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    This week's blog is all about dissent. Big surprise, there was a lot of it about in yesterday's game, and that's without mentioning the mass brawl at half-time. There was a photographer at the game from the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung who looked visibly pale by the end of the game. "Is it like this every week?" he wanted to know. Not every week, but it's not untypical.

    Comment


      OK, still using this thread as a general sports officiating one rather than only Football specific, what about this sh*tshow?

      England Hockey are attempting to move everything related to Hockey leagues in every Division in England on to one website. Yes, I know. No other sport does this. There might be reasons for that...

      Said website was meant to launch at the start of the 2021/22 season, but wasn't ready (big shock). So it was only used for the National Leagues at the pinnacle of the pyramid (7 Divisions). Even so there were performance issues. But EH were not to be sidetracked, and insisted that the system was going to go nationwide for the 2022/23 season.

      To be clear this is just everything - not just fixtures and result, but online teamsheets and personal stats of players and game logistics. The idea being it works as a one-stop shop for all Hockey information for ever more; each player has their own log-in and profile, so when they transfer clubs all their previous stats follow them, etc.. But as well as results and teamsheets it is also being used for inputting fixture details, i.e. date of games, venue, start time, who the appointed match officials are, their travel expenses claims, etc., etc....

      Ah. Right. In fact the latter, appointed match officials, is the genesis of the system they have built everything else on - it was originally a website used to communicate to cricket clubs who their Umpires were going to be. The back end of the system is still called whostheumpire.com or something like that. But whereas a few local cricket leagues using it was one level of traffic, every hockey club in the country trying to do so for every game* when all the games are on Saturdays is a whole different level of traffic. It is move than just a problem of scale.

      You can see where this is going, can't you? The summer was characterised by performance issues on the website as clubs attempted to get all their players and umpires registered on it and tried to figure out how it worked (it is distinctly user-unfriendly). But once again EH pressed the regions to continue regardless, despite it being obvious to anyone with eyes that it still wasn't ready to go and would probably never be fit for purpose. Last Saturday was the first league matches of the new campaign. This obviously resulted in a last minute rush to make sure every player and umpire due to be involved the following day was registered... with the equally obvious consequences. The website just about struggled on until Saturday morning, when clubs started trying to put their teamsheets for the day in, and then entering results and game details as matches were played through the day. End result - complete collapse and a message that the website would be paused "for a few minutes to resolve performance issues". Checks watch, yes, there are a few minutes in ~80 hours it hasn't been available. Quite a few in fact. Several thousand of them indeed.

      What this means? Well, the results from the opening day of the season are still not available as clubs cannot enter the results website to input them, nor can the match officials verify them as accurate. It also means the intended system for capturing yellow and red cards and any resulting suspensions is down. But that is all resolvable once the thing is back up, assuming clubs have made some paper notes of what happened last weekend (and assuming they can get the website to survive robustness testing!). Perhaps more pressingly, whilst the scores are being outputted to a public front end, the details of match appointments for this coming Saturday are all buried in the system. Which is off line. So unless match officials made notes 10 days in advance, neither they not the clubs they are meant to be going to know where their matches this Saturday are! Wonderous. The appointments secretary for the regional league has sent an email today to say all she has is her initial pencil and peper draft, and she knows quite a few changes were made to this on the system. Chaos.


      * - the East region alone has 45 Divisions (23 men's, 22 women's), each with ~12 teams in it. And there are 8 regions in the country, as well as the National Leagues overarching them. So this is a huge undertaking.

      Comment


        Oh, and dissent isn't just a Football issue - my sister rang me up last night looking to vent as she was upset. She had been marking* a Squash match and one of the players was arguing with her about her decisions. He may even have been a teammate of hers, she wasn't entirely clear on that (Squash matches at county league level never have neutral markers). So even in Squash...

        * - the Squash equivalent of a Tennis umpire is generally called the Marker.
        Last edited by Janik; 27-09-2022, 14:21.

        Comment


          Originally posted by imp View Post
          This week's blog is all about dissent. Big surprise, there was a lot of it about in yesterday's game, and that's without mentioning the mass brawl at half-time. There was a photographer at the game from the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung who looked visibly pale by the end of the game. "Is it like this every week?" he wanted to know. Not every week, but it's not untypical.
          ", "My name is not 'Ref', to you it's Mr. Referee."

          You pompous so-and-so.

