My letter to Brian Barwick

being primarily the work of the guardskeeper of Hades I have done away with HTML this week and used a more friendly process, one which the great paraclete may use, when he is in a rush to do his online musings.

In any case, in a rage, I decided to write this, I have sent it to Barwick as well, by post no less, $2.05 AUD.

Dear Mr Barwick

As a referee I was disgusted by the overruling of the red card given by Rob Styles in the Manchester City versus Newcastle United game of the 20^th October.  I have a number of grievances with The FA about the decision The FA made.

The Laws of the Game state that a direct free kick can be awarded if a ‘player tackles an opponent to gain possession of the ball, making contact with the opponent before touching the ball’.  This seems to be the reason The FA rescinded the sanction.  But I believe that Robinho was tripped.  Habib Beye came in from behind, hit the ball with such insignificant force that Robinho was still in control, and caused Robinho to fall heavily after coming in contact with his legs, this is a trip and the free kick was warranted.  The Laws of the Game state that ‘A direct free kick is awarded to the opposing team if a player commits any of the following six offences in a manner considered by the Referee to be careless, reckless, or using excessive force’.  The second offence listed is ‘trips or attempts to trip an opponent’.  Beye hit Robinho recklessly; he came in from behind and at speed with realistically little chance to win the ball.

How excited I was, Mr Barwick, when I stayed up until 3am, the day before university to watch the Community Shield Final.  The way Peter Walton refereed that match was a credit to himself and The FA’s new Respect policy.  But I was down hearted at the treatment of Mark Clattenburg.  Clattenburg is in debt, yes, but if a player makes a misdemeanour, they request a personal hearing, and they are allowed to play during that period, but Clattenburg isn’t.  Is that fair?  It is, because the referees are easy targets.  There was a decision given by Mark Halsey to eject John Terry from the pitch, it was a brave call, but The FA rescinded the call.  The guidelines given by FIFA state that excessive force should be sanctioned as serious foul play, but other offences can also be sanctioned as serious foul play.  You must allow referees to be present at the regulatory commission hearing to let them give their side of the story, and to defend and argue their case, to the disciplinary board.  You let players take cheap shots at the referee in the media; the least you can do is let the referee defend his decision.  Due to The FA rescinding these decisions, every club is now appealing red cards, and with the cost of appealing being a measly £1500 why wouldn’t they?  It seems even the most straight forward red cards can be overruled at the regulatory commission.

You may sit, in your high backed chair, Mr Barwick, and think that football is in great condition.  I referee in Australia, you may think, as you sit in your luxury office, that this decision has no ramification for me.  But Mr Barwick, I referee a match, I send a player off, and they can go to Capital Football and say, this referee is incorrect, and they know that it is easy to get off a red card in England; they might as well try it in Canberra.

Mr Barwick, I am very, very disappointed.

Yours

I thought it was witty, in other news, West Ham v Arsenal, again my prescience was proved when a gritty display from Arsenal played out in front of my eyes, well not really, I missed the game because I was asleep.  Hull City for the Champions League, or is it just a Wiganesque turn of events?

damn, why are all my blogs becoming correct?

quick spot of perspective, Tottenham, you beat b-o-l-t-o-n, not a title contender, touch yourselves.