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By Walter Broeckx, the untold ref goes on his way
As I am always looking to go further and further I continue my experiment and hope that it works out a bit and still is readable at the end of the day.
So here is a new lay out (again) that I used for my ref review. The first ref to have the honour of dealing with this report was ref Friend who did the game Leyton Orient (LO from here on) against Arsenal in the FA cup.
I think it all explains itself a bit until we come to the end totals. So if you are interested I will explain the totals under this table.
| Nr. | Min | Type | Decision | correct | points | weight | on |
| 1 | 3 | OTHER | Offside against LO | C | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 2 | 3 | OTHER | Foul against Bendtner | C | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 3 | 8 | OTHER | Foul on Miquel in his own penalty area | C | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 4 | 12 | OTHER | Offside against LO | C | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 5 | 17 | OTHER | Offside against LO | C | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 6 | 19 | OTHER | Foul from Denilson | C | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 7 | 22 | OTHER | Foul from Song | C | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 8 | 25 | OTHER | Foul on song – First real bit robust challenge | C | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 9 | 28 | OTHER | Foul on Rosicky – ref has a quick word with Whing | C | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 10 | 29 | OTHER | Foul from Rosicky | C | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 11 | 32 | OTHER | Foul on Sagna ref gives no foul | NC | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 12 | 32 | OTHER | corner given to LO | NC | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 13 | 45 | OTHER | 1 minute extra time – Half time | C | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 14 | 49 | OTHER | Foul on Denilson. Revell comes sliding in with two feet | C | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 15 | 49 | CARD | Revell came in with two feet over the ground, should have been a yellow card | NC | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| 16 | 53 | GOAL | Goal from Rosicky nothing wrong with that | C | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| 17 | 54 | OTHER | Offside against LO – Almunia catches the ball advantage given | C | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 18 | 55 | OTHER | Handball from LO not given | NC | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 19 | 60 | OTHER | Denilson comes in late foul given | C | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 20 | 60 | CARD | Denilson gets a card and this is correct | C | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| 21 | 66 | OTHER | Tackle from behind on Chamakh no foul given | NC | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 22 | 66 | CARD | Whing the LO threw himself in the tackle from behind and went through the player should have been a card | NC | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 23 | 72 | OTHER | Foul on Denilson not given | NC | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 24 | 72 | OTHER | Denilson then makes a foul | C | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 25 | 73 | OTHER | Foul on Denilson given it was more a foul from Denilson – high foot | NC | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 26 | 76 | OTHER | Foul on Chamakh not given | NC | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 27 | 77 | OTHER | Offside against LO | C | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 28 | 78 | OTHER | Foul on Denilson | C | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 29 | 79 | OTHER | Foul on chamakh given | C | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 30 | 79 | CARD | Again Whing comes in from behind on Chamakh and now gets a deserved yellow card | C | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| 31 | 79 | CARD | This should have been Whing his second yellow card | NC | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 32 | 81 | PENALTY | LO claim a penalty because the ball struck Squillaci. It was right in his face so correct from the ref to give nothing. | C | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| 33 | 87 | OTHER | Foul from Song | C | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 34 | 88 | GOAL | Nothing wrong with the goal | C | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| 35 | 89 | OTHER | Foul on Denilson | C | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 36 | 94 | OTHER | 4 minutes of extra time | c | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| TOTAL (1) | 27 | 35 | 47 | ||||
| % (2) | 75,00% | 71,43% | |||||
| CARDS | 3 | 5 | 60,00% | ||||
| PENALTY | 1 | 1 | 100,00% | ||||
| GOAL | 2 | 2 | 100,00% | ||||
| OTHER | 3 | 4 | 75,00% | ||||
| TOTAL | 9 | 12 | 75,00% |
The totals in bold at the bottom are the ones that you have been used from me during the season so far. They only include the decisions that I would have mentioned in my reviews earlier on in the season. The important decisions one could say.
And this is a rather good score from the ref. I think he had a very decent game. I just wasn’t happy with the way he let some tackles from behind pass without punishing them and even without giving a card. Now the game itself was played in a good spirit but still when it comes to tackling from behind and certainly when it is tackles who are going through the striker the line should be drawn more strict.
You will also have noticed that I made a total (1) and that the ref made 27 correct decisions out of a possible 36. And this gives him the same score compared to this score on the important decisions. After the line with % you get his percentage. I don’t think this really is a surprise.
And then in the next column you can find the weighted score from the ref. Based on my scoring table you can find below. So if you weight the decisions the score goes down a bit to 71,43%. This is because I think that the LO player Whing was a bit lucky to have been on the pitch at the final whistle. He walked on a thin line a few times. He could/should have got 3 yellow cards in the game but only got one. And this brought his score down.
But as been noticed before: the refs score better in the cup games than in the league games. Something to think about.
Weighted score card:
- Yellow card not correct 0/2
- Yellow card doubtful 1/2
- Yellow card correct 2/2
- Red card not correct 0/3
- Red card correct 3/3
- Goal not correct 0/3
- Goal correct 3/3
- Penalty not correct 0/3
- Penalty correct 3/3
Good to see that the format has been changed. You should even start Grading the performances. As the number of decisions reviewed is higher, even the pass marks should be higher bcoz atleast half of those decisions made by the ref were easy decisions. I guess 70-85% should be said to be an average/good performance by the ref. 85-95% should be very good. Above 95% should be outstanding. 55-70% should be a not so good performance. Below 55% should be submitted to BBC!! 😉
wow, nice one Walter,
it looks really good, and like you say this game was played in a good spirit for the most part so not a bad one to baptise the new format.I wonder if it will work when you want to get something off your chest?
i suppose the only thing we might miss will the freeze frame of the action but i suppose you can always add a link in the text, it was always good to have the corrupt bastard exposed doing his dirty work! a picture better than a thousand words etc.
Lovely job.
Don’t worry Ugandan Goon, I will expose them not only in words but also in pictures. But the pictures will be placed after the table if needed.
I just forgot to mention that the C behind the text means Correct decision and the NC is for a Not Correct decision. But as all you readers are very smart I think you understood that immediatly.
Very accurate from what I saw. I only have a sense of frustration about the inept performance we produced. I now see Song is saying we must stay focused, but he was one of the worst culprits yesterday. Now we have another massive week against two sides who will try and kick us off the park and pelt out defence with long balls.
I have seen little mention of the young centre half from yesterday. From what I saw I thoought he was quite accomplished.
Walter that is a great job,
well done, well done to ref Friend, who had a good game and well done to Leyton Orient who never once resorted to the blatant thuggery and intimidation of the officials that some other clubs would have resorted to. They were a credit to the 1st Div
Walter, could you pls start using (proper) Real Numbers, eg 75% or 75.00% rather than 75,00, so as to make it much easier for us to understand. Not a criticism, just a suggestion. Thank you.
I lovd this new version Walter. It looks great and is quite easy to understand.
@ Walter,
I am also struggling with the category ‘on’.
However, i am pleased with this system as it would be easier to check ref’s performances for fatigue and other factors affecting their performances, say when ref.s try and even out mistakes by awarding decisions to balance the account, also say for instance in the Newcastle game after four good goals there must be a system we could devise to show just how Dowd’s performance deteriorated, clear bias in the decisions for one team and against the other team represented graphically would be hard to argue with.
there is also another score that is missing , and i know this one is a toughie; it is not always easy to see what the ref’s assistants are up to but if the ref overrules a linesman/ woman’s decision to give a wrong decision this must be weighted and obviously if the reverse occurs kudos!
Speak truth to power, my belgian brother!
LRV, I have included the % when I use % now in the table. Next time I will see that the look is a bit better as now the % sign sometimes is under the numbers. But you are right that make it easier for everyone I should mention when I use a number as a % and when not.
