Numbering the refs performances: Dowd is the best ref in the league!!!

Posted on by WalterBroeckx

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By Walter Broeckx

 

In the last weeks I have tried to shed a first light on the scores of the refs and I have done this by focussing on the Total average score the refs have received after our reviews. Today I will try to go a bit deeper in this analysis and see if there are some different things that we can see if we look at the 3 major numbers that are hidden under the total average score. This is based on 42 games in the season so far and based on all the games we reviewed.

So I made the average score for each ref in the category “Overall decisions”,  “Weight decisions” and “Important decisions”.

The overall decisions is just counting if the ref got it right or wrong. This includes all the decisions whether they are important or not. Just adding 1 and 1 one could say. This could well be about an important penalty decision or the average little push in the middle of the field. And when I added the numbers of each ref I got this league table from the refs.

 

Nr. Ref Overall score %
     

1

 Dowd

85,38

2

 Friend

81,40

3

 Mason

81,16

4

 Jones

79,80

5

 Dean

77,21

6

 Clattenburg

76,18

7

 Atkinson

73,97

8

 Taylor

73,17

9

 Atwell

72,16

10

 Webb

71,74

11

 Marinner

70,39

12

 Halsey

69,09

13

 Probert

66,60

14

 Walton

63,77

 

So in first place we find (is he the oldest of them all?) ref Phil Dowd. Who could ever have thought that after last season Untold Arsenal would put ref Dowd in first place in a table. Well the numbers are what they are. Now of course you could say that this is not the most important table. Because we have given some weight to some decisions and when we take the overall numbers and add the weight that we have given to the decisions we get the following league table. We named it the Weight table.

 

Nr. Ref Weight score %
     

1

 Dowd

84,8

2

 Mason

80,47

3

 Friend

79,55

4

 Jones

79,44

5

 Dean

77,82

6

 Atwell

76,76

7

 Clattenburg

73,54

8

 Probert

71,1

9

 Atkinson

70,09

10

 Webb

69,46

11

 Taylor

69,23

12

 Marinner

69,2

13

 Halsey

66,9

14

 Walton

64,9

A few refs switch places in this table but on top we still find our old pal Phil Dowd at the top of the refs. And this table is a bit more important because this adds already a little bit of weight to the importance of the decisions. But still a ref can make up a lot of ground by calling a lot of correct fouls in the middle of the field and messing up somewhere else.

And then we move on to the most important table. That ‘s why I called it the “Important decisions table”. Because this is the table that decides the outcome of the game the most. I know when are messes up in the middle of the field he can cost you the game but in the next table I only focussed on the major decisions. Gave the ref a goal or not? Did he give a penalty when needed or did he give one for a dive? Did he give a red card or not? You now the sort of decisions that can be seen on the score board at the end of the game in the final score.

So after 42 games in the PL this season we have this table for the refs when it comes to important decisions:

 

Nr, Ref Average score important decisions %
     

1

 Dowd

83,42

2

 Jones

77,92

3

 Mason

73,1

4

 Dean

71,89

5

 Webb

67,85

6

 Probert

65,4

7

 Clattenburg

62,66

8

 Friend

61,9

9

 Walton

61,65

10

 Marinner

59,4

11

 Atwell

58,59

12

 Atkinson

57,41

13

 Halsey

55,24

14

 Taylor

53,33

 

And well I cannot but admit that this season Dowd has looked like another ref. He is on top of all the 3 (and the 4th which I gave a few weeks ago) tables that we can come up with this season. So he must be doing it right this season. He is the only one that comes up with a score of over 80% in all the refs tables.  I sincerely hope that he continues this form when he does an Arsenal game.

In another article I will go one step further with all these numbers. And I will try to make a kind of profile of the refs. A way of telling you how a ref does his games and maybe a manual to keep an eye on how a ref operates if he wants to tilt the pitch in one or the other direction.

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8 Replies to “Numbering the refs performances: Dowd is the best ref in the league!!!”

  1. When Mason, not to mention Dowd and Jones, comes in front of Clattenberg, I start querying the system.

  2. GF60, I will come to Clattenberg in a next article but he had an absolutely shocking game this season. Maybe his worst ever and this is still showing in his numbers for now. Maybe when doing more games he will get higher in the ranks. But the scores are what they are based on the games reviewed so far.
    Of course having one real bad game and only having 4 reviewed is costly for a ref.

  3. Is the generally low level of refereeing in the EPL caused by incompetence, bias or corruption?

    Dowd’s suddenly getting better seems sinister…

  4. I have to admit that this season Dowd has been a revelation, he has certainly lost weight, if that is a factor i do not know but he has had some big calls to make and not shirked them. At this point i have to say i would have him in any match.

    I never believed i would ever say that after Newc debacle last season.

  5. Is anyone starting to wonder if they would be able to accept that everything is fine and fair. I mean even if the numbers say no one is biased or match fixing, would you really be able to believe it. It makes me wonder, am I in fact very partial in my opinion or is it experience that tells me otherwise. Personally I 100% believe there’s something going on, whether its down to individual bias or way up at the match fixing level. Something is causing refs to make wrong calls purposely. But then how am I so sure I’m right if I’m not willing to accept the alternative

  6. Walter, anyone,
    I must assume that there are and have been honest and capable referees in professional football. That said:
    (1) Does anyone know of any former referee in any League who ever published a memoir or was quoted for the record about having witnessed or participated in corrupt (match-fixing or match-changing) practices? Or has it been a total wall of silence?
    (2) Given that present FIFA/UEFA/PGMOL/EPL referees would no longer be assigned games if they went public with information on bribe attempts, etc., what about former referees? Do former FIFA/UEFA referees get pensions that would be threatened if any were to go public, even with general statements?
    (3) Do you/anyone think that a petition by former referees calling for video replay of any sort could be a possibility?
    (4) Given the authoritative position that honest referees would command in the sport, would any refs out there consider such a petition, or memoir, or plea for fair play?

  7. Yeah, surprised to see Clattenburg rated so low. In my opinion he was, at least last season, the best ref (from a purely Arsenal point of view, at least) but as this table takes into account performances from other games it might explain his numbers. I just hope he will be up to his normal standards when he refs us.

  8. If Dowd had been the ref v WBA he would have given a penalty against Koscielny and booked at least 5 players. He would have escalated the fans anger and set a tone of belligerence between the players. That’s how good he really is.

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