What should the FA do about referees?

Page 123, Law 13 - The ball is in play when it is kicked and moves.

This is not the first time there has been controversy surrounding refereeing decisions made in a Liverpool Sunderland fixture, nor is it the first time referee Stuart Atwell has woken up on a Sunday morning with his name all over the papers for the wrong reasons.

Last year, a beach ball deflected a Darren Bent shot, in open play, past Pepe Reina in the Liverpool goal, and referee Mike Jones allowed it to stand. Sunderland won that game 1-0, and the debates over whether or not the goal should have stood continued for days, but in that case most arguments were ended on the agreement that the right decision was made by law and by common sense.


And 2 seasons ago Stuart Atwell was at the centre of attention again as he awarded a mysterious "ghost goal" to Reading against Watford. Amid a goal mouth scramble, Atwell adjudged the ball to have crossed the line between the goal posts and underneath the crossbar, despite the fact that only time it crossed the line was outside the goal. A goal kick should have been awarded, but instead a goal was given. The game finished 2-2.

Yesterday, as I am sure everybody has seen, Atwell awarded an indirect free-kick to Sunderland in their own half. Turner tried to take the kick quickly, but it was pulled back to the correct position by the 27-year-old youngest Premier League referee. Atwell waited until Turner was by the ball, and as Atwell turned his back and walked off, Turner appeared to backheel the ball towards his keeper, and the keeper walked forward to take the kick, but instead Torres pounced on it, and although the keeper appealed, Torres was allowed to go on by Atwell and pulled it back to Kuyt for an easy finish. The referee consulted his assistant, and a goal was awarded. The game finished 2-2.

I am currently undertaking a refereeing course, and we were told that while you should stick to the laws as much as possible, the use of common sense is also very important. It could be argued that he did the right thing. Turner, afterall, passed the ball to his goalkeeper, and so the ball was in play, and Torres and Kuyt were justly rewarded for their quick thinking. However, surely it would have been clear to his assistant that Turner had not deliberately given the ball to Torres, and maybe the kick should have been retaken.

As you can see, all three decisions have affected results, and although in some cases the right decision may have been made, the FA is going to need to do something to stop such strange occurances happening again. It appears at the moment that young referees act like robots, and rarely use common sense. More often than not, younger referees make decisions correct by law, but not necessarily correct in practice. Is it nerves that force these referees into making the decisions, or is it younger referees wanting to be better and sticking to the rules?

So what should they do? Does the process of a referee going from Level 9 to Level 1 need to be changed? Or is this problem always going to be there of referees making mistakes? Unfortunately, I think it is the latter. Referees go about their job in different ways, some are leniant, and some only make decisions on their first thoughts. Because of this, it is likely that referees will always make mistakes, and we will just have to hope that they aren't too costly.


Gibbo

Learning curve for Burley

After arguably the most extraordinary summer in Crystal Palace Football Club's history, it finally appears the Club has returned to having a sole purpose - playing football. There is no longer any feeling of needing to sign new players, or searching for a new manager, and there are certainly no financial worries.

Instead, the only thing that the Palace forums are talking about, is the football, and, perhaps unsurprisingly given the nature and fickleness of the modern day football fan, the views on the football and players is mixed. There are those who, like me, realise that you cannot completely change a squad and win the league overnight. Then there are those who feel that it is Calvin Andrew's fault (I can see where they are coming from, but that is a whole new post.) while some are saying that Burley should be sacked, although this is quite definitely the minority, and rightly so.

But I can already see a trend developing. At home when I have seen Palace, even when we haven't won, we have played some very good football and come very close. Against Leicester we were incredible in the first half, and the 3 goals we scored showed that, and against Portsmouth our wingers, Cadogan and Djilali, along with hat-trick hero James Vaughan were unplayable, and a great night was only tarnished by a communication error between Gardner and Speroni, but it was a Tuesday night, so I think we got off quite lightly! And against Burnley, despite what the papers say, we were very good defensively and came close a number of times, not forgetting the player Neil Danns thinks should be Argentina's number 1, Julian Speroni, who pulled off his usual array of world-class stops.

Yet away from home we are afraid to shoot, afraid to pass, and invite pressure. Even against Reading, not the best of sides with a poor referee, we had about one shot on goal and were, if I'm brutally honest, shocking.

However, George Burley is a very experienced manager, and the squad he has built is a credit to him, and surely from here the only way is up. There are so many weaknesses in our side, but this is not because of lack of quality - we have that in abundance and, for me, we have one of the top 5 squads in the league - but because of the lack of time they have had together. I have never understood how a team can be so confident at home, but so timid away, and I am sure this is a problem Burley is all too aware of, and I am certain that given time, results away from SE25 will come.

For me, away games at Swansea and Preston will be the biggest test for us, and I believe that, even if we lose 5-0 in both, Burley will take a lot away from the two games, and we play so differently home and away that it should be relatively to adjust team-talks and tactics in order to improve results.

We won't be getting 3 points every week any time soon, but in a way that is a good thing, because this way Burley gets the chance to prepare for if and when we do. Burley has a steep learning curve, but this is nothing new for him, and I am sure he relishes the challenge of moving Palace up the Football League.

Gibbo