sydney_saint

How on earth could you know that? He may have looked at the lino for confirmation that it was a handball, he may have done a quick replay in his head before blowing the whistle, you have absolutely no idea what he was thinking at that time. The officials all had a very good game, and for those saying Carlisle should have had a man sent off for handball, they really should have had a penalty in the first 5 mins so it evens itself up.

Haven't checked all of the ones above so apologies if this has already been posted. Not the greatest song of all time but the greatest to reach number 1 The Specials Ghost Town

This is something that I have been saying for a long time, that the problem is at grassroots level. A referee who is just 14 will be subjected to an incredible amount of abuse, not just by players but by the arrogant know it all parents watching the game. This causes many young refs to quit after only a couple of seasons. I can speak from experience as I was considered one of the better young refs in NSW, as a 17 year old regular reffing the best 15 year olds in the state and was at the highest level I could be at for my age. I started when I was 14 and after nearly 4 years of abuse, many of which I can't repeat on here, I couldn't be bothered reffing anymore, it just wasn't worth it. My brother has severe bipolar disorder and was reffing under 10's low division to keep himself active. The amount of abuse given to him in one game, under 10's division 4, caused him to have an attack where he spent a month in hospital recovering. This happens with many of the young talented refs. My opinion is that any parent that dishes out abuse on the touchline must be forced to take the course and become a ref, seeing as according to themselves they are so great at it. This goes for many professional matches, those that give abuse from the crowd should also become a ref. The more we have, the more cpmpetiton between the talented refs and hence a better standard in all divisons.

39 I'm 19. End.

I am studying a course that contains a large amount of human geography so have seen more maps then hot dinners (not difficult as a student in all fairness) but the most commonly used maps are still the traditional North top maps. At least is Sydney and Newcastle that is.

Actually you'll find that only a small group of referees do not have other jobs, and they would pretty much be the Premier League Referees. Perhaps if they were paid more they would be able to focus more on becoming better Match Officials and better incomes would encourage young talented referees to make a career in football if only they made even half the amount a professional footballer makes.

How was that not a foul in the build up? I think it was perry went in for the header, won it, but was barged over in the process.

lol Papa centre mid and Hammond on the right, good work ITV

Looks like I will be watching on computer like all the other Aussie saints. Setanta- what is the point of that channel- just give all games to sbs, fossie knows about the true romance of the fa cup. Are there any fans living in newcastle (Aus) anyway? (yes my username is out of date) Being living here for a year now and yet to meet a single saints fan

I speak on behalf of all non regular forum members with the exact same username as myself that we would be encouraged to use the main board more frequently if we are able to enjoy the musings of one Kadeem Hardison. This poster deserves the right to post with the freedom of mind and fingers that one of such creativity contains. I have a dream that this day may come.

I've only seen Ifill play once against Sydney in your 3-0 loss over here and he looked excellent although was chopped down by our thugs at every given opportunity. Although now gone to america I think, I've always thought Allsopp cdaj in the lower leagues due to his pace and strength, but doesn't have the footballing ability to take it higher then mid ccc.

Shane Smeltz has done it both for Wellington and GCU. Also how about a cheeky bid for Hernandez, or would he be too much of a luxury player? Agree about Archie, would also make an excellent foil for Lambert I would imagine

And Drogba at the same age was yet to establish himself as a first team regular at a Ligue 2 club

Haven't read this thread, too horrified by the whole situation. I can only comment from experience and my brother has severe bi-polar. A person with severe bi-polar, which evidently Mr Shaikh had, can be easily exploited or easily led astray. A personal experiece of this occured when my brother went into his school, clearly unwell, and began to raise money, as he had been led to believe by his class mates that he had invented the cure for aids. He simply believed this was true and if someone had told him to go to China to record a hit, he would believe that as well. Anyone else that has experienced this illness would realise that this man was clearly innocent. I am clutching at straws here but I truly hope that some good comes out of this by raising world awareness on the effects of bi-polar and other mental illnesses

Katy Perry Saggy chops If these happen I will be a very relieved man

Just out of interest, as you are saying that Bart kicked it, does that mean it was off a goalkick? As I previously mentioned I haven't seen the incident so its a genuine question

Haven't seen the incident nor know much about it but am I correct in thinking that the incident was off a goalkick? If so you can not be offside off a goal kick. Other then that you are quickly becoming my favorite poster as someone that sees the decisions without tinted specs. Officials get a ridiculous high amount of decisions correct and I am glad that there are at least some fans that can see this. From what I've read it sounds that if the incident was not off a goalkick, then the correct decision was made.