Ugandan,
The category “on” means the points that can be won or lost on that certain decision. So most of the time for a simple foul this is just 1. All the other “on” points are as mentioned at the bottom of the article. But to make it easier for me I also gave them behind the score. So my computer can calculate it for me. I’ve done this because I sometimes lost more time with adding all the numbers then it took me time to write the article. 😉
You could change this to a full time job Walter! Provide advisory services to various FAs. Atleast those who want to improve! 😉
Ugandan Goon,
You are right about fatigue in a game. Most of the times the refs make a good score in the beginning of the game. Their legs are fresh, the mind is fresh and this leads to good decisions making.
Now I didn’t do the Newcastle game on this way but when reviewing the game it was clear that Dowd started of very well for some 10 minutes in the game. The we were 2-0 up and then he started taking bizar and strange decisions. Like giving a foul against RVP when he was sandwiched between two players who body cheked him and like giving a free kick against RVP when he jumped in front of the defender in a an aerial battle and the ball came against the back of his head and he got a foul against him when even the defender and RVP jumped one metre apart from each other. And the foul on Arshavin from behind and well the list goes on.
So if this was down to fatigue in that game than Dowd was tired after about 10 minutes in this game. And even I will not believe that he was that tired after 10 minutes. Not even Dowd. This was something from another order.
@walter,
that’s just another problem for you, finding a way to weight fitness, an unfit ref is a bad n’est pas?
Yes he is Ungandan.
I want to tell you this story about Graham Poll on the world cup when he handed out 3 yellow cards to the same player before showing him the red card. And this story was told to me by a first division ref who works at the University of Leuven in Belgium at the office of the professor who was responsable for the fitness of the refs in the WC in Germany a few years ago. So this ref also was there to help Fifa with the fitness of the refs, not in his function as a ref but it does help of course when you are a PL ref yourself to understand what the refs are going through.
First of all Graham Poll had some fitness problems and had also some weight problems during his career. This was just down to his metabolism according to this fitness coach as I will call him.
Anyway Graham Poll had a decent game and should have had a rest of some 4 or 5 days between his games. But the ref that was assigned for a match just 2 days later couldn’t do this match (thought he had an injury). Because of some bizar reason the other refs available couldn’t do the game as they had already done game with the teams involved, had already other games. So at the end of the day the only ref who could do that game was Graham Poll. But he still was too tired from his previous game but they had not other option.
So he went and late on in the game (when he was exhausted) he made that crucial mistake. Our Belgium ref told that this was just him being so tired that he couldn’t see that he had booked him already before. And that this mistake was for 90% due to him being to tired to make the decisions which he would have made if he hadn’t had that match a few days earlier.
So yes an unfit ref (for what ever the reason may be) is a bad ref
@ walter
I am really excited by the posibilties this new format will bring to the analysis of the refs performance, the possibilty of taking performances say between events or sections of the match should be revelatory.
also it will be useful to check consistency of patterns of behaviour of the refs, players etc,eg players committing more fouls after half time could point to a managers team talk or a ref failing to control a game etc.
at the risk of over complicating it there is also the possibility of comparing one ref to another and perhaps working out trends especially when we are robbed, because we seem to drop points in the same way, that is why it is so easy to edit the highlights to show our ‘weaknesses’ and give the pundits easy money to justify ealier bullshit.
i am sure all sorts can be done with time line on one axis to show graphically that ‘it ain’t so, joe!’
@ walter,
crikey, hot stuff!
Ugandan, yes I was thinking about that myself and it will be nice to see how a ref evolves during a game.
the real issue with pgmol then has to be bringing younger refs, through it cannot be easy for someone to do this job at whatever age 1-2 times a week without feeling the effects, with so much riding on their performances there has to be common sense- put them on a yearly wage and bonuses for performance and extra work, then the only reason they can go on if they are clearly unfit is the love of refereeing or pissing people off!
