By Come On Boro.com
January 11 2006

Graham Frankland of Middlesbrough is the ComeOnBoro.com man in the black - I said MAN in the black - and is here to answer your questions and settle your arguments. Question one from Simon Dixon

Why were Nuneaton given a penalty for handball against Southgate when it was clear that it was purely accidental? Do you think the ref gave it to ‘even up the score’, as he had missed the penalty that should have been given against Southgate earlier in the match (for that foul)?

The Ref Says…

There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that the first penalty appeal should have been given, but to suggest that any Referee is looking to “even up the score” after making a mistake is quite frankly ludicrous.

First and foremost, Mr. Dean at the moment of making his decision on the first appeal would have been convinced in his mind that he had made a correct decision so the thought of “evening things up” would not even enter his mind. Secondly, the decision to award the penalty in the 90th minute was not met by any disapproval whatsoever by any Middlesbrough player which brings into doubt your opinion that the handball was purely accidental. Indeed one of the comments made by a pundit discussing the incident was that “Any team would be disappointed not to get a penalty in that situation.” I personally agree with that viewpoint.

Question two from James Bassett

After the farces at Ewood Park, St. James’ and The Reebok over the Christmas period, what part does a referee play in determining whether or not a pitch is playable?

The Ref Says…

Generally speaking, the final decision about whether a game is to be postponed or not is left to the impartiality of the Referee. Only in extreme circumstances on the grounds of public safety would this decision be taken out of his hands, as happened in the postponement at St James’ Park. The Referee had passed the pitch playable but unfortunately the surrounding roads around the stadium were deemed to be too dangerous considering the likelihood of 52000 people turning up for the game, so on the intervention of the local Police and Council officials the game was called off.

When there is any doubt about a game going ahead, usually the match Referee or a suitably qualified local Referee is called in at the earliest opportunity to give an opinion, so that when the local weather forecast is taken into account and there is little or no chance of the game proceeding, then the game can be called off as soon as possible to try and prevent any unnecessary travelling of away fans.

As I became more experienced as an official I tended to err on the side of caution and if there was any doubt, I would be more likely to call it off. In my earlier days this was not the case and to my cost I ended up having to officiate at games that in all truth were sometimes farcical and not very enjoyable.

The situations surrounding the failure of undersoil heating systems, and whether clubs should be punished or not is something that would not concern the Referee. His duty is to simply ascertain whether the pitch is playable or not. Any sanctions are for the competitions to judge on.

Question three from Toby Higgins

I recently watched Everton v Liverpool and Arsenal v Man United and Graham Poll was refereeing both games. As you may recall, two Everton players were dismissed in the second half of their game (and considering it was such a big derby game there was hardly a bad tackle in it) and in the Arsenal match there was a flurry of second half yellow cards.

There are several parts to my question:
a) Do you think Graham Poll is the best referee in this country?
b) Should referees apply common sense rather than the letter of the law at times? (The Everton player was sent off in the 4th minute of injury time for a soft tackle)
c) Do referees use yellow cards as a way of stamping their authority on big matches?

The Ref Says…

a) As Graham Poll has been selected as our representative for the forthcoming World Cup Finals then clearly he is thought of by our own FA as being the best Referee in the country and I for one would not disagree. He has an immense amount of experience at all levels of the game and his performances in some of the biggest games not only in this country but also in Europe gives him all the qualities of being a top Referee.

b) Common sense is something that all football supporters would like to see more of, especially in Premier League games, but sadly I suspect that plea will fall on deaf ears. If you mention common sense in Referee administration circles then they interpret that as “turning a blind eye to situations requiring action.” Referees are under so much pressure from the Referee’s Assessor - “the man in the stand” - who expects them to apply the laws of the game that even if they wanted to apply common sense to a situation the likelihood is that he won’t, simply for fear of persecution by the Assessor. Sad but true and the overriding reason why we see what we see in Referee performances week in week out. I did not see the Merseyside derby so cannot comment on the incident in question but the timing of an offence would be irrelevant to the punishment handed out.

c) I don’t think any Referee goes into a game thinking about “dishing out” yellow cards but clearly if a game is becoming a bit niggly and tempers are starting to flare, then the issue of a yellow card in the right circumstance at the right time can serve as a clear warning to all players that you are on your guard and will not tolerate people overstepping the mark. Conversely, if a Referee fails to punish offences as he should then this can send a message out to players that you may be a bit weak and they would be only too willing to exploit that weakness, and the game could very quickly spiral out of control.

