Refereeing mistakes

[Johnny Latino Heat]

I made this topic to discuss about refereeing "mistakes" in the games, in whichever sports you feel like it. Dunno if this will stick, but meh, I gave it a try.

I thought about making this because here there's huge controversy right now with the refereeing. The "mistakes" have been happening for years, beneffiting some teams, (mostly Porto, but they're not the only ones), and since it has become so blatantly obvious, that about 8 months ago there was this operation to stop corruption in soccer/football. Many important people regarding the football federation were arrested, but with no conclusion yet. Some weeks ago that same operation came back, indicting several referees, a business man and Porto's president. This is a shameful situation in my eyes and I hope it gets an answer soon.

Anyway, some of the blatant mistakes I remember seeing recently...

1) Sporting vs Braga - A Sporting Lisbon attacker scores but his goal is ruled off by offside. Yet, he was more than a meter behind the defence.

2) Benfica vs Porto - Petit, a Benfica player, shoots from way out to what seems an easy save. Yet, the Porto goalkeeper lets the ball go and while the ball enters by about 50 centimeters inside the goal, it's not validated. That same game saw many Porto players completely tackle Benfica players without so much as a foul, which is the rule for Porto games.

3) Maritimo vs Porto - This one happened just yesterday. Benfica, Porto and Sporting were all tied in the first place, but Porto had one game to play. Marítimo was winning the match, and lo and behold, an offside goal for Porto giving them the tie and the edge they needed to be considered Winter champions. Hurray for Porto. (By the way, the newspapers gave a 1 out of 10 performance for the referee. I wonder why...)

4) Benfica vs Estoril - I'm a Benfica fan, but even I have to acknowledge this one. It was tied 1 - 1, and Karadas, a Benfica player, took a complete dive in Estoril's area. Penalty, 2-1 for Benfica.

5) Vitória de Guimarães vs Sporting - Sporting was losing, and after a foul on the goalkeeper (Beto took the ball out of the goalkeeper's hands with his left arm in a cross), they tied, cruising to the win later.

6) Académica vs Sporting - Again, a foul on the goalkeeper gave Sporting the win. The goalkeeper was completely run over when he was going for the ball, and the attacker just had to enter the goal with the ball.

And that's not mentioning games where Porto (this is the most blatant team, but they're not the only ones. Just the most beneffited ones) is beneffited by having their players completely run over the opponents without so much as a foul, and having their offside goals count, and crap like that.

This whole situation sickens me and made me lose my passion for football lately. I don't even watch games right now. The only ones I watch are replays from years ago that show up on cable. Bah.

This turned into a bigger rant than I'd thought, but well, I needed to vent my frustration. Do the same, if you'd like.

[Animal]

All Benfica goals sould be cancelled, just because Benfica made them. Now on the Sporting one I can see your point. well the first one the second one was definitly ok in my book.

But I see your point.

What frustrates me the most is referees who give yellow cards for obvious red cards fouls (elbows, tackles that look more like murder attempts) If they give a yellow card the FA can't have them banned because the referee saw it and judged it. That sucks the most.

[Guest BacknBlackHoez]

that ref not talking to Larry brown, got Brown all fired up.

[TMM]

95% of Man Utd penalty decisions. Seriously, they usually are clear dives or would never be given at the other end.

[Johnny Latino Heat]

Oh yeah, just remembered another one... This one's actually kinda funny, in a bad way.

7) Vitória Setúbal vs União Leiria - Setúbal was winning 1-0, right? There's a foul for Leiria, and there are two balls in play. Setúbal's GK Marco Tábuas goes to get one of the balls, and while he's carrying it out of the field, Leiria's players start the game again and score, WHILE there were two balls on the field and one of them was one the keeper's hands. Cute, huh? The goal was validated and dictated the final score (1-1).

EDIT: And yet another one...

8) Sporting vs Benfica - This one happened in... lemme see... 2002, I think. Jardel, a Sporting forward, was in the area for a corner or a free kick or whatever. He jumped for the ball, and then FELL without anyone so much as touching him. I mean, his direct marker was almost a meter away from him. He simply jumped and fell. I still remember the look on his direct marker's face. It was a "WTF?" expression. And yet, the referee said it was a foul, and that allowed Sporting to tie the game. Go referees.