@ walter,
i am not accusing anyone of anything, but i was wondering are refs subject to the same strict test for performance enhancing drugs and other drugs as footballers and other athletes?
and how often are they tested?
say in Belgium for instance.
Walter its not good enough you give up your spare time to put this together in a sensible manner. We now want you to jump through hoops also 🙂
I look forward to an end of season analysis and questions been asked of why some Refs are still in the EPL and what Reilly actualy gets paid for 🙂
PS did anyone read TheSun online tonight ? There is an ammusing piece on us nicking another Bracelona academy star. Nothing like improving relationships between the 2 clubs 🙂
Ugandan Goon,
The Belgium situation is a bit strange. Well this is a strange country so no surprise really. So this is a a matter of the governement of Flanders and Wallonië to check athletes and sports man on drugs.
So every person who is doing sports on our territory can be submitted to a drug test. Even let us say if MU would come to Flanders to play a game the inspectors could decide to check them. Imagine the row this would cause? 😉
So refs could be tested just as well as the football players or athletes or cyclists or boxers or… But I never have heard about any ref being tested. Of course it ain’t so that they put a daily list in the newspapers telling who they have tested yesterday so it could already have been that they tested refs but when nothing is found nothing is made public.
By the way the inspectors sometimes cause troubles I can imagine that they also check the refs but like I said no ref has ever been punished as far as I know for taking something illegal.
I must say that most of the refs and the assistants I know in Belgium who are doing games in the Jupiler League all are somewhat health freaks as one could say. But of course I think they would never tell me if they used some forbidden drugs.
@ walter,
i was just struck by the demands of the job healthwise and the obvious lack of fitness of say dowd, who might do well to give up the ale and pies and chips and pastry and cigarettes altogether!
it just struck me as not a very easy thing to do, keeping that fit and that someone might need something to help them perform. it might also go some way to explaining some of the decision making!
RedGooner I heard about that, but I also heard that there was wrong picture so how true it is who knows. Then again in twitter there is mentioned a price Arsenal will pay so…
Slightly off subject but I feel worthy of mention.
In their wisdom the PGMO, under the management of Mike Riley, have appointed one Mr Peter Walton to officiate our home against Stoke City on Wednesday.
Talk about adding insult to injury.
Bunch of Incompetent morons.
FinnGooner, Its all over young guns also with the correct pictures and some sort of video and quotes from a spanish radio station.
@RedGooner and FinnGooner,
In response to your comments about the Barcelona article in the Sun, I’m going to post verbatim something that I already posted in another comments section dealing with the same topic. It’s not directly on point, but I don’t feel like typing out the whole argument again 🙂 So, with all due respect:
Please Gunners,
Take these tabloid press reports with a grain of salt. I’m primarily a Barcelona fan, but I also support Arsenal, and it’s pretty clear to me that these news reports are 99% bogus, and it appears that the English press is just trying to stir up trouble between the clubs and their fans (oh, and sell lots of papers doing it).
Let’s take a slightly more critical look at the sourcing for the above Sun article. Basically, the only “named” source for the story is an anonymous “eyewitness.” Ok, that’s really credible. And on top of that, the only portion of the story that’s actually attributed to the “eyewitness” is the following:
An eyewitness said: “Rosell seemed to be raising his voice at Gazidis who stayed calm and did not respond. It was clear, though, that Rosell was particularly angry.”
Assuming this exchange even took place, all the “eyewitness” saw was an argument. We don’t even know what it’s about. And everything else in the article is pure journalistic spin with no sourcing whatsoever.
If you take a closer look, most of the “tapping up” comments attributed to Barca players this summer have, at best, equally dubious sourcing. Most Barca fans believe that they are complete fabrications, because we know our players and our club, and know that they aren’t even authorized to give interviews to English tabloids, much less make the kind of comments attributed to them. To us, seeing that kind of crap attributed to Xavi is the same as if you saw it attributed to Arsene Wenger. You would know immediately that it was complete BS. Please take a more critical look at these things before you get so upset!
Good luck in the 2nd leg.