          Comment


            Originally posted by treibeis View Post
            ", "My name is not 'Ref', to you it's Mr. Referee."
            You pompous so-and-so.
            I know, right. But in the context of some kid yelling 'Schiri!" at you, it's appropriate enough. When I'm coaching I call the ref Herr Schiedsrichter, even if it's a kid. It's like the spatial respect created between Siezen and duzen.
            Last edited by imp; 28-09-2022, 09:35. Reason: Capital error

            Comment


              Originally posted by imp View Post

              I know, right. But in the context of some kid yelling 'Schiri!" at you, it's appropriate enough. When I'm coaching I call the ref Herr Schiedsrichter, even if it's a kid. It's like the spatial respect created between Siezen and duzen.
              I once saw somebody receive a second yellow for referring to the referee as "Herr Parteiischer".

              Comment


                Ha ha! I'd be torn on that one, being partial to a bit of the old wit and repartee, and it generally being in short supply out on the field.

                Comment


                  https://www.theguardian.com/football...P=share_btn_tw

                  Glad he's OK, but obviously he is in hospital, so not that OK. Fucking hell

                  Comment


                    Symptomatic of the current culture - it's been all over my Referee Tales twitter account.

                    I, on the other hand, had a quieter weekend: The Untouchable Dignity of the Referee: Plus, beer and a sausage sandwich.

                    Comment


                      Why isn't the Platt Bridge case being prosecuted?

                      Comment


                        Originally posted by ad hoc View Post
                        https://www.theguardian.com/football...P=share_btn_tw

                        Glad he's OK, but obviously he is in hospital, so not that OK. Fucking hell
                        That is shocking. I hope the player is banned sine die and hopefully prosecuted (as per Ursus above)

                        Comment


                          "When I get up to leave, one of the other men at the bar calls out, "Ah, that young man must be the referee!" Gentle laughter all round. Then as I walk back to the train station, I wonder, "Is that why they were so nice to me? Because I'm old?" Well, fine - that works for me too."

                          Was he younger than 40? If anybody younger than 40 whom I don't know calls me "junger Mann", I tell them to fuck off.

                          Comment


                            Originally posted by treibeis View Post
                            If anybody younger than 40 whom I don't know calls me "junger Mann", I tell them to fuck off.
                            Assumed. At this stage, the useful information is who doesn’t get told to fuck off.

                            Comment


                              Originally posted by Janik View Post
                              Assumed. At this stage, the useful information is who doesn’t get told to fuck off.
                              If people in general, and my customers in particular, didn't misbehave, then they wouldn't have to be told to fuck off.

                              All right, women over sixty. I've only ever had two female customers over sixty who've misbehaved. (One who told me she'd rather die of thirst than buy a drink off a foreigner (i.e. me); one who punched me in the face when she was drunk.)

                              So I've only ever told two women over sixty to fuck off. Quite proud of that, I am.

                              Comment


                                Originally posted by ursus arctos View Post
                                Why isn't the Platt Bridge case being prosecuted?
                                The process is underway. 24 year-old arrested and being questioned.

                                Comment


                                  Ah, thank you.

                                  It struck me as a about as clear a case as one could hope to get.

                                  Comment


                                    Couple of questions. You can use five subs, in three separate stoppages. Does making a sub at half time count as one of the stoppages?

                                    Second, this happened at Plymouth. Ref got the decision right, IMO, by sending both players off but my question is... how should the game be restarted? I mean, you can't award either side a free kick because they are both at fault.

                                    https://twitter.com/Rob_Graham96/status/1578757553051168769

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                                      That’s unusual, but looks the right call by the ref. I presume he restarted the game with a contested drop-ball.

                                      Comment


                                        I believe he restarted with a Plymouth free-kick.

                                        Snake Plissken - half-time doesn't count as one of the three stoppages.

                                        Comment


                                          Originally posted by Simon G View Post
                                          Snake Plissken - half-time doesn't count as one of the three stoppages.
                                          Realised this this morning when I looked at the match report. I just wondered because in the second half yesterday the club commentators broke off from inane in-jokes and banter to discuss substitutions and said that the Clarets only had one "slot" left.

                                          Comment


                                            Originally posted by Janik View Post
                                            That’s unusual, but looks the right call by the ref. I presume he restarted the game with a contested drop-ball.
                                            No such thing as a contested drop-ball any more. Not sure why the Plymouth player got red there - his outstretched leg is nowhere near the opponent. I'd have gone with two yellows.

                                            By a happy coincidence, being too quick with the cards is the theme of this week's amazing Referee Tales blog, folks.

                                            Comment


                                              It looks worse slowed down, but the Plymouth player in particular looks unlucky to see red there, IMO. Still, lunging tackles like this are inherently reