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by MIKE HARVEY Before I get started, I would like to reiterate that I’m not blaming our “failure” this season on poor refereeing decisions.
Nevertheless, looking back, I can re-call countless times where the match officials have let us down by giving truly awful decisions against us.
Most recently, Sturridge’s antics at The Reebok won his side a penalty, which was wrongly awarded by Mike Jones. Yet in the same match, Theo Walcott was clearly fouled in the box, and despite having a perfect view of the incident, the linesman immediately awarded us a corner.
Throughout the campaign, we’ve had numerous decisions go against us which have cost us big time.
The worst one for me, would have to be the red card given to Robin van Persie in the Nou Camp. With just over an hour until kick off, I was able to get a match ticket in the Barcelona end. I’ve been to many football matches (and music gigs) in my life, and I don’t think I’ve ever heard a louder atmosphere.
The whistling from the Barca crowd was so intense, there was no way van Persie would have been able to hear the whistle. I saw the flag go up, but I did not hear the whistle. But as we all know, RVP was sent off for playing on, trying to score in probably, our biggest match of the season.
Even if they did hear the whistle, every footballer would have played on, as the match was so important and we needed a goal. Every player would have played on, just in case. And of course, the referee should have realised that RVP wasn’t time-wasting, surely?
Our recent home game against Liverpool is another standout. The fourth official indicated there would be 8 minutes of injury time, and with only 1 minute to play, it seemed that we had scored the winner with 97 minutes on the clock. But somehow, the referee played on for an extra FOUR minutes, which allowed Liverpool to equalize with the last kick of the game.
Before you begin thinking that I’m just being bitter, I’ll use some other examples where other teams have suffered from equally horrific decisions.
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Last month, Spurs played Wolves in a highly-entertaining match at The Molineux, which ultimately ended 3-3. I remember watching in utter-disbelief, when Wolves were given a penalty, after Alan Hutton brought down Nenad Milijas, just as he was about to score from 6 yards out. However, Mark Halsey came out at half-time and stated that the opportunity wasn’t a clear goalscoring opportunity, so didn’t send off Hutton.
I’m sorry, but I don’t think the opportunity to score could have been easier. To think a referee has made it this far, you’d expect him to identify a clear goalscoring opportunity, like this one.
Even after watching replays of the incident, how can any referee of any level justify that the chance wasn’t a clear goalscoring opportunity?
Another memorable decision that sticks out for me would be how Gary Neville wasn’t sent off at Stoke, for a collection of disgustingly late challenges. I don’t know his reasoning for not showing red to Neville, but whatever it was, referee Andre Marriner was wrong. Not for the first time and certainly not the last, Ferguson was allowed to substitute Neville and Manchester United went on to win the game 2-1 – with 11 men.
It’s hard to say, but what would have been the outcome if Stoke were (rightly) given the opportunity to play against 10 men of Man United, rather than 11?
I won’t go as far as saying that there is cheating in the game. However, if there is, the only way to stop the corruption is to take action against referees when they make mistakes – while also getting the officials to explain their actions after each game.
There is a deterrent for players, so why shouldn’t referees face action for their consequences?
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