Ref Review Arsenal – Hull. Farewell goodbye auf wiedersehen adieu to the ref.

By the Referee team

There are clips included in the report for every wrong decision and every major decision in red bold text

First of all sorry it has taken so long. But we followed the order of a few people who said we should get a life and took a break from a very time consuming task.  But here it is,  another review.

ARSENAL vs. HULL CITY

  • COMPETITION: English Premier League
  • MATCH NO. 25
  • DATE: 11th February 2017
  • VENUE: Emirates Stadium (London, England)

MATCH OFFICIALS:

REFEREE: Mark Clattenburg
1st LINESMAN: Jake Collin
2nd LINESMAN: Adrian Holmes
4th OFFICIAL: Roger East


First Half

Fouls, Advantages, Cards, and Penalties

Time Foul by Foul For Notes Points
03:27 Hector Bellerin (Arsenal) Handball. 1 (FOUL)
18:18 Tom Huddlestone (Hull) Francis Coquelin (Arsenal) More careless than reckless. 1 (FOUL)
21:41 Alex Oxlade Chamberlain (Arsenal) Oumar Niasse (Hull) Trip. 1 (FOUL)
25:01 Sam Clucas (Hull) Francis Coquelin (Arsenal) Push. 1 (FOUL)
27:22 Tom Huddlestone (Hull) Theo Walcott (Arsenal) Reckless use of arms in to the head of Walcott. Certainly after his foul on Coquelin that was borderline for a yellow card, the ref now should have taken action

 

Should have been a yellow card.

02. Huddlestone Yellow

02. Huddlestone Yellow002

02. Huddlestone Yellow003

 

1 (FOUL)

-2 (YELLOW CARD)

30:31 Andrea Ranocchia (Hull) Alexis Sanchez (Arsenal) Trip. 1 (ADVANTAGE)
31:42 Sam Clucas (Hull)   Clucas’ hands move towards the ball blocking the shot at goal inside the box. Should have been a penalty and a red card.

03. Clucas Handball Penalty

03. Clucas Handball Penalty002

 

-3 (PENALTY)

-3 (RED CARD)

39:48 Francis Coquelin (Arsenal) Lazar Markovic (Hull) Trip from behind. 1 (FOUL)
44:44 Kieran Gibbs (Arsenal) Oumar Niasse (Hull) Late Trip. Careless. 1 (FOUL)
45:44 Omar Elabdellaoui (Hull) Alexis Sanchez (Arsenal) Late Trip. Careless. 1 (FOUL)

Offsides

Time Player Offside Defending Player Notes Points
26:43 Alexis Sanchez (Arsenal) ??? (Hull) By Assistant Ref Jake Collin. 1 (OFFSIDE)
35:54 Alexis Sanchez (Arsenal) Andrea Ranocchia (Hull) By Assistant Ref Jake Collin. 1 (OFFSIDE)

Goals

Time Goal Scorer Notes Points
33:27 Alexis Sanchez (Arsenal) A very difficult call this one. In fact, one where the ref can look at it in both ways and be right. Alexis his hand is already raised when he tries to shoot the ball over the goal line with his left foot. So he didn’t make a move and as he was off balance,  one could even say that his arm was in a natural position as he was stretching for the shot. But if the ref would have cancelled the goal for a handball the ref could have said that he was holding his arm away from his body and then made contact. 3 (GOAL)

First Half Referee Report

Incorrect Decisions Against Arsenal

Yellow Cards = 1

Red Cards = 1

Penalties = 1

Incorrect Decisions Against Hull City

Nil

 

Number of Correct Decisions

Fouls = 8

Advantages = 1

Offsides = 2

Goals = 1

Total = 12

Number of Incorrect Decisions

Yellow Cards = 1

Red Cards = 1

Penalties = 1

Total = 3

Number of Correct Decisions (Weighted)

Fouls = 8

Advantages = 1

Offsides = 2

Goals = 3

Total = 14

Number of Incorrect Decisions (Weighted)

