Worst Refereeing Decisions

[Davey Baby]

Talk of the Matic red card against Burnley on the Nearest & Dearest thread got me thinking about other poor decisions we've seen through the ages.

 

The first one that sprung to mind was Van Persie's against Uefalona. Who remembers it? It was a few years ago. I couldn't believe my eyes, the sheer injustice of it, and the sheer predictability. Second half, knockout tie, Arsenal have the away goal and are going through, so what does the ref do? He sends off their main man, inexplicably. One of the most scandalous decisions I've ever seen. Watch Van Persie's interview afterwards. He wasn't even fined for it. Compare that to the likes of Boswinga who were fined for much milder comments after the infamous Ovrebo game. Van Persie doesn't hold back, and because it was all true, Uefa let it slide.

 

Anyway, disregarding the obvious injustices against us which we've gone over a million times, regardless of team, which poor decisions stick in your mind, and can you find anything worse than this............................?

 

 

[Munkunku]

Ovrebo. Every decision in that game. What a prick. 

[Boyne]

A bit different but the referee in a game between Rangers and Hibs in 1995 had a sense of humour bypass.

 

[coco]

 

[Barry Bridges]

I distinctly remember that event as RVP had kicked the ball within a second of the whistle, and yet that same game Messi kicked the ball much longer after the whistle and nothing......I also recall laughing as it was Arsenal hahah.

 

To me one of the worst decisions that I think may have cost us another league title (and maybe not) was when Mike Dean failed to call a penalty for a literal rugby tackle on Ramirez by Larsson in 2014...and then gives some very soft calls Sunderland's way....damn impossible to find a video clip of this though the Guardian cites the situation in their match report as Mike Dean had, at best, offered an erratic refereeing display, having opted against penalising Adam Johnson for planting his studs in Azpilicueta's chest in the first half, or to grant the hosts a spot-kick when Ramires leapt to convert from close-range only to be edged away by Seb Larsson.  Edge is very very generous to Larsson....... true to form Dean also misses Ramirez swinging Larsson in the face.

What I recall most was that if we won the game then Chelsea controlled it's destiny regarding winning the title with the 3 or so remaining games, but if we lost then Liverpool controlled the destiny.........and Mike Dean had previously been removed from reffing a FA cup final LFC was playing in due to bias concerns.....apparently that was the right call......anyways, Stevie Me goes on to save us from a LFC champions parade but our lads fall apart in the final games....... but I always felt that collapse could be traced to that awful officiating, and had it been a proper officiating job Mourinho maybe wins back to back titles twice with us. 

[Davey Baby]

49 minutes ago, Boyne said:

A bit different but the referee in a game between Rangers and Hibs in 1995 had a sense of humour bypass.

 

 

What an absolute muppet.

[Davey Baby]

18 minutes ago, Barry Bridges said:

I distinctly remember that event as RVP had kicked the ball within a second of the whistle, and yet that same game Messi kicked the ball much longer after the whistle and nothing......I also recall laughing as it was Arsenal hahah.

 

To me one of the worst decisions that I think may have cost us another league title (and maybe not) was when Mike Dean failed to call a penalty for a literal rugby tackle on Ramirez by Larsson in 2014...and then gives some very soft calls Sunderland's way....damn impossible to find a video clip of this though the Guardian cites the situation in their match report as Mike Dean had, at best, offered an erratic refereeing display, having opted against penalising Adam Johnson for planting his studs in Azpilicueta's chest in the first half, or to grant the hosts a spot-kick when Ramires leapt to convert from close-range only to be edged away by Seb Larsson.  Edge is very very generous to Larsson....... true to form Dean also misses Ramirez swinging Larsson in the face.

What I recall most was that if we won the game then Chelsea controlled it's destiny regarding winning the title with the 3 or so remaining games, but if we lost then Liverpool controlled the destiny.........and Mike Dean had previously been removed from reffing a FA cup final LFC was playing in due to bias concerns.....apparently that was the right call......anyways, Stevie Me goes on to save us from a LFC champions parade but our lads fall apart in the final games....... but I always felt that collapse could be traced to that awful officiating, and had it been a proper officiating job Mourinho maybe wins back to back titles twice with us. 

 

Remember the game well. The end of our unbeaten home record, I think, or Mourinho's unbeaten home record. 

