Bad refs or......

[Carborundum]

One of the things I like about watching football is that there's more going on than one pair of eyes can cope with.  Refereeing must be incredibly difficult given the pace the game is played at and the way players of all teams look to test the limits of rules.  All I know is we tend to win games when we play well and lose games when we don't.

The reasons why refs view Craven Cottage as one of the better places to come are probably the ones that made it suitable to bring a six year old lad to his first game.  He's now mad about Fulham.  Long may those reasons continue.

[Woolly Mammoth]

Boro is going to be a tough game and the chances are we will be outmuscled and there will be some close decisions against us, we will also miss a few good goal scoring opportunities.

If we lose please, please let us not blame the poor ref., he will be doing his best and the chances are that his errors will be evenly shared between the two clubs

and " the dish ran away with the spoon "!!!!

[toshes mate]

There are actually eight pairs of eyes trying to cope with all that is going on but six of those can be easily distracted by other things going on off the ball, such as dugout disturbances, and the kinds of things learned when watching sons and daughters being 'badly judged' by on field officials and so on.   It isn't pairs of eyes that need to be clear, it is total respect for officialdom no matter now badly he or she does the job since the alternative is anarchy and degradation of the game's principal laws - which is where I believe we have been heading for a long time.

[Woolly Mammoth]

My last word on the Burton ref is that he is from Stafford which is the same county as Burton are in. I thought this was not allowed.

Now there's a surprise, and if he does live in the same County, then it is also my understanding like yourself that the rules/guidelines state what you have just interpreted.

[Woolly Mammoth]

Fulham are not the sort of team or club a ref would have it in for. We are harmless.
We need to stop make my excuses for our average start to the season, it's not the fault of biased or bad refereeing.

and there you have it, as you say "we are harmless". and because we are harmless, and our ground is not a Bear Pit, and our players are jolly good sports, and the manager is a jolly good egg. The referees are not intimidated and find it so much easier to rule against us to appease the opposition and their technical area when they are screaming down their necks. There lies the answer, not only are we Gentlemen, we are gentle men.
It clearly doesn't pay, although I wouldn't want Fulham to follow the examples of other certain moronic teams and their cretinous managers, I am just saying how I see it, and how it is.
I certainly do not blame referees for our poor displays when we lose.
We played poorly v Burton, cause we were outmuscled, outplayed, outfought and out thought, out manourved, and they and their manager wanted it more than us. I got the impression that our players thought they could breeze through the 90 mins.
The fact that the referee was a complete and utter Dog End, and never impartial does not excuse our limp display, and these limp displays are coming far too often at the moment. 

[Woolly Mammoth]

I think the standard is bad. But when we are playing a game and we suss the Ref is going to let fouling go, then play the Ref and do what the other team is doing!

Man up Fulham, more direct passing football with and aggressive edge of taking no prisoners!

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I go along with that, man up and adopt a more aggressive and a more competitive attitude.
Teams must love playing against us for those reasons, we are a soft touch, and the referees have also picked that up. So not only do we get it from the opposition, the referees are having their pound of flesh.
So it's in our hands then, we have to go toe to toe once that whistle blows, otherwise it will be another season of nearly this and nearly that.
Which then brings me to my other worry, if we are still in this Division come the end of the season. Can we hold onto the Jewels in our Crown, will the vultures come circling. It could be a tough summer, so whilst we still have it in our own hands, the Manager and the players have to  adopt a different attitude, and get a grip.
and TAKE NO PRISONERS.

[Woolly Mammoth]

There are actually eight pairs of eyes trying to cope with all that is going on but six of those can be easily distracted by other things going on off the ball, such as dugout disturbances, and the kinds of things learned when watching sons and daughters being 'badly judged' by on field officials and so on.   It isn't pairs of eyes that need to be clear, it is total respect for officialdom no matter now badly he or she does the job since the alternative is anarchy and degradation of the game's principal laws - which is where I believe we have been heading for a long time.

Agreed again. The players have no respect for the laws of the game, and neither do some of the managers.
They are behave like spoilt juvenile delinquents, because they are spoilt by the FA and this same Association allow them to get away with it for certain reasons.
It's the culture in the game, no discipline at all, and no respect, everybody is far too rich to care, as long as they get their own way, they are all laughing all the way to the banks.
All jolly good pals over a beer. 

[alfie]

It bugs me that managers/coaches have to come out after a game to face the press, yet refs don't. We have all seen decisions that have been at least questioned, but never an explanation of why it was given.

[filham]

One of the things I like about watching football is that there's more going on than one pair of eyes can cope with.  Refereeing must be incredibly difficult given the pace the game is played at and the way players of all teams look to test the limits of rules.  All I know is we tend to win games when we play well and lose games when we don't.

The reasons why refs view Craven Cottage as one of the better places to come are probably the ones that made it suitable to bring a six year old lad to his first game.  He's now mad about Fulham.  Long may those reasons continue.

I will totally support that oint of view.

[Bill2]

refs are paid peanuts

I've said elsewhere IMO the whole system is well ripe for reform.

In the average Championship match you've 22 players on about £750k pa each. The ref has a bigger impact than any of them individually so I'd say even at our level the top refs should be earning £1m pa, double or treble that in the premiership.

But then I'd say there also needs to be proper training and scrutiny.

it should be mandatory for a professional ref to have a degree-type qualification for which they spend several years in an academy testing their knowledge of the rules, speed of thought, confidence, backbone etc.

They should be struck off and barred from refeering in the event of any dishonesty or massive errors of judgment in their personal lives, like we do with lawyers or doctors.

they should be scored by both managers, both team captains and mulitple neutral adjudicators during the game, and again after the game by another adjudicator reviewing the big decisions against video footage. all those scores published for everyone to see.

Every half season, the lowest scoring refs get replaced by the highest scoring refs from the division below.

i.e. An incentivised, competitive, transparent system.   

While I can agree with some of the points it is not about qualifications or money. What is needed is video replays and another official as in  rugby.
I have said before I do not understand some of the refs decisions and it is the most frustrating part of the game for me and others. What would be better is to teach us fans the rules of the game, this could be done by some post match analysis of the decisions by a professional ref or even better the ref of the match. Chance of it happening. It will happen the week after I win the lottery,

[Bill2]

It bugs me that managers/coaches have to come out after a game to face the press, yet refs don't. We have all seen decisions that have been at least questioned, but never an explanation of why it was given.

Couldn't agree more, they should have to come out and justify any major contentious decision, such as the penalty last Saturday.

[Allestree andy]

as a referee myself i would have no trouble explaining my decision to anyone, i do this on a regular basis when i am doing a game and the players accept it, i would like as statto said "While I can agree with some of the points it is not about qualifications or money. What is needed is video replays and another official as in  rugby.
I have said before I do not understand some of the refs decisions and it is the most frustrating part of the game for me and others" the video ref, my way of doing it would be  like this at the start of any game each team has three challenges for the whole game, if they challenge a decision and its right then they keep the three challenges, but if the challenge is wrong then they loseit and drop to two. Then have an offical sitting in a room somewhere in the ground and he is in comntact with the ref,if the ref is not sure about something he can refer to the offical for clarifaction, it would not hold the game up the game for that long and would clear up any confussion that may arise, and the ref should be allowed to explain his decision at the end of the game in an interview. but i can tell you know that wont bhappen as the person in charg of the officals wont let it happen, they need to be accountab;le for these decisions and its only a matter of time before one club takes a ref to court for example if a club loses out on promotion to the premier costin that club big bucks and it was because that ref didnt give a penalty or gave one which never was.

[ffc73]

Thought today's ref was best we have had this season