Question four from A Cam Goes Wandering

Just reading a book about Italian football- a season with Verona- and one of the things the writer talks about a lot is that in Italy the referees seem to blatantly favour the bigger sides. Now I'm sure that this doesn’t happen and that a lot of it is down to the usual football fan paranoia about refereeing. And I’m even more sure that you've never done the same yourself. But…

a) Have you ever felt pressurised over a decision because of the "big-team" factor, or from the belief that one of the teams seems powerful or have a manager that’s going to give you a right earful after the game and forever more and
b) Have you ever seen decisions made that looked like they were made because of the status of one of the teams?

The Ref Says…

a) I think if you ask any Referee if he is influenced by the reactions of the crowd, players or managers he will tell you that that is simply not the case and all decisions are based purely on what is put in front of him. In the main I would concur with that view. In reality however I suspect that occasionally they are influenced by their reactions for no other reason than they are human after all……………..yes I said that they are human.

Without pinpointing any specific decisions that I have seen or made, it must be human nature that in situations where doubt exists, however small, then the roar of a crowd or the vigorous appeal of a player/s may just sway the decision in their favour, unless of course the Referee is absolutely certain of the decision to be made in which case no amount of appealing from whatever source is going to sway that decision in their favour.

b) I think the answer to this question relates to the above.

Question five from A Cam Goes Wandering

There is always the belief that a ref should be handing out cards for abusive behaviour/language. What are the instances where this should happen? You don't need to be a lip reader to see what some players are saying to the refs and there are instances like the one where we had the temerity to have a penalty awarded at OT and Andy D'Urso was basically chased around the penalty areas by the entire Manure team; what kind of guidance are referees given for handling situations like this?

The Ref Says…

This is a subject that has taken up many an hour of Referees’ discussions and as far as football law is concerned should be straightforward to apply. The law simply states that a player shall be sent off if he is guilty of using offensive, insulting or abusive language or gestures.

Clearly, at professional level, this would result in games never finishing if a Referee applied this law to the letter. The guidance that we were given in order to apply the law in a reasonable manner was that if the language was aimed at someone in a deliberately wilful nasty manner then you could not turn a blind eye to it. Clearly if someone has a shot which just misses and the player simply utters expletives in pure frustration, then I don’t think the football supporting public would wish that player to be sent off. Unfortunately because of the many cameras at football these days we can see many examples of players uttering expletives but more often than not you don’t see towards whom he is uttering them. Certainly if a player swore directly at me during a game in a clear nasty way then there was only ever one conclusion to that…………a red card.

As for players surrounding an official in the way endured by Andy D’Urso at Manure, we were given guidance, mainly as a result of that incident, that we were to report any team if more than two players surrounded you in that type of situation in order that the appropriate action could be taken. It did happen to me on several occasions and I can tell you it is very difficult to do anything other than to stand your ground in a firm positive manner and indicate to the players that if they don’t get away quickly then the cards were coming out. The more intelligent type of footballer would usually get the message!!

Thank you all once again for your questions this week and hope that my answers shed some light on the trials and tribulations of being a Referee.

Enjoy your football.

Graham

***************************

Graham's answers will be published every week in this section. If you have a question for the ref, perhaps about a recent dubious refereeing decision, something that happened during his own football career or about football or reffing in general, then please write in straight away.

FILL THIS FORM OUT WITH YOUR QUESTION, or just email us here.

 

Full Name
Email address
Question for the ref...