http://m.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/30704681

Good!

the problem can all be solved by video refs who assist the match officials. this crap about technology by the fa and fifa shows that they are dinosaurs! instead of of goalline tech they have idiots! then they have goalline tech but still have idiots in CL games! 

All well and good but I don't think Hackett holds any position of power anymore.

 

He's right, there was some pretty questionable refereeing displays over Christmas and the Routledge sending off was pretty farcical considering Henry had just gone in with a pretty reckless challenge. 

 

I think there has been some really bad decisions this season and some overall really poor performances from the officials. 

 

I don't know if it is any worse than recent season because the most recent events always stick in your mind the most. 

 

What I would say is that the retrospective punishments system they bought in recently and then tried to change so they could get Torres additional bans following his confrontation with Vertongan just doesn't work.

 

Sterling raises his hands to an opponents face, missed by the ref but because a linesman was nearby and was too incompetent to see it/do anything about it just makes it all seem rather farcical. 

 

The FA need to stop worrying what the likes of Balotelli are doing on Twitter and get their own sh*t together. 

The Sterling thing is made even more stupid by the fact Fabregas got booked for a dive, ref admits he was wrong and it was a penalty, yellow cant be rescinded. Great.

It's not just poor decision making, I'm convinced that some refs favour certain clubs. The authorities should investigate the possibility (probability) of corruption within the English game.

A few thoughts:

1. Hackett possibly has an axe to grind with Riley, who took over from him

2. Riley is rumoured to be a bit of a control freak, well Mark Halsey said so in his book, in fact Halsey slaughtered him (and Poll)

3. The PGMOL stats quoted are laughable, a professional body (i.e. Riley) trying to justify his effectiveness - How about the decisions you didn't make and were huge balls-ups?

4. Hackett is right, the standards are poor, shame he didn't name and shame Dowd

5. In my view there seems to be a theme now that no decision (penalties in particular) is better than an incorrect decision and thus not much is actually being given. Perhaps Riley's "we get 98% of decisions made in the penalty box" statistic is the causation of this

6. Technology, Manager challenges might help, but in my view refereeing was more effective when the actual referees were allowed to do their job without the PGMOL being in place. Their scrutiny, need for justification of their existence being just two reasons why refs feel so under pressure. Give the referees scope to adjust decisions based on what they see, the nature of the offence and some common sense. This wouldn't stop agenda's and I believe there are some, but would allow the better referees to flourish and make the crap ones far more obvious

7. Far too much politics involved in getting to the top in refereeing now

Edited January 7, 201511 yr by mhlower47

I learned today that Riley did away with match assessors in the stadium. The current way is for a panel to review games on DVD. This probably reduces the sense of being accountable that was there when an assessor was in the grandstand.

It has been poor this season. I think there should be a chance to review incidents in the penalty box during the game. Take the Cesc yellow card. The game had been stopped there was time to review video immediately. If something happens, a handball shout for example and the game continues, there should be an opportunity to ask for a video review at the next stoppage in play. If a handball is determined, award the penalty. If it's not, play on. Same could apply to fouls and simulation in the box.

At the end of the day we DONT help ourselves with some of our diving. If we cut that out then we could pin point how we are being short changed.