Leamington went into the play off places in the Zamaretto Premiership last night after beating bogey team Stourbridge 2-1 at the New Windmill Ground last night. The Glassboys were on top in the first half hour and looked like shattering Leamington but two great saves from on loan Leicester City keeper Carl Pentney kept them in the game. His quality showed throughout the game and it is hoped that he will stay until the end of the season.
Brakes got back into the game in the last quarter of an hour and at half time it was 0-0. It was Stourbridge that scored first but Brakes went up the other end and responded within a minute. James Husband then scored the winner on 69 minutes.
There are two types of referees at this level, young up-and-coming ones who are often very good and older ones who have reached their level of incompetence. We had one of the latter type tonight. He disallowed two Leamington goals. What is wrong with this one in particular? Goal
Showing posts with label Referees. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Referees. Show all posts
Wednesday, 3 March 2010
Tuesday, 12 January 2010
Faulty equipment
Sunday night's curious incidents at the Skydome deserve further reflection as they have implications for the discussion about inept officials in both football and ice hockey. Given that there are only eight teams in the Elite League, there is also a limited roster of officials, although it is not quite the Isles of Scilly football league where the same official faces the same two teams every week.
This particular referee strikes me as a professional fusspot, a phenomenon not unknown in football. Admittedly, the quality of the ice at Coventry has been criticised, but he is fond of getting the rink staff (most of whom look as if they are off a youth employment scheme) on to conduct running repairs while he halts the game. This mostly consists of some rather apathetic shovelling.
On Sunday, a Blaze player (Robinson) collided with a Viper. I do not think there was malicious intent, but simply a loss of control at speed. However, the upshot was that the Viper got a nose bleed. The sight of blood on the ice had some strange effect on the referee. Having already given hand signals to the timekeeper for two minutes in the sin bin, he stormed over, increased the penalty to five minutes and sent the player off. Red cards are unusual in hockey and usually follow a particularly nasty fight.
Needless to say, the Coventry bench were not pleased and it is possible that assistant coach and Hockey Locker manager Luc Chabot said something in French that was not the word invented by Quebeckers for a heavy snowfall. The next thing we saw was a far from happy referee off the ice and in among the Coventry bench. It looked as if it all might kick off not on the ice but off it.
The situation was clearly escalating and next we saw the referee going down the tunnel. This has now been officially explained as 'equipment failure' and while it is quite possible that the referee had a dodgy skate or helmet, this was really a case of a failure in his mental equipment.
The linos (who have a much greater role in hockey than their football counterparts) were nonplussed but when the referee did not re-emerge decided to carry on and Coventry scored two goals. (Remember that in hockey there are goal judges behind each goal, something which football seemingly can't afford). The moral of this is that getting good officials seems to be difficult in all sports (I don't follow egg chasing but I understand there have been some recent problesm there) and it is far from clear what the answer is.
With Coventry the No.1 hockey team in the UK, attendances are building well at the Skydome, but the 2,500 or so there are eclipsed by the 4,500 at Nottingham where there is a superior rink and a long tradition of quality hockey.
The absence of a hockey team in London remains a matter of concern. Indeed, after the Basingstoke Bisons went down to the EPL at the end of last season, there is no team south of Coventry. The nearest team to Charlton seems to be minor league outfit Gillingham Invicta.
This particular referee strikes me as a professional fusspot, a phenomenon not unknown in football. Admittedly, the quality of the ice at Coventry has been criticised, but he is fond of getting the rink staff (most of whom look as if they are off a youth employment scheme) on to conduct running repairs while he halts the game. This mostly consists of some rather apathetic shovelling.
On Sunday, a Blaze player (Robinson) collided with a Viper. I do not think there was malicious intent, but simply a loss of control at speed. However, the upshot was that the Viper got a nose bleed. The sight of blood on the ice had some strange effect on the referee. Having already given hand signals to the timekeeper for two minutes in the sin bin, he stormed over, increased the penalty to five minutes and sent the player off. Red cards are unusual in hockey and usually follow a particularly nasty fight.