Edited December 23, 2004 by Y2Johnny

[Asuka's Gonna Kill You]

*Rolls out the huge list of terrible mistakes*

The one that I'll never forget is World Cup 2002. Call me biased all you like, but the entire group of officials in that tourni were against the Italians. Anyone see the game against Mexico? We had a good four/five pathetic decisions go against us. I think we also had one or two offside rulings for goals that were nowhere near offside. It didn't stop there though, I remember hearing(missed the match) how Spain got skanked big time against Korea, oh how surprising. Seriously Korea had the officials on there side so much, even in the game against Italy. I remember so many fucking decisions going against us, it was pure pathetic refereeing and I'll NEVER forget it. Korea should never have got as far as they did, simple as.

Juve/Madrid saw another bad decision for me. Was it 2002 that the game happened? Anyway it was the year that Milan beat us in the final of the CL. We drew Madrid in like the semis I think it was. Anyway Carlos scored the goal that gave Madrid the 2-1 lead going into the second leg, yet the goal should never have counted. I remember there being one or two guys who were offside and for me, blocking the view of the keeper, so yes they were interfering with the play. It may be a decision that can go either way yet I think it was a very poor one. Cant moan though, we walked all over them in the second leg ...I also thought in that second leg the referee made another awful decision when he booked Nedved for not much at all, which meant Nedved missed the final. May not seem like a terrible decision to some, but with Nedved being as great as he is you never know if he could have changed that final.

There's loads more which I'll think of later. England/Portugal one needs to be noted, because I know someones going to say it sooner or later. I think it's debatable about whether it should of stood or not, but lets not get into that one.

[Jester of Death]

USSR v USA

1972 Olympic Basketball Gold Medal Match

Buffalo Sabres v Dallas Stars

Stanley Cup Finals

[Guest Pirate Chasin' Booty]

The England/Portugal goal for me, its hurts more being English, but any other referee and that'd been Portugal out, there always seems to be bias to the hosts of the tournament though, take Korea in WC2002.

Theres been some real dodgy mistakes in the past though, the worst thing I ever saw was a cup match involving Wimbledon, it was the last minute and they had a corner, they took it, it drifted into the box and right as someone (Robbie Earle or Marcus Gayle or someone) headed it, the referee blew the whistle just before it crossed the line and it never counted.

Something like that anyway, it was a number of years ago, when people knew who Wimbledon were.

Also when AC Milan won their last CL title from a penalty shootout, Dida coming off his line before the penalty ever single time and thus winning AC Milan the game.

[Colly]

Ronaldinho's shit dive against Valencia last week. I thought the ref was booking him, but he actually gave the worst penalty call I've seen in yonks.

[Jonny D]

Graham Poll. Take any decision you want, it'll be wrong.

[Timmoru Suzuki]

Graham Poll.  Take any decision you want, it'll be wrong.

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[RawIsWar]

If you want to talk about referees mistakes.

Look at Leeds in the 70's against Buyern Munich in the finals of the European cup, we had 2 goals disallowed for no-reason claiming we were offside when we were metres onside. We ended up losing 2-1, the fans went barmy and trashed Paris (Thats where it was held) and thats how Leds fans have got a bad attitude behind there backs

[sirdavinator]

Graham Poll.  Take any decision you want, it'll be wrong.

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Do NOT get me started on Graham Poll!!!

Too late. Arsenal vs. Sheffield United FA Cup Semi-Final 2003. Wayne Allison, a honest pro, goes down after a challenge (and a foul) from Campbell. The Poll should have awarded us a free-kick, but didn't. Arsenal although I admit it isn't a written law, should have put the ball out of play like every other fucking team does, for Allison to recieve treatment (Allison statys down for like 2/3 mins BTW). Arsenal start to mount an attack, until Ljungberg plays a poor pass that Michael Tonge is going to intecept. Thats when Poll takes it upon himself to practically spear Tonge out of the way of the ball, so Ljungbergs pass goes past Tonge to an Arsenal player. The attack continues (with Allison still down), Arsenal get some lucky rebounds in the box, and score. RIGHT after, Vieria goes down from a similar challenge from McCall, and he calls a foul. Sure, Vieia MUST be hurt....... We fight back bravely, but still loose to that goal, 1-0.

I am still fucking bitter about that.

Then theirs his recent actions..........

There's also the England/Portugal one.

What about the Arsenal/Fulham game, where Fulham were given a penalty, but the ref changed his mind after the reactions of Arsenal players? Following that decision, just about every penalty decision should be changed because of this!

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[Guest Wrestling_Man]

The referees screwing the Redskins this year time and time again, they just don't want us to win.

