Why are football enthusiasts so eager to criticise referees?
350771
Because referee's always seem a good person to blame, visually challenged, bad hair, not too good looking and are about as funny as being shot in the head with an arrow and then discovering there's a gas bill attached to it.
1143267
I'm not from England.\nI do agree .. why can't everyone enjoy a good match of football and make friends? .. \n\nSports is sports, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose ... \nBut don't ruin other people's celebration. \n\nI'm not specifically talking about English fans, but everyone who spoils all the funs of World Cup.
1122330
In short... they are insanely jealous of our footballing skills. Their team is poo and ours is not.  It's all nonsense and banter. Say for example the swedish were invading our shores what would the Scottish do?... They'd get their act together and come and batter anyone trying to invade England... They love us really & most of us these days have a relation from one of our neighbouring nations.. \n\nIts all crap and to be honest, you should hold your head up and high fly your St George Cross with pride. Make them even more envious.. muhahahaha
1126558
I really believe that their are favs for going on ...and fifa / ref turn the blind eye to up the odds ....I agree with your observation on that game , as well I am not a fan of either
1141171
Well I think it's quite unfair to say that this batch of refs have been the worst in the history of the World Cup, considering that it's just a couple of matches and terrible calls that have ruined several matches.\n\nJust want to remind everyone that there has been plenty of fantastic officiating going on, but it's just that these are never reported or highlighted to us. It's only the mistakes that constantly make the headlines. I mean, look at poor Graham Poll! I know the guy made horrendous errors during the Australia-Croatia match, e,g, in handing out 3 yellow cards before sending the player off. But I don't suppose many are aware of how well he managed the other group games he had earlier officiated.\n\nSo don't be so hasty to say that the refs suck just because they err once in a while. I mean, they sure don't have supersonic eyes, and they're human after all. It's not as if any of us can even be half as good as him.\n\nPlease, give the refs a break.
1072701
The most frustating part of sport competition are the judges. I think that somthing has to be done. Like adding referees in charge of different zones on the field. In football soccer, videos won't be of much help. If they determine after a review that a player wasn't offside, the adventage is lost.
1071309
Praise the Lord...divine intervention in relation to the referee's mentioned. More should follow. I think Fifa have reacted for two reasons. 1) To save face. They have been abysmal. The ultimate responsibility lay at their feet. They have been embarrassed into acting on this problem. 2) It has gone too far. Some referee's cannot control the ego's and power that come with the privilege of having the centre in such an important world wide tournament. They wanted their 15 minutes of fame. They got it and now their well deserved plane tickets home, hopefully never to be given the responsibility again.\n\nNo I don't think he makes the English look bad. It is not their fault. It was his game and his decision how he chose to control it. He failed miserably. But so have many other very experienced referee's.\n\nI do not have anything against English people. They are no different to any of us. Passionate about the game and love to support their sides. We all have our share of biased supporters and all have times when we as people as well as our country re their football, perform or offer less than we are capable of.\n\nHe did have one good moment in the cup...he left it.
1081630
maybe he has something against them, or maybe you're rooting for ghana and so any call against you team is biased and is an example of "cheating" however, if ghana had scored a goal on an offside play that hadn't been called, i bet you wouldn't be complaining about the the ref.
1001723
Yeah, those who aways complain about the "phony acting" and the faking obviously don't understand about the sport or the human body. These athletes run like crazy for all that time and the muscles end up strung like piano wire. One light hit and its cramp city, real severe cramps. That is why it looks so bad and why it resolves pretty quickly. That is why the really good referees (about 60-70% in the world about 25% at a FIFA World Cup, for some reason..) will usually ignore them and get on with the game.\n\nOf course many if not most, of the players make it seem worse than it is and of course that would be "cheating," but as we see from all the pro players from Am. football, baseball, hockey, basketball who take steroids, use illegal equipment, all the players who illegally gamble, (or their wives) all the referees in all sports who take bribes, "cheating" doesn't seem to be something the sporting world seems to take very seriously.\n\n(Nor will they ever, until the fans (you and me) stop paying billions to go and watch the cheaters play....)
1122364
True that,they are human. But this is a world class international tournament and requires and deserves world class performances. They are paid an obscene amount of money to do a job. If we regular folk were to perform our jobs with crucial mistakes as they have we would not have a job to return to. The highest standards are expected from our players and this can't happen without the referee's doing the same.
1003344
The motive why football is such an INTERNATIONAL sport, it's not only because you only need a goal, a ball and at least 3 players in each side. It's for the FANS it has all over the world.\nFootball has so many fans for the PASSIONS  it generates. And this passion comes from the comments "that decision was good .... no it was bad ....where was he looking ... ".\nWhen a referee or assistant  referee makes a decision it generates CONTROVERSY between fans,  if doen't matter if you are from the same team or the opposite team, you have to make your point approving or disapproving the call.\nThat controversy is the HEART of football, that's what catch a fan at least during a tournament, and if we have luck for live.\nDon't use the technology that will kill the passion and controversy  of football, that will take from us those future moments where we will be arguing  that the referees were right or wrong, betting a beer that "YYY" will have the same opinion .... lets leave the imperfection of a perfect game alive. \nRemember football is passion and that passion comes from the controversy it generates .....  so let us be the last team's sport pending of the decision of one that will sparkle our passion.\nThat's the reason why I don't want or need the technology.
512512
Yes,I would rather they don't have this rule simply because human judgement  can be controversial at times.Maybe they should come up with a demarcation line closer to the box that determine whether an attacker is offside or not.
905385
I can see where you are coming from and you have a good point.\n\nIt would be a great system to implement. I think it would help if the refs had to speak with an independent person and actually give a reason for some of their calls.\n\nPersonally, I'm fine with how the game is right now. I really don't want football to become like every other sport. I think some things, good or bad, have helped shape the game into the exciting, fair and unfair, chaotic, fun, energizing, and whatever else game that it is today.\n\nBut that is a great idea, nonetheless. Good thinking :)
1122279
Its just such a big deal to so many people, peoples perspective kinda get messed up.  On the other side of things, it IS a big deal, and should be recognized as such.  But often people get too caught up in their own team, their own personal game, and winning, and forget about what makes football the best sport in the world, the passion and beauty of the game.  People should focus more on Germany's beautiful equalizer, coming at the end of the game, and less on who it was against and its consequences.  People should focus more Ghana's brilliant play in their second match and less about what it means for the Czech Republic.  If, instead of insulting other teams when, lets face it, they beat you fair and square, we just admitted defeat and learned how to lose graciously, the game would be better.
788132
It is one of the times that a referee makes the difference in the game, this time it was the wrong decision. And the sad part is that it was not a mistake, because the officals discussed it. \nI have seen bad decisions, because an official was not in the right place or just missed the call. This was different, this was a decision by committee (I assume).
961454
No you try to open your eyes and see what everybody else See's.\nChelsea are a team of thugs. next time a decision goes against Chelsea watch how many player surround the ref. And what about the referee meeting the Chelsea manager to try to help him, " LIKE he does will all the other managers" ...."NOT"
120464
Sadly, people attribute too much to religion, but as most people here have said, Football is their Religion!\nI can go with that, but when Chelsea fans send death-threats to match officials, I wonder if football is any better...