Needless to say, the Coventry bench were not pleased and it is possible that assistant coach and Hockey Locker manager Luc Chabot said something in French that was not the word invented by Quebeckers for a heavy snowfall. The next thing we saw was a far from happy referee off the ice and in among the Coventry bench. It looked as if it all might kick off not on the ice but off it.
The situation was clearly escalating and next we saw the referee going down the tunnel. This has now been officially explained as 'equipment failure' and while it is quite possible that the referee had a dodgy skate or helmet, this was really a case of a failure in his mental equipment.
The linos (who have a much greater role in hockey than their football counterparts) were nonplussed but when the referee did not re-emerge decided to carry on and Coventry scored two goals. (Remember that in hockey there are goal judges behind each goal, something which football seemingly can't afford). The moral of this is that getting good officials seems to be difficult in all sports (I don't follow egg chasing but I understand there have been some recent problesm there) and it is far from clear what the answer is.
With Coventry the No.1 hockey team in the UK, attendances are building well at the Skydome, but the 2,500 or so there are eclipsed by the 4,500 at Nottingham where there is a superior rink and a long tradition of quality hockey.
The absence of a hockey team in London remains a matter of concern. Indeed, after the Basingstoke Bisons went down to the EPL at the end of last season, there is no team south of Coventry. The nearest team to Charlton seems to be minor league outfit Gillingham Invicta.
Thursday, 15 October 2009
Parky accused of ref rage
Phil Parkinson's comments about the failure of the referee to deal with Oldham's time wasting last Saturday have caused a bit of a stir oop north: Ref Rage
All seems pretty mild compared with Sir Alex down the road.
Congratulations to Christian Dailly on making the Coca Cola League 1 Team of the Week. You often don't notice what he is doing, but that is because he does it effectively and competently.
Turmoil continues at Leamington after the shock car park sacking of Jason Cadden. 10th in a new league hardly seems like a bad position. Morton Titterton and Paul Eden are also leaving and over 80 per cent of fans disapprove of the decision in an online poll. However, the board insist that they have received a number of good applications for the vacant position.
I suppose if Dennis Wise can go to Chalfont St. Peter, Iain Dowie can go to Leamington.
Brakes have the boost of a home draw against Birmingham City in the Birmingham Senior Cup.
All seems pretty mild compared with Sir Alex down the road.
Congratulations to Christian Dailly on making the Coca Cola League 1 Team of the Week. You often don't notice what he is doing, but that is because he does it effectively and competently.
Turmoil continues at Leamington after the shock car park sacking of Jason Cadden. 10th in a new league hardly seems like a bad position. Morton Titterton and Paul Eden are also leaving and over 80 per cent of fans disapprove of the decision in an online poll. However, the board insist that they have received a number of good applications for the vacant position.
I suppose if Dennis Wise can go to Chalfont St. Peter, Iain Dowie can go to Leamington.
Brakes have the boost of a home draw against Birmingham City in the Birmingham Senior Cup.
Saturday, 29 August 2009
Rookie ref today
28-year old Oliver Langford is the referee for today's match between Tranmere Rovers and Charlton Athletic. It's his first year on the National List. He started at age 15 in the Midland Combination, so it's possible I've seen him at Leamington. You can read more about him here: Referee
He sounds quite a decent guy and I have to say that the referees and linos in League 1 have been no worse than those in the Championship and in some cases better. The linos seem to understand how to apply the offisde rule and the referees are fair minded and not overly interventionist.
There may be a reason for this. The Peter Principle says that everyone is promoted until they reach their level of incompetence. It may be that in League 1 we have referees and linos who are still on their way up and are eager to impress by doing a good job. The Championship may have its fair share of jobsworths who have peaked.
He sounds quite a decent guy and I have to say that the referees and linos in League 1 have been no worse than those in the Championship and in some cases better. The linos seem to understand how to apply the offisde rule and the referees are fair minded and not overly interventionist.
There may be a reason for this. The Peter Principle says that everyone is promoted until they reach their level of incompetence. It may be that in League 1 we have referees and linos who are still on their way up and are eager to impress by doing a good job. The Championship may have its fair share of jobsworths who have peaked.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)