- The League is on the edge of being crippled through legal costs in casees it is winning
- How to reform refereeing and bring back free speech in football
By Nitram
When I read the Reddit article which was featured on Untoldwhat sprung to mind was, he’s talking about ’tilt’. The subtle behaviour of treating one team’s play or behaviour in a different way from another.
Many on Untold have been talking about this ’tilt’ for years, including myself, although I coined the phrase ‘cheating without cheating’ which has not really caught on, but I believe describes more vividly, perhaps more harshly, exactly what I think is going on, and has been to greater or lesser degrees for many years.
First off I would like to thank Tony and the rest for looking at little deeper into the Reddit article and trying to make sense, re-evaluate, confirm and perhaps correct all the information within.
But that is typical of Untold. If it looks like something presented supports the broad beliefs held by Untold and its regular readers, (for example, to the effect that Arsenal are roundly screwed by referees at every opportunity), Untold doesn’t just accept the figures at face value, but does instead try to confirm their validity.
And in this case, on first viewing, I accepted all the figures as being broadly true because:
a) It’s what I had found when doing research myself. It was the disproportionate rate of red/yellow cards (and penalties for and against) that first led me to untold; I couldn’t believe I had found somewhere that was seeing things as I was. That was almost 20 years ago.
b) And it’s what I wanted to read. Guilty.
But if we go back into the Untold archives from that far back, there are some magnificent articles full of brilliant research showing just how disproportionately we were treated.
I personally, under a different name, did some research that clearly showed a massive change before and after the Riley debacle at OT. Before then we were treated pretty much as everyone else. In fact I would go as far as to say there was a bit of a media ‘love-in’ for us. There was admiration for all the revolutionary changes Wenger had brought to not just Arsenal but English football in general. From the training to the style of play. From the psychology to the diet. Even the pitches were better.
Then we went and took the piss and remained unbeaten for an entire season.
Not only was it a Frenchman showing us how to play the game, but it was a team of Nancy Boy foreigners. And they had the temerity to go through an entire season unbeaten.
WE CAN’T HAVE THAT.
And that’s when it all started to go wrong. The media turned against us. ‘Diving, cheating, whinging foreigners’ they wrote. The fans of other clubs turned against us. ‘Same old Arsenal, always cheating’ they sang’.
And of course, the referees got the message. As was intended. Arsenal needed bringing down a peg or two, and it was down to PGMO to do it, and so they did.
Cue Mike Riley and one of the worst, most biased refereeing performances you will ever see. And on re-evaluation that view has been endorsed many times.
Guess what. Mike Riley received a promotion to head of Referees’ association PGMO, within a year. It told us all we needed to know about where we were heading.
And it’s been like that ever since, to greater or lesser degrees. Indeed, the first three matches this season have shown that nothing much has changed.
- Referee Arsenal to the letter of the law and we will back you all the way.
- Cut their opponent all the slack you want and we will back you all the way.
And although some of the stats on Reddit need a little clarification, I still believe they broadly show that that approach to how Arsenal should be refereed is the same now as it has been all the way back to Riley. Again, just look at last weekend.
Of course there are times when these referees are not so strict, but I would lay a pound to a pinch that is when we are less of a threat.
The problem is, that the level of research required to prove this beyond all doubt is simply enormous, especially as some of what we are looking at is so subtle.
- Early cards for us.
- Late cards for our opponents
- Cards for us when leading.
- Cards for our opponent when the game is won or lost.
- Cards for kicking the ball away 3 feet.
- No card for hoofing the ball the length of the field.
These subtle differences feed into the notion of ’tilting’ the game, as has been advocated happens by so many Untolders. But the problem is, how under any circumstances can you realistically say without fear of contradiction that the referee cheated? You cant.
Under the banner of subjectivity, it would be almost impossible to state categorically that any of the decisions were wrong.
Yes, they may of been 50/50,or 20/80 or 80/20, but someone somewhere will say the referee was ‘spot on’, again as we have just seen at the weekend with Mike Dean and Dermot Gallagher.
And that is the massive problem we have when trying to prove referee bias even exists, because subjectivity will always come to the aid of a myopic referee. If you want it to!
There are ex refs that are still in the fold and they will never criticise the current crop and there are the ones that sit outside Halsey and Hackett that are more objective and tend to be critical.
The written media and their compatriots on radio and television tend to toe the party line and the ctitique of the dissenters gets swallowed and quickly disappears until the next event takes place.
Social media is rife with tribalism and any complaints about wrongdoings to any team are dismissed usually with derisory remarks .
Until the supporters of all clubs learn to be objective and speak with one voice the PGMOL will continue their policy of divide and conquer and continue on their merry way.
porter
Yep, pretty much.