 

I was thinking that bad calls are part and parcel of football and add to the drama, and because of VAR we're not going to see so many of them, but after being reminded of some of these calls, I'm not sure my blood pressure could take it much longer.

[Davey Baby]

26 minutes ago, coco said:

 

 

Surprise surprise. Chris Foy.

[strider6004]

Never seen a ball boy hang on to the ball like that and suspect that was games-man-ship, Eden's frustration is understandable thought the slight kick doomed him in that match.

As for the original post re Arsenal strongly suspect corruption at hand, nice that we knocked them out on the way to the CL.

 

Edited January 16, 2020 by Strider6003

[strider6004]

1 hour ago, Boyne said:

A bit different but the referee in a game between Rangers and Hibs in 1995 had a sense of humour bypass.

 

I liked Gazza even when he played for the Spuds, notice Durie playing alongside him and just looked him up on wiki, says surprisingly Durie was declared bankrupt in 2016. 

 

[Londonisblue]

2009 ... 2009... 2009 and 2009. Apart from that, RVP red, the sunderland game in 2014, barça psg in 2017, real madrid 2018 UCL win ...

[Scott Harris]

Anybody remember Messi cheating to get Del Horno sent off? 

This was the season I started to despise Barcelona. Their cheating won them so many football matches, I often wonder just how many trophies they would have won in that period if refs didn't hand them an easy win with a dodgy decision. This is why I find it hard to call that Barcelona side one of the best teams ever, they would have been a few Champions League trophies short had it not been for the cheating. They could never beat us fairly back then.

Edited January 17, 2020 by Scott Harris

[Backbiter]

Anthony Taylor this season v Spuds, ignorng the assault on Alonso, not giving the most obvious penalty you'll ever see, and penalising Alonso for being taken out by the keeper. I damaged my voice yelling at the TV when I witnessed that.

[Jezz]

Chelsea vs Barcelona in 2009 was the worst refereeing I've seen in a match.

Two individual refereeing decisions or non-decisions that stand out for mine are the following:

 

[andy]

 

Never a straight red 

[Backbiter]

42 minutes ago, andy said:

 

Never a straight red 

Thanks for posting that. I've always wanted to see that incident. Scandalous decision.

[andy]

25 minutes ago, Backbiter said:

Thanks for posting that. I've always wanted to see that incident. Scandalous decision.

Put into the context of his career, Zola's international or Serie A  career didn't really take off and I don't think this helped. This was two years before he came to play for Chelsea and I felt sorry for him then. He was at Parma at the time however he had been Maradona's protege at Napoli for 4 seasons prior to that and really was one of the most exciting prospects in the game. In fact everyone was really building up his introduction to the world cup......  You could just feel his pain, he would never react like that normally and was far from a dirty player.  

However I suppose for us Chelsea fans it was a blessing in disguise,  Italy's loss was our gain and still my all time favorite Chelsea player    

[Backbiter]

Amazing that he was 30 when he joined. I had no idea he was as talented as I had barely seen him play. An unbelievable signing by Gullit/ Hutchinson.

[Barry Bridges]

Almost forgot when Drogba got booked for having the audacity to let Johnny Evans Kung-Fu kick him in the chest.

[andy]

1 hour ago, Barry Bridges said:

Almost forgot when Drogba got booked for having the audacity to let Johnny Evans Kung-Fu kick him in the chest.

I forgot that one, it was  so bad it was almost funny. If I remember rightly hardly got a mention in the media post match

[Munkunku]

1 hour ago, Barry Bridges said:

Almost forgot when Drogba got booked for having the audacity to let Johnny Evans Kung-Fu kick him in the chest.

Classic Ray Wilkins at the end! 

[Backbiter]

4 hours ago, andy said:

I forgot that one, it was  so bad it was almost funny. If I remember rightly hardly got a mention in the media post match

Drogba got a lot of stick for overreacting/ milking it. Which overlooks the fact he'd had his ribs broken.

[erskblue]

On ?16?/?01?/?2020 at 19:23, Boyne said:

A bit different but the referee in a game between Rangers and Hibs in 1995 had a sense of humour bypass.

 

December 1995 a freezing cold day when even parts of the River Clyde in the Glasgow were freezing over !

Crazy booking then, still crazy now