Yellow Cards = 2

Red Cards = 3

Penalties = 3

Total = 8

 

 

First Half Correct Decision Percentage = Total Correct Decisions / Total Decisions (Correct + Incorrect) = 12/(12+3) = 80.0%

 

First Half Correct Decision Percentage (WEIGHTED) = Total Correct Decisions / Total Decisions (Correct + Incorrect) = 14/(14+8) = 63.6%

 

Second Half

Fouls, Advantages, Cards, and Penalties

Time Foul by Foul For Notes Points
45:05 Alfred N’Diaye (Hull) Francis Coquelin (Arsenal) Slightly reckless from N’Diaye. Coquelin made a bit of a sliding tackle and won the ball and then N’Diaye kicked against his knee that was on the ground.

 

Should have been a yellow card.

05. N’diaye yellow

05. N’diaye yellow002

1 (ADVANTAGE)

-2 (YELLOW CARD)

47:43 Alexis Sanchez (Arsenal) Andrea Ranocchia (Hull) Trip. 1 (FOUL)
51:53 Alfred N’Diaye (Hull) Alex Oxlade Chamberlain (Arsenal) Pull and hold. Arsenal played on. 1 (ADVANTAGE)
51:59 Theo Walcott (Arsenal)

Tom Huddlestone (Hull)

Walcott was correctly shown a yellow card for unsporting behaviour.

 

Huddlestone indulged in similar behaviour but was not shown a potential second yellow card.

06. Walcott Maguire Huddlestone

06. Walcott Maguire Huddlestone002

 

2 (YELLOW CARD)

-2 (YELLOW CARD)

-3 (RED CARD)

53:54 Kieran Gibbs (Arsenal) Lazar Markovic (Hull) The foul was correctly given.

 

But Gibbs should have been given a red card not yellow, as he was the last defender. One could say there was no open goal scoring situation as the attacker didn’t have the ball under control but it was a deliberate foul by jumping in the back to make sure there was no open goal scoring chance.

07. Gibbs Red

07. Gibbs Red002

07. Gibbs Red003

1 (FOUL)

-2 (YELLOW CARD)

-3 (RED CARD)

55:53 Alfred N’Diaye (Hull) Laurent Koscienly (Arsenal) Pull. 1 (FOUL)
68:58 Andrea Ranocchia (Hull) Alexis Sanchez (Arsenal) Foul was correctly given.

 

Ranocchia planted his studs on the ankle with the ball being at the other end, so a deliberate foul planting his studs on the leg of an opponent, a red card should have been given.

08. Ranocchia Red

1 (FOUL)

-2 (YELLOW CARD)

-3 (RED CARD)

70:10 Ahmed El Mohamady (Hull) Alexis Sanchez (Arsenal) Mistimed Kick. 1 (FOUL)
73:46 Alex Iwobi (Arsenal) Lazar Markovic (Hull) Pull. Advantage turned into Foul. 1 (ADVANTAGE)

1 (FOUL)

75:17 Alexis Sanchez (Arsenal)   It was no foul, but as there was a very slight contact (after Alexis already going down) one could say that there was a bit of contact so no yellow card should be given for simulation.

09. Sanchez Dive

-2 (YELLOW CARD)
79:27 Mesut Ozil (Arsenal) Andrea Ranocchia (Hull) Pull. 1 (FOUL)
82:05 Kieran Gibbs (Arsenal) Lazar Markovic (Hull) Shove from behind. 1 (FOUL)
83:21 Francis Coquelin (Arsenal) Handball on clearance. 1 (FOUL)
86:48 Ahmed El Mohamady (Hull) Handball on clearance. 1 (FOUL)
89:08 Alexis Sanchez (Arsenal) Harry Maguire (Hull) Arm used to shove aside. 1 (FOUL)
90:20 Sam Clucas (Hull) Clucas moved his arm towards the ball and spread himself so a handball and a penalty.  And as the ball was going in the direction of the goal line also a red card.