As you suggest, the referees outside of the direct ’employ’ of the media, the two you mention Halsey and Hackett for example, tend to be much more critical of referees, as with the Rice incident which I believe they have both called out as wrong, as opposed to those directly in the Employ of the media, such as Dean and Gallagher at SKY who back the referee to the hilt.
Specifically relating to the weekend, I most say, from what I have seen, the consensus amongst bloggers and the like is that it was a terrible decision, and that the analysis of the incident is deeply flawed, and in Gallagher case blatantly hypocritical, as it has been shown to be in direct contrast to an identical incident from 2 years ago of which his conclusions were the complete opposite.
If that hypocrisy can be picked up by, for want of a better word a ‘laymen’, you have wonder why SKY, with all their myriad of researchers, didn’t also think to point this out to Gallagher before he made complete fool of himself?
Are we to believe not a single researcher remember the incident? Well, if that’s the case they shouldn’t be in the job.
So assuming they knew, we can only assume they deliberately ignored it. But why?
My conclusion is because SKY simply WANTED Gallagher to ‘find’ against Arsenal. (If anyone disagrees with that I would be interested to hear their reasoning as to why SKY would fail to join those to enormous dots?)
Even almost every ex player has said it was a terrible decision.
Lets be honest, it must be pretty bad to get the level of support we have on this from quarters you would never usually expect.
But even with all that you are still right when you say:
“Social media is rife with tribalism and any complaints about wrongdoings to any team are dismissed usually with derisory remarks”
Because the ‘comments’ sections are still filled with derisory remarks.
But you cant win with these people. One comment from a Liverpool fan I read was “How can Arsenal complain about that when they got away with such a blatant handball at Anfield’
So, ignoring the rights and wrongs of the hand ball call, are we really saying that simply because one decision, a year, 2 years, 10 years ago went your way, you have to swallow every other decision that goes against you from then on, even when they are as bad as Saturdays.
Well, yes they are, because that is what is at the heart of the tribalism of which you speak.
Red card stats for Arsenal games in the PL (I hope the formatting works)
Season Arsenal Red Cards Red Position Arsenal Opponent Red Cards Red Position Opps
1992-1993 1…………………………=10…………………………Unknown…………………………………………
1993-1994 1……………….,,,,,,,,,,.=8…………………………..Unknown…………………………………………
1994-1995 4…………………………=5…………………………..Unknown…………………………………………
1995-1996 2…………………………=13…………………………Unknown…………………………………………
1996-1997 4…………………………=3…………………………..Unknown…………………………………………
1997-1998 4…………………………=7…………………………..Unknown…………………………………………
1998-1999 7…………………………1…………………………….Unknown…………………………………………
1999-2000 5…………………………=2…………………………..Unknown…………………………………………
2000-2001 3…………………………=6…………………………..Unknown…………………………………………
2001-2002 6…………………………=2…………………………..Unknown…………………………………………
2002-2003 2…………………………=13…………………………Unknown…………………………………………
2003-2004 3…………………………=4…………………………..Unknown…………………………………………
2004-2005 1…………………………=18…………………………Unknown…………………………………………
2005-2006 2…………………………=13…………………………Unknown…………………………………………
2006-2007 3…………………………=7…………………………..Unknown…………………………………………
2007-2008 3…………………………=9…………………………..Unknown…………………………………………
Season Arsenal Red Cards Red Position Arsenal Opponent Red Cards Red Position Opps
2008-2009 3…………………………=10…………………………Unknown…………………………………………
2009-2010 1…………………………=17…………………………Unknown…………………………………………
2010-2011 6…………………………2…………………………….Unknown…………………………………………
2011-2012 4…………………………=6…………………………..Unknown…………………………………………
2012-2013 4…………………………=1…………………………..Unknown…………………………………………
2013-2014 Unknown…………………………………………….Unknown…………………………………………
2014-2015 Unknown…………………………………………….3……………………………=10…………………..
2015-2016 Unknown…………………………………………….3……………………………=7…………………….
2016-2017 0…………………………=11…………………………4……………………………=1…………………….
2017-2018 Unknown…………………………………………….4……………………………=3…………………….
2018-2019 2…………………………=9…………………………..2……………………………=7…………………….
2019-2020 5…………………………1…………………………….1……………………………=13…………………..
2020-2021 5…………………………2…………………………….2……………………………=8…………………….
2021-2022 4…………………………2…………………………….3……………………………=3…………………….
2022-2023 0…………………………=15…………………………1……………………………=10…………………..
2023-2024 2…………………………=12…………………………2……………………………=11…………………..
2024-2025 1…………………………=1…………………………..0……………………………=3…………………….