bookings on taking shirts off and celebrating with your supporters, so why not that? Wouldn't eradicate it immediately but it'd slowly but surely lift a hell of a weight from referees.

Spot on. I have a certain sympathy with them for the way the game's gone but refs are their own worst enemies with their inaction at times. Part of it is their growing place in the spotlight and them building their part up. They now prattle on about their game management and how it is their responsibility to try and keep it 11 v 11. That is of course absolute crap.  It is the players responsibility to keep it 11 v 11 and the refs responsibility to apply the laws of the game.

[forameus]

9 minutes ago, 7-2 said:

Spot on. I have a certain sympathy with them for the way the game's gone but refs are their own worst enemies with their inaction at times. Part of it is their growing place in the spotlight and them building their part up. They now prattle on about their game management and how it is their responsibility to try and keep it 11 v 11. That is of course absolute crap.  It is the players responsibility to keep it 11 v 11 and the refs responsibility to apply the laws of the game.

Which is a by-product of the game now being "the product", where how it is being perceived on television is more important than anything else.  

Away from the AMF stuff, it's untrue.  I'd far rather watch a match that is 7 against 8 with some very, very tried and angry people after a huge rammy.