10. Clucas Second Handball Penalty

10. Clucas Second Handball Penalty002

10. Clucas Second Handball Penalty003

10. Clucas Second Handball Penalty004

10. Clucas Second Handball Penalty005

 

3 (PENALTY)

3 (RED CARD)

94:28 Andrea Ranocchia (Hull) Danny Welbeck (Arsenal) Trip. 1 (ADVANTAGE)

Offsides

Time Player Offside Defending Player Notes Points
76:00 Mesut Ozil (Arsenal) Andrea Ranocchia (Hull) By Assistant Ref Adrian Holmes. 1 (OFFSIDE)
88:22 Mesut Ozil (Arsenal) Andrea Ranocchia (Hull) By Assistant Ref Adrian Holmes. 1 (OFFSIDE)

Goals

Time Goal Scorer Notes Points
92:25 Alexis Sanchez (Arsenal) Clean goal. 3 (GOAL)

Second Half Referee Report

Incorrect Decisions Against Arsenal

Yellow Cards = 4

Red Cards = 2

Incorrect Decisions Against Hull City

Yellow Cards = 1

Red Cards = 1

 

Number of Correct Decisions

Fouls = 11

Advantages = 4

Yellow Cards = 1

Red Cards = 1

Penalties = 1

Offsides = 2

Goals = 1

Total = 21

Number of Incorrect Decisions

Yellow Cards = 5

Red Cards = 3

Total = 8

Number of Correct Decisions (Weighted)

Fouls = 11

Advantages = 4

Yellow Cards = 2

Red Cards = 3

Penalties = 3

Offsides = 2

Goals = 3

Total = 28

Number of Incorrect Decisions (Weighted)

Yellow Cards = 10

Red Cards = 9

Total = 19

 

 

Second Half Correct Decision Percentage = Total Correct Decisions / Total Decisions (Correct + Incorrect) = 21/(21+8) = 72.4%

 

 

Second Half Correct Decision Percentage (WEIGHTED) = Total Correct Decisions / Total Decisions (Correct + Incorrect) = 28/(28+19) = 59.5%

 

Full Time (1st Half + 2nd Half) Referee Report

Incorrect Decisions Against Arsenal

Yellow Cards = 5

Red Cards = 3

Penalties = 1

Incorrect Decisions Against Hull City

Yellow Cards = 1

Red Cards = 1

 

Number of Correct Decisions

Fouls = 19

Advantages = 5

Yellow Cards = 1

Red Cards = 1

Penalties = 1

Offsides = 4

Goals = 2

Total = 33

Number of Incorrect Decisions

Yellow Cards = 6

Red Cards = 4

Penalties = 1

Total = 11

Number of Correct Decisions (Weighted)

Fouls = 19

Advantages = 5

Yellow Cards = 2

Red Cards = 3

Penalties = 3

Offsides = 4

Goals = 6

Total = 42

Number of Incorrect Decisions (Weighted)

Yellow Cards = 12

Red Cards = 12

Penalties = 3

Total = 27

 

 

Full Match Correct Decision Percentage = Total Correct Decisions / Total Decisions (Correct + Incorrect) = 33/(33+11) = 75.0%

 

 Full Match Correct Decision Percentage (WEIGHTED) = Total Correct Decisions / Total Decisions (Correct + Incorrect) = 42/(42+27) = 60.8%

 

APPENDIX

Key Decisions in the Match Points
Advantage 1
Foul 1
Incorrect Corner 1
Incorrect Goal Kick 1
Incorrect Throw-in 1
Other (Ref Positioning, Injuries, Time Wasting, etc.) 1
Offside 1
Yellow Card 2
Red Card 3
Goal 3
Penalty 3

 

NOTE: FOR ANY WRONG DECISION MADE THERE WILL BE NEGATIVE POINTS AWARDED FOR THAT SPECIFIC KIND OF EVENT.

NOTE: ANY INCORRECT OR WRONG DECISION/NON-DECISION WILL BE HIGHLIGHTED WITH A RED COLOUR.

NOTE: ANY DECISION THAT INVOLVES DOUBT IS HIGHLIGHTED AS BLUE IN COLOR.

NOTE: The word ‘FOR’ is used to show IN FAVOR OF.

NOTE: All the Laws Of The Game used are referenced directly from the following link. “LAWS OF THE GAME 2016-2017”

http://static-3eb8.kxcdn.com/documents/60/Laws%20of%20the%20Game_16-17_Digital_Eng.pdf

 

Mark Clattenburg was the ref.

And it was a difficult one. This was the last match we have seen Clattenburg do with Arsenal as shortly after this match he went to other shores. And probably more lucrative shores.

Was this influencing him? It looked to me that he was trying to avoid all controversy and by doing so… he got a bit of controversy.

Huddlestone was lucky not to be given a yellow card after some 18 minutes. Not the worst of fouls but still a foul that some Arsenal players would see a yellow card for so far this season. But when some 10 minutes later Huddlestone made contact with his arm and the head of Walcott he should have given him a first yellow card.

Then we enter the handball decisions. First he chose to not give a penalty against Hull when Clucas made a good blocking save to stop a goal bound shot from Walcott. Would it have gone in? Well we never know as Clucas blocked it with his moving arm. That should have been a first penalty for Arsenal…and a red card as the shot was a shot on target. Clattenburg decided to do nothing.

Then Alexis scored…. from a ball bouncing in from his hand. I wonder if Clattenburg had the earlier handball call still in his head and thought oh well I let that one go, so will let this one go also. I think he would have done himself (and his numbers)  some favours to have given them both as handballs. So the handballs should have been: a penalty for Arsenal and a red card and a goal disallowed.

Now he allowed the goal and there are some things that speak in favour of this. Alexis took a shot on goal with his left foot being off balance  and then it is natural that when you stretch you raise your arm to keep your balance. The shot hit the keeper and then bounced against the raised hand of Alexis. As his hand was already there when he took the shot you can say it wasn’t a move hand to ball. And therefore the ref can give the goal. If I had been the ref I would have been happier with the handball decisions as described just before this paragraph.

For the rest not much wrong in a rather fair match.

So the first half score was: 80.0% and 63.6% (Weighted) Good but messed up big decisions.

In the second half more of the same. Excellent on small decisions but messing up the big ones. Walcott was unhappy with a challenge and threw the ball away in anger and had a bit of an argument with a Hull defender. He was rightly booked for this. But then came Huddlestone from a long distance not to calm things down (as Coquelin was doing) but to put some oil on the fire. If a player comes a long way to start an argument with something he has no relation with he should be booked. That should have been his second booking then. Clattenburg backing out once again.

And then minutes later he again backed out of a big decision. Gibbs made a foul as the last defender and the red card wasn’t shown. Now as a softening for Clattenburg one could say that the ball was not under control of the attacker at all so it wasn’t a clear goal scoring opportunity yet. I thought it was a very stupid decision from Gibbs to go in the duel like that. He could have just ran next to the Hull player and trying to disposses him if he would have gotten the ball under control. But Clattenburg seemed determined not to give a red card in his farewell match.

The same could be said when Ranocchia planted his studs on the ankle of Alexis. The ball being at the other side of the players so this wasn’t even trying to play the ball. This was an attack with no chance of playing the ball (that was at least one meter away).

A last farewell yellow card for Alexis was also wrong. There was some slight contact with the foot and if you then don’t judge it as a foul you also don’t give a yellow card.

But in the final minutes Clattenburg did what he should have done before: he gave a red card. Clucas (yes him again) this time stopped a goal bound header from Lucas (without C) with his arm. He moved his arm to spread himself so a definite foul. If you look at the images you see that he waits for what looks to be an awful lot of time to give that decision. I think he consulted his assistant who then confirmed the handball. And then he gave the penalty and the red card. Finally one could say.

