Refwatch: Reading v Plymouth Argyle

[rg6royal]

He was terrible!

[brendywendy]

The only difference between us was our players stayed on their feet..yours didn't. We didn't get half as much as we should have, and I just wish our players had gone down in the box when they were so much as clipped..though we probably still wouldn't have given it..

Pathetic refereeing in a crucial match.

we were foulded all night and alot==werent given, and no one was booked
the pen was so spot on its not even worth debating, though he did go down easy- would have been a pen even if he hadnt.
the offside from longs pass to church was laughable as long was clearly clattered, so it stopped a clear goal scoring opportunity
there was one where he dragged the play back late, after looking like he played advantage, until we looked like we may do something and changed his mind.also stopping a clear 1 on 1 opportunity.

if youd been in our box much id agree about you should have gone down though.

[fester_royal]

while my blue stripe tinted glasses are still on from last night i wont dare to question the pen, especially as ive yet to see it on replay.
but totally agreed about the game as a whole, this guy was absolutely awful! and that takes some doing in this league. these guys have to do several exams and assesments and this is the best that comes out the system?? are they just fast tracking younger refs to make up for the aged ones?

And how many people whinged like buggery about the pen Donny got

I think we would have seen a better performance had Bonnie Langford been the ref.

not me tb, i thought the donny pen was a given, the sending off i saw as a little harsh maybe as there was little he could do about it.
from my angle for last night, it was a clear pen, HRK had his legs taken but as i sit right at the top of the east its hard to tell.

[loyalroyal4life]

He was terrible!

[fridays child]

Most refs would have booked Griffin for creaming their winger in the first few mins and from where I was (north) it also looked like Shane should have been booked for leading with his forearm.

Was somewhat surprised to get the pen given his earlier decisions.

All in all a very poor performance by the officials by hey we won and no bookings for the tally.

[brendywendy]

seemed to me that argyle got all of the important decisions their way until after the church non-goal
then he tried to even it up after that and we got everything.

tbf if both sides think they were hard done by, he must have at least been consistant.


either way, the pen was in front of me, no doubt he was taken out, went down in star jump style, but def a pen

[Billy The Fish]

Sadly, they will think that they all had a good game

No, I think that the whole east stand singing "You're just another SH1T REF" might just have given this officiating crew a clue about the standard they were achieving. Can't remember such a ringing condemnation of poor refereeing since Atwell managed to get the entire Vicarage Road crowd, both home and away fans, questioning his fitness to perform the role.

[Sun Tzu]

Church was in an offside position when the ball was played forward. However, the referee has to decide what came first. Was it the foul or was it the pass? If it was the pass then the correct call is offside. If it was the foul, and in the process of the foul the ball was played forward, then the referee should have pulled play back and given us the free kick. I suspect that the referee chose the former. Further justification for tv replays if ever they were needed.

Greenblooded monster-girl does have a point about a number of the challenges. Had Zurab been playing against us we would have been screaming all sorts of abuse for the nudges, holding etc. Poor night for the match officials all round. Sadly, they will think that they all had a good game

I'm sorry but

1. Your description bears little relation to what happened (and Hnadbags gets it right ,t he foul on Long was very clearly before he played the ball to Church)

2. Even if you had it right and the foul was after Long had played the ball it was marginal and the ball certainly hadn't reached Church by the time what would have been a late off the ball challenge took place. The ref would still penalise the foul as Church hadn;t committed an offence by being in an offside position, it only becomes an offence when he plays the ball (or becomes active)

[Sun Tzu]

Most refs would have booked Griffin for creaming their winger in the first few mins and from where I was (north) it also looked like Shane should have been booked for leading with his forearm.

He'd also then have booked the two Plymouth players who held players back (the black centre back who had Long (?) in a headlock and the left midfielder who grabbed Griffin's foot then tried to pretend he'd been stamped on

[andrew1957]

Church was in an offside position when the ball was played forward. However, the referee has to decide what came first. Was it the foul or was it the pass? If it was the pass then the correct call is offside. If it was the foul, and in the process of the foul the ball was played forward, then the referee should have pulled play back and given us the free kick. I suspect that the referee chose the former. Further justification for tv replays if ever they were needed.

Greenblooded monster-girl does have a point about a number of the challenges. Had Zurab been playing against us we would have been screaming all sorts of abuse for the nudges, holding etc. Poor night for the match officials all round. Sadly, they will think that they all had a good game

I'm sorry but

1. Your description bears little relation to what happened (and Hnadbags gets it right ,t he foul on Long was very clearly before he played the ball to Church)

2. Even if you had it right and the foul was after Long had played the ball it was marginal and the ball certainly hadn't reached Church by the time what would have been a late off the ball challenge took place. The ref would still penalise the foul as Church hadn;t committed an offence by being in an offside position, it only becomes an offence when he plays the ball (or becomes active)

Agreed - I thought the ref had played advantage after the clear foul on Long - then there was not one as Church was offside and thought he was pulling it back for a free kick to RFC. Then he gave it to them. Outrageous decision and roundly condemned by the crowd.

[bcubed]

seemed to me that argyle got all of the important decisions their way until after the church non-goal
then he tried to even it up after that and we got everything.

tbf if both sides think they were hard done by, he must have at least been consistant.


either way, the pen was in front of me, no doubt he was taken out, went down in star jump style, but def a pen

or just incompetent

[Sun Tzu]

Church was in an offside position when the ball was played forward. However, the referee has to decide what came first. Was it the foul or was it the pass? If it was the pass then the correct call is offside. If it was the foul, and in the process of the foul the ball was played forward, then the referee should have pulled play back and given us the free kick. I suspect that the referee chose the former. Further justification for tv replays if ever they were needed.

Greenblooded monster-girl does have a point about a number of the challenges. Had Zurab been playing against us we would have been screaming all sorts of abuse for the nudges, holding etc. Poor night for the match officials all round. Sadly, they will think that they all had a good game

I'm sorry but

1. Your description bears little relation to what happened (and Hnadbags gets it right ,t he foul on Long was very clearly before he played the ball to Church)

2. Even if you had it right and the foul was after Long had played the ball it was marginal and the ball certainly hadn't reached Church by the time what would have been a late off the ball challenge took place. The ref would still penalise the foul as Church hadn;t committed an offence by being in an offside position, it only becomes an offence when he plays the ball (or becomes active)

Agreed - I thought the ref had played advantage after the clear foul on Long - then there was not one as Church was offside and thought he was pulling it back for a free kick to RFC. Then he gave it to them. Outrageous decision and roundly condemned by the crowd.

If he was trying to play advantage then that was good refereeing. But Church was already offside so there was no advantage to be played and it was a pslit second so there was plenty of time for him to have given the original foul.

I do think that if a team is given an advantage but messes up in some way they shouldn;t be given a second chance but in cases like this where there simply was no advantage his decision was mystifying.