Phil SumblerSaturday’s referee at the Liberty Stadium is Darren Bond who will take charge of his 3rd Swans game of the season having been the man in the middle for the win at Luton and the home win over Watford.
In 25 previous Championship games this season, Bond has issued 84 yellow cards and 6 red cards so don’t expect a quiet afternoon at the Liberty.
Bondย was appointed to the EFL Referee list in 2012 and more recently added to the Select Group 2 referees list in 2016. He has refereed more than 200 times in the EFL
As ever on Planet Swans we like to do our research on the referee and found a facebook group dedicated toย Bondย (Darrenย Bondย is the worst football league referee – clickย here) although with just 21 people “liking” the page it never really became a campaign!
Then QPR manager Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink once described a game taken charge of byย Bondย as being like the ‘Wild Wild West’ telling the BBC after the game “If the referee is going to give those kind of decisions then I don’t think he is fit enough to whistle in the Championship. Certain decisions were ridiculous. It was like the Wild Wild West out there.
“We are all saying we need to protect the referee and players are not allowed to surround them
“It is because of referees like this that it happens. He makes it bad for other referees – the good ones.
“I am sorry for the fans that we had to lose in this manner. It wasn’t meant to be for us to get the three points because of two referee’s decisions.”
Bond will be assisted by Philip Dermott and Robert Hyde whilst Dean Whitestone is the fourth official.