Score in the second half = 72.4% and 59.5% (Weighted) Average and again messed up some big decisions.

Final score for Clattenburg in his last reviewed match overall = 75.0% and 60.8% (Weighted) Average and poor weighted

5 wrong major decisions ( 1 Penalty not given for Arsenal and 1 Red not given against Gibbs, 1 Red not given against Ranocchia, 1 Red not given against Clucas in 1st Half, 1 Second yellow not given against Huddlestone)

Bias numbers: 9 wrong decisions against Arsenal and 2 against Hull. And this time it was mostly important decisions that he made his mistakes. Not that good for “the best ref”….

Farewell Mark. You will no longer have to read our reviews.

This season the refereeing of 160 PL games was analysed in detail with video evidence. This is what we found.

The Untold Analysis of Refereeing in the first 16 weeks of the 2016/17 season – all matches

 

30 Replies to “Ref Review Arsenal – Hull. Farewell goodbye auf wiedersehen adieu to the ref.”

  1. i believe you’re wrong on first two handball decisions
    the distance was too small and ball arrived too fast for them to be deliberate – hence no fouls

    also Sanchez ‘dive’ seems like a genuine foul from Rannochia, deserving a yellow card (his second) as it was breaking a promising attack
    remember there doesn’t have to be a contact at all, anything impeding progress of the opponent is a foul

  2. I have a few comments on your interpretation of the events in the videos
    A. I think in the Huddleston elbow incident, walcott was the one who jumped into Huddleston, in the 2nd incident it looks to me that Huddleston actually ran in to defuse the tension and walcott away from the hull player. He’s obviously not shoving walcott away.
    2. The handball events, both handballs look accidental, however Sanchez’s results in a goal which otherwise wouldn’t have been, should have been struck off
    3. I think clattenburg did a good job, though he shouldn’t have let Sanchez’s handball goal stand

  3. When it comes to Gibbs’ decision, Kieran himself said after the game that “Mark” hadn’t sent him off because the Hull player had been going away from goal. As you might have noticed on the video, the Hull player sends the ball slightly to his left side in order to make a run away from Gibbs and not directly towards the goal.

    As for Alexis’ goal… I wouldn’t like Arsenal to be on the receiving end of those kind of goals but as the reviewers have pointed out, it was a tricky decision.

  4. OlegYch,

    Yes the distance for the first handball by Clucas looks small, but the motion of his arms towards the path of the ball looks deliberate.

    For the Sanchez dive/foul, I think there was just bodily contact but not really a foul contact by Ranocchia.

    Walter may explain it better.

  5. One of the problems with this website’s claim to have done all the research and collated all the data (and that, therefore, their theory about institutional bias against Arsenal is undeniable) is that, when all is said and done, we are not dealing with a science. Referees’ (and linesmen) decisions are still very much reliant on interpretation. And for all the repeated protestations of objectivity, it nevertheless seems perfectly apparent to me that there is a huge Arsenal bias in your referee team’s interpretation of many contentious incidents.

    The first handball, for instance…..undeniably, the ball hit Clucas’s hand. But at great pace; from a yard or two away; with the player having turned away from the ball. Yes, his arm moved fractionally away from his body as he turned. But there was nothing unnatural about the movement. So it is highly debatable whether it should even have been a penalty. And it most certainly shouldn’t have been a red card, as claimed.

    The Huddlestone / Walcott header….it’s quite clear to me that they both had eyes only for the ball; both raised their arms for leverage; and both jumped towards the other player. Their forearms clashed, sending Walcott’s arm lower and Huddlestone’s higher and that, in turn, caused Huddlestone’s arm to hit the back of Walcott’s head. There was no more intent or recklessness on Huddlestone’s part than on Walcott’s. So no yellow card the correct call.

    The Huddlestone / Walcott / Maguire incident…..Walcott was clearly shown yellow for petulantly throwing the ball at the linesman. Huddlestone did nothing more than to attempt to usher Walcott away from Maguire. Again, there should have been no yellow card for Huddlestone.