Captain Planet, he's our hero Gonna take pollution down to zero He's our powers magnified And he's fighting on the planet's side Bloody brilliant

Disappointed how AP has allowed the game to drift

This idea though leads to a couple of situations that may prove to be too controversial. For instance how far back in time do you go in order to check whether a player was offside or not? This is obvious for a quick counter attack where the ball is threaded through the defence, but what about a play that has twenty passes together? The second problem this may cause is that the most probable outcome is that it only checks one side of the offside law, that is whether the attacker was offside in that game decision, rather then been a close call where it was given offside when the attacker was in fact onside. Another problem this may cause is that managers will call for this to be checked after every goal, regardless of whether it was a close decision. I apologise by using cricket as an example again but in the recent 'appeals' in the west indies vs england series, decisions were being reviewed for legitimate dismissals against players like monty,just to use them up, which just slows the game down. In rugby league barely a try goes by without the ref checking to see whether there was any infringement in that try.

I'm all for goal line technology, there are occasions that due to positioning in line with the second last defender, it is very difficult to see whether the ball is a tiny distance over the line, say about an inch. I am slightly hesitant over other forms of technology. I think when it comes to tackles the ref has the best judgement rather then technology. For instance a defender come is two footed with excessive force. He gets the ball but if he hadn't he would have broken the attackers legs. I don't think technology can make a decision on whether that should be given as a foul or not. Perhaps the attacker moved out of the way to avoid being injured which in that case the defender has gained an unfair advantage and should be given as an indirect free kick. Also the case of high boots, how high must a boot be to be called a foul? I don't think technology can help with fouls. In regards to offsides, I do not have any statistics to back me up, but I would wager that about 90% of offside decisions are correct, and of that 10% only a small fraction ends up in a game changing consequence. Therefore I believe that maybe offside technology should not be discarded completely, but be very hesitant before implementing it because it will most definitely slow down the game. The final discrepancy I have about technology is the fact that it would need to be implemented down to grass roots level. Every ref obviously works out their technique at this level such as positioning and judgements. If technology was brought just at a certain level, refs would need to readjust many aspects of their game as soon as they reached that level. For me personally, I would not like that, however I realise I can't speak for all refs. I think that it would worsen the standard of reffing, not improve it. The best example I can think of is in cricket, where the umpire has to look down to see whether a player bowls a no ball. I was listening to Simon Taufel, who umpired a match where they brought in another umpire who looked at a screen and yelled into an earpiece "no ball" if the bowler over stepped. This meant that the umpire kept his head up and concentrated solely on the batsman. Taufel said he found this worsened his game, as he had been brought up and worked out his game by looking down at the bowler foot, before looking up to watch the bowl. I hope this example is clear

And yours reminds me why I quit. As the posts above say, we are pretty much always in position and are therefore in the best position to judge, not some fan 50 yards away screaming he's offside you ****. I just ask for one thing and you can tell me if this is too much 1. To respect my decision. I will never claim to be always correct, that is impossible. After every game I used to type up a report of my performance and analyze where I went wrong and try and improve for the next game. I have made mistakes, some of them massive, and I deeply apologize for them, however even the worst one I do not feel it is correct to hurl abuse at, whether you are a fan, player or coach. I have never gone out to deliberately make decisions against a team, absolutely never. I don't ask people to congratulate me if I make a good decision, so I'm not an egotistical maniac, and I don't ask people to abuse me if I get a decision wrong. I'm just a guy trying to contribute to the game I love, I really don't see how that merits abuse. But if you see otherwise I would like to know your reasons, and then explain to me why you think the number of refs are decreasing, particularly at grassroots level.

And it is this sort of attitude on why there is such a poor standard of refs ( at least according to the 'experts') So you say get rid, and replace them with whom exactly? I suggest perhaps you go and volunteer your time in becoming the ref, with a greater pool of refs the standard would obviously improve, however its time thats ***** like yourself actually gave them a bit of actual respect. As for your uncalled comment on petrol pump attendants, I was a ref for quite a few a few years, reffing at a decent level (quit due to undeserved abuse) and I'm an environmental scientist, hardly a low class job. Also remember that the players are getting paid ridiculously large amounts in comparison to the ref so each of their mistakes should be focused upon more rather then the ref.

I must be an idiot because the only face i can see is the one holding up the damn thing. I've turned my laptop upside down and still can't see it :confused:

I've been waiting so long for someone to say something like this that I don't really know what to say. Well done this man, the fact is the refs get around 90%+ of their decisions correct and it is incredibly difficult skill to be watching the ball when it is struck, the last defender and to see if the ball goes out of play