Planet Swans ArchivesAll too often you can leave a game of football having watched your team been the victim of a wrong decision which is just the result of bad refereeing or a referee who wasn’t brave enough to make the decision that he was being asked to.
We should know well enough as we have been the victims of enough of them over the course of the past few years. Dodgy penalties against Stoke, disallowed goal at West Brom and even think of the Robert Green ‘handball’ at QPR last season. All big decisions that went against the Swans and each and every one of them wrongly so.
Everyone will tell you that these things even themselves out over the course of a season but I am not sure that I can recall too many of them balancing out too many times. I always remember a Blackpool fan coming on the forum shortly after we were promoted in 2011 and telling us that we will get more decisions go against us than for us and at times that is definitely how it feels.
However, take a look at the first two games of the season and the decisions that have been made. The penalty at Chelsea was a tight call but the right one and the sending off was right as the dismissal of the appeal proved. Michael Oliver could easily have given a free kick and a yellow card and there are referees that would have done so. It should never be the case but you do see situations like that where they are asked to make a big call and won’t make it as it should be.
Fast forward seven days to the game against Newcastle and the sending off of Daryl Janmaat. Steve McLaren said afterwards that he thought the referee could have shown leniency and sadly many would have done. However, a bookable offence is a bookable offence and full marks to Mike Jones for brandishing the yellow card for the second time.
One of my big frustrations is hearing a commentator say “that would have been a booking had he not already been booked” and it should never be the case and it is great to see a referee applying the laws in the right way.
It makes a refreshing change to be sat here praising the referee for a job well done but full credit to both the officials so far for making the right calls when asked to do so. Long may it continue.
<#nufc #cfc>