[public enemy]

To me, a genuine refereeing mistake is difficult to call.

In a match, it is understood that the referee holds the authority with no questions asked. What he perceives to be a foul or penalty is dealt with in whatever way the referee feels necessary. Although there are frequent complaints of bias, a call made by the referee is very rarely a mistake. What fans may think to be wrong decisions, it probably lies in professional experience rather than valued judgement that led to the call. In a way it all boils down to telling someone how to do his job or more frankly why we shouldn’t.

From what I’ve seen the only circumstance in which a referee is declared ‘wrong’ is when a person of the third party (i.e. Football Association) overturns a decision in favour of a more disciplinary method. Other than that, what the referee says and does, it pretty much stands. What one referee with a reputation as such may see as a penalty (i.e. Mike Riley), another harsher referee (i.e. Graham Poll) may disagree all together. Although they’re decisions are different, neither call is wrong and neither referee makes a mistake unless pointed out by a professional…no matter how many opposing fans tend to bitch about it, a lá monkey_molester with his pointless “OMG~!11 I H8 Tehh M@n UNIted, lol!!2111one!” posts.

:thumbsup:

[Jonny D]

I don't see your point of how a referee can't make a mistake of unless the FA say its a mistake. If a player dives and a referee gives a foul, its a mistake, whichever way you swing it.

[Timmoru Suzuki]

I don't see your point of how a referee can't make a mistake of unless the FA say its a mistake.  If a player dives and a referee gives a foul, its a mistake, whichever way you swing it.

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[GhostMachine]

There are a few football (as in NFL, not FIFA) mistakes that stand out in my mind:

1. Conference championship game (whatever conference they're in) a few years ago - Colorado vs. Colorado State. Colorado scores a touchdown with only a few seconds to go to win the game. Problem is, it should have been Colorado State's ball. Colorado scored that touchdown essentially on a Fifth Down. (You can blame that on the scorekeeper, timekeeper and Colorado State's coaching staff, as well as the refs)

2. One that REALLY pisses me off when I think about it: The Florida Gators beat the Tennessee Volunteers here in Knoxville a few years ago because of a ref screw up: The Gators QB threw a pass to Jabar Gaffney in the end zone, which basically bounced off his chest, and the ref ruled it a touchdown. He didn't have control of the ball for even a second, so it was an incomplete pass or fumble, NOT a TD. (If there are any Gators fans who read this, don't deny it was a bs win - about an hour or so later, the ref admitted he screwed up when he saw footage of the play, but by that time, it was way too late to overturn it)

I can live with the Vols losing to Florida on a screw up. If it had been the Alabama Crimson Tide, however, I would have wanted that ref's head on a silver platter. (I dislike the Gators, but I outright HATE the Tide, because they have one of the dirtiest AD departments in all of college football)

3. Pro football screw up: Cleveland Browns vs.....I forget who. The ref throws a flag, which hits a Browns player (Orlando something or other) in the eye. The player attacked the ref and got penalized and fined for it. HOWEVER, the flag damaged his eye and I think ended or seriously impacted his career. (I don't know if anything ever came of it, but I hope the NFL cancelled the fine)

4. Don't remember the specifics, but the Super Bowl where the Steelers faced Dallas during the Cowboys domination of the `90's shouldn't have happened. The Colts should have been the team to play Dallas, because Jim Harbaugh got screwed by the ref. He threw a last minute TD pass which was called out of bounds or incomplete or something like that, but it WAS a touchdown.

Edited December 24, 2004 by GhostMachine

[jonnycomelately]

The player that got hit in the eye with the flag was Orlando Brown and the ref was Jeff Tripplett. Brown was out of the league for about 3 years before coming back with the Ravens. I think he's out of the league again though because he can't get along with anybody in the locker room.

[The Slickman]

Its a referee decision that made me cry with laughter sure it was a mistake but couldnt have happened to a better team

Jan Koller Vs Arsenal . Koller is clean through , knocks it passed the keeper (may have been Seaman) And does the most blatant dive you have ever seen in your entire life , jumps around 10 ft in the air and the ref still gives the penalty . well made me happy .

Robert "im a gay french man" Pires - Take your pick . this guy gets on my tits. the refs go home and watch MOTD , they see what hes doing , just dont give him he benefit of the doubt anymore

proof : DIVE 1 :http://www.tottenham-fans.com/se18/vids/wma/Pires_divea.wmv

DIVE 2 :http://www.tottenham-fans.com/se18/vids/wma/Pires_diveb.wmv