Officialdumb
OFFICIALDUMB
After only two competitive games this season its interesting to hear all the old moans and groans about referees coming out again, well I make no apologies for sharing mine with you!! At the time of writing I have witnessed the first two games and have not been impressed by either Rowbotham and Freeland at all.
In the Dundee game, which they deserved to win, Rowbotham turned a blind eye to all their little wee niggles and tugs but came down heavy on anything our players did. I am still convinced that Twaddle's injury came from a trip by Dundee player and many refs would have seen it that way, and maybe sent that man off! He also denied one clear penalty when Martin Wood was pushed over with two hands in his back.
He seems to have adopted a pose nowadays that he must keep the game flowing and that anybody that hits the ground has dived. This is fine but surely a free kick is a free kick and should not be passed over just to keep the game flowing.
In the second game we had the other side of affairs when Mr. Freeland would blow for every offence no matter how trivial. This contributed to a classic case of a bad game being made worse by poor refereeing. He has been castigated in the media for the sending off of Sutton, my only criticism for this would be that it probably took him 20 minutes too long. It would appear that the only people at the game who could see his persistent fouling were the 300 or so Well fans and Freeland!
This referee is too guilty of producing the cards too quickly, take the case of John Davies. His booking in 4 minutes was for a bad tackle, but many others may have given him a warning realising that booking this early sets the tone for the ninety minuets. His second booking was a bit soft and may again have been let go by others, probably Mr Rowbotham!!
So what's to be done? I am not a great believer in full time referees as I am not sure what they would do between games to hone their skills. But I would love them to be able to come out and explain why they did something. How much better would it have been for Alan Freeland to have been able to deliver a statement saying that he sent Sutton off for Persistent fouling - would that have taken the sting out of the after match discussions? This would be a major step forward for people like you and me in helping us understand why they do what they do!
Having said all that I would never do their job for a pension, it must be the only job where you are assured of never pleasing all of the people at any time at all!
Graham Barnstaple
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