Martin Atkinson To Ref Stoke Game

[White Noise]

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[HatterDon]

There's an article on Hammyend about his NOT being temporarily demoted after needlessly red carding the young Everton lad this past weekend.

I figure they've raked him over the coals about the high number of reds he's dished, so he'll be leaning over in the other direction for this match. Pubis's boys will be free to kick the lumps off us.

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[Burt]

 fp.gif  x lots.

[White Noise]

I really don't understand what has happened. Eveyone was saying he was being demoted. Why the reprieve.

[nevzter]

I really don't understand what has happened. Eveyone was saying he was being demoted. Why the reprieve.

Bagfuls of money.  Of course, I'm only guessing...

[zzamora]

Whats so bad about him?!

[nevzter]

Whats so bad about him?!

Here's his Wiki page for what it's worth:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Atkinson

[ImperialWhite]

Is there a single referee in the league who might induce fans to say "oh yes! should be a good game this"?

a) Surely we're above getting our excuses in several days before the game is even played?
b) Refs, like other humans, make mistakes. Are we really going to demote every referee who makes a mistake (even if it is a match changing one - what mistake doesn't change a match?)? Demoting a top flight ref means playing a a non-top flight ref, so I hardly see how this would improve refereeing.

[zzamora]

Whats so bad about him?!

Here's his Wiki page for what it's worth:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Atkinson

Oh.

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[finnster01]

Should be great actually. Stoke finishing with 9 men.

[zzamora]

Should be great actually. Stoke finishing with 9 men.

Is that before or after we finish with 5 injured men?

[SmithyFFC]

Should be great actually. Stoke finishing with 9 men.

Judging on Rodwell's red card, they'll be lucky to finish the game with 6!

[AlFayedsChequebook]

Give the guy a break.

Suarez's reaction is the reason that Rodwell was sent off.

Until the FA or FIFA or whoever introduce technology in football, you cannot blame referees for honest mistakes.

[ScalleysDad]

At the risk of being left high and dry on a cliff somewhere, again, I have to say that at first viewing, in those nano seconds it takes to decipher the information the eyes have passed to the brain which induces a reaction ................... the decision was an easy mistake to make. The leg that was latterly scrutinised and found to have been retratcted looked like it bent backwards due to impact with the big fat fairy called Suarez. In the seconds immediatly after the tackle it did look like that big fat fairy called Suarez might have had a very serious injury. In those seconds the tackle did look high, late and seriously bad. There is no time allowance for reflection, weighing up the options or consultation. The upteen television angles showed the error almost straight away but of course there is not the option, yet anyway, of saying to the players "Hang on a sec. Lets ask Jamie Redknapp"
It was a classic error latterly put right. Atkinson has his moments and I agree with most of the comments but the big fat fairy Suarez has got away with his part in the fiasco scot free.

Saying all that if he sends Sidwell or Murph off for their first clumsy challenge I'll rip him to shreds in verse.....

[ScalleysDad]

Give the guy a break.

Suarez's reaction is the reason that Rodwell was sent off.

Until the FA or FIFA or whoever introduce technology in football, you cannot blame referees for honest mistakes.

dammit you beat me whilst I was typing. lets get hung out to dry together.............

[finnster01]

As Forest Gump so eloquently put it: Atkinson is like a box of chocolate, you never know what you are going to get (other than loads of cards).  092.gif

[leonffc]

Give the guy a break.

Suarez's reaction is the reason that Rodwell was sent off.

Until the FA or FIFA or whoever introduce technology in football, you cannot blame referees for honest mistakes.

dammit you beat me whilst I was typing. lets get hung out to dry together.............

My take on it was that Atkinsons card was out before Suarez hit the floor. Whether the consistantly cheating Suarez was hurt or not, it shouldn't affect the decision. Hard and fair is still legal. Just!!
My take on it straight away was 'great tackle' and I appreciate being on top of the action in the thick of things may have altered Atkinsons though process but it was a terrible decision none the less.

It was intresting to see the 'great' Howard Webb finally did a stint in the championship on the same weekend. OK it was quite a high profile game but I never thought his (long overdue) demotion would come.

[Rupert]

The Referees Association has a magazine (imaginatively titled "The Football Referee"), and a few years ago they did a piece on the use of technology during a game by using an example where Andy Gray disagreed with the ref (just for once).

It was a live Sky game, Gray was the co-commentator and during one piece of action a player flew into a tackle. The referee instantly hit the whistle, there may have been a card, too.
Gray immediately launched into one of his tirades about referees not letting the game flow as the first replay showed the tackle again, he carried on as the second camera angle showed that, actually, the trailing leg may well have fouled the opponent. By the third replay he was admitting that there may have been some justification for the free-kick. As the fourth camera angle was shown, Gray conceded, grudgingly, that the ref got it right.

Now, I would never claim that Andy Gray should be used as a barometer for justifying the use, or not, of technology, so how about another example, closer to home.

We had a match in the early Coleman era where Boa Morte had the ball passed to him in our half, went on one of his runs and was tripped/dived just over the half-way line. The ref went for option two and yellow carded him. The next day, one of the football shows showed the incident, then re-ran it several times in slow motion. After doing this several times, one expert was convinced Boa had dived, the other was convinced it was a foul, and if anything the card should have gone to the defender.

In the case of the Liverpool-Everton game, the ref got it wrong, everyone has said so, but there will be cases where it is not so clear cut, and there lies the problem with the technology arguement.
Imagine it is Fulham v Man Utd, there are two contentious decisions, both go United's way. Would we all just shrug, say fair enough and carry on, or would we get upset that a "clear cut" (in our biased eyes) decision went to the big team?

The other problem, it may leave officials afraid to make decisions. Look at Rugby League. They introduced technology to decide if a try has been scored or not, fair enough, it is important to get it right, but watch a game on TV and the referees seem to ask the bloke on the monitor to decide just about every try. If there is even the remotest chance that the try might be disallowed the ref does not dare make his own decision as the technology would prove him wrong. It doesn't matter too much in rugby, which is stop-start anyway, but in football?

[TonyGilroy]

But football's stop start when there's a big incident if only because a player is being treated and/or players are surrounding the referee.

I can't see what the harm would be if an off field ref with technology were to tell the on field ref what he'd seen.

Marginal decsions would be given more consideration and blatent injustices would be avoided.

I'd like to see respected experienced retired refs in their 50s and 60s used as off field refs. Their legs won't be able to keep pace with the game any longer but their brains and experience are assets that should be used.

[finnster01]

...I'd like to see respected experienced retired refs in their 50s and 60s used as off field refs. Their legs won't be able to keep pace with the game any longer but their brains and experience are assets that should be used.

Agree 100% Mr Gilroy.
It is a crime not using a chap like Pierluigi Collina for something substantial.