    I fully accept that each of the above is merely my interpretation of each incident and that you might well disagree. Fair enough. But many others will agree with me too, including Clattenburg obviously. And since you are in the business of trying to build a credible case for institutional corruption and / or bias, you have to be quite certain that each mistake that you highlight was unquestionably a mistake and not merely a narrow difference of interpretation. Too many of the mistakes about which you rage each week are, in fact, merely the latter. And that greatly undermines your case.

  6. Usama, it only looks deliberate if you slow it down ten times, Clucas couldn’t have known where the ball would be in the next split second
    he wasn’t even spreading his hands like Leicester players used to do last season, just tried to turn his back towards the ball

    as for Rannochia – there was clear deliberate kick in the ankle (and no body contact), just like a few minutes ago

  7. Josif,

    Hmm, Walter wrote above messed up the Gibbs red card. Some of rules explaining the “Denying a goal or an obvious goal-scoring opportunity”

    The following must be considered:
    • distance between the offence and the goal (roughly 25m from goal)
    • general direction of the play (Markovic was just about to control the ball as it was going forward in the direction of goal)
    • likelihood of keeping or gaining control of the ball (if Gibbs had not fouled, Markovic would easily have controlled and would have had fair goal-scoring chance)
    • location and number of defenders (no defending players in sight roughly within 45m from goal except for Gibbs)

  8. JimB,

    When a referee is giving a player a talking to (plus yellow card) for unsporting behaviour (Theo in this case), there is absolutely no need for anyone else to bump in to escalate the matter. And Huddlestone did exactly that, he indulged in unsporting behaviour even after the referee took notice of it from what Theo had done.

    For the elbow on Theo, Huddlestone’s elbow kept on rising and stretching out as he jumped, where as Theo dropped his arms and retracted them as he jumped. And Huddlestone hits the elbow straight on Theo’s right side of the head. That is clear reckless play. If more force had been used Theo would probably have got knocked out like Bellerin was made to.

  9. OlegYch,

    Oh my bad, I mistakenly viewed some other Ranocchia clip when replying to your comment.

    For the dive/foul of Sanchez-Ranocchia, I personally think its soft but a foul, but Walter (the man with knowledge and experience 🙂 ) reviews all the decisions after I make a list, so he knows better. As I said, Walter may explain it better if he finds time.

  10. > And for all the repeated protestations of objectivity, it nevertheless seems perfectly apparent to me that there is a huge Arsenal bias in your referee team’s interpretation of many contentious incidents.

    You lack practice in thinking.

    If Walter and the referee review team had a _HUGE_ bias, they would never suggest that an Arsenal player fouled another, should be yellow or red carded, or give up a penalty.

    There are referee reviews were a substantial number of noted incidents, are directed against Arsenal players (rather than being in favour of Arsenal players). There is more than 1 such incident in this referee review alone.

    Now, if you are coming from the _assumption_ that the number of fouls, carded events or penalties in a game should on average be the same for both teams; I can see how you might arrive at a conclusion that Walter demonstrates more bias than you would like. The problem is, that assumption is false. There is no reason why one team should attract the attention of the referee the same number of times as any other team. There are rough teams and rough players on teams. Or players and teams that flout the rules if you will.

    But where you need to start, is to have a statistically useful number of reviews done by someone else and compare those reviews to the reviews Walter has done.

    To just “believe” that there is a problem, is not useful.

  11. Gibbs was right, “Mark” signalled with his left arm that the Hull forward was heading to the left, and Coqueline himself went in studs up on N’diaye, but no contact by the look of it, so fair outcome on both decisions.
    I have to say that Sanchez is a very poor diver, and needs to practice a bit if he thinks he’s going to fool anyone. He’s actually been denied a few genuine penalties this season. Has he been sussed?

  12. OleYch

    If he hadn’t made such a drama out of it he probably would’ve got the penalty. It looked to me as though he had anticipated the challenge and made his dive accordingly.

  13. Leon, the challenge was outside the penalty box
    guess that’s easy to forget when all you’re looking for is how to slag off Arsenal players

  14. My mistake. Outside the box.
    He’ll probably be doing his diving for Man City next season, so it’ll be OK “to slag him off” then.

  15. tbh i don’t remember him diving, in fact not much penalty shouts
    one thing i remember was an episode in Everton game in closing minutes, do you think that was a dive?
    just curious, would you also say Nacho is a drama actor? three or four fouls on him in penalty area ignored this season, so probably not that good of an actor, is he?

    do you think Kroenke should splash the cash on some highly rated actors like Suarez?

  16. OlegYch

    I think you misunderstand me. I have no problems with Arsenal divers, we’ve had them way back to Anders LImpar and a good few since from Holland, Spain & France. I just want them to do it convincingly, that’s all.
    And since you ask, yes Suarez would be an asset dives or not.

  17. …and sorry, forgot. Nacho is definitely not a diver, so he wouldn’t need to act.

  18. Leon, i can only speak for myself, but i think most people here would be pretty disappointed if Arsenal players started diving and getting away with that
    guess that’s the only thing we can thank Mike Riley for

  19. in fact most people who don’t watch football give diving as a primary reason why they aren’t

  20. Perhaps if they didn’t think of it so much as diving but as an aversion to the perpendicular they’d find it more acceptable ?

  21. this is not something comical mate
    i’m afraid it might drive the beautiful game into abyss very soon

  22. ‘i’m afraid it might drive the beautiful game into abyss very soon’

    I think I’ll leave the discussion at this point.

  23. 75:17 Alexis Sanchez (Arsenal)
    Looks like a foul to me.
    Observe the point of contact and the movement of the leg at contact. There must have been much force to cause the leg to move that far.

    Deliberate or not should’nt even come into it, a foul, it’s a foul.

  24. Nominally OffTopic

    FIFA still has problems to work on. Job 1 is probably putting in a greater effort on getting rid of corruption. The effort so far has been sad.

    But, as FIFA has a seat on the IFAB, it has others. It has been derelict in its duties, with respect to “rogue” interpretations of the Laws of the Game.

    FIFA has an obligation to monitor all FIFA accredited officials, regardless of what jurisdiction is sanctioning a game. If a FIFA accredited official makes a “bizarre” interpretation of the Laws in _any_ game that they work in, they shall be called by FIFA to justify their action. Local interpretation of the Laws shall not be an acceptable excuse. If said official is found deficient, incompetent or acting on local interpretation, their name shall be suspended from the FIFA accreditation list. FIFA suspensions shall increment on successive occurences, and decrement on a yearly basis and when FIFA sanctioned games take place for which that country/homeFA has few enough demerits that it could be considered to supply officials.

    If a FIFA suspended official is found to have made a similar “bizarre” action, a demerit shall be assigned to the home FA. There is no limit as to how many bizarre actions can be investigated in any single game.

    When a FIFA sanctioned game is about to take place, and it has become time to assign officials to work the game, FIFA must consider officials from countries with lower numbers of demerit points first. At the conclusion of the game, all demerit counters shall be decremented by 1.

    If we take a country such as England, which has a huge number of bizarre rulings on a yearly basis by FIFA accredited officials, it could be entirely possible that England could not supply officials to FIFA sanctioned events for many years.

  25. Walter – in the Referee program with Neville & Carragher, the referees said that they prepare for the game with information on the teams, players & their shortcomings. Isn’t that a basis of prejudice for any judge? If that were the case in Law, every case would be thrown out of court.

    The officials are meant to judge without any prejudice other than the Laws of the Game. How can their preparation allow prejudicial information of players? I will accept information of the pitch & shortcomings like pits or moats or even ambulance access, but not of players. The PGMOL officials are programmed by the bias & result in the most corrupt judgements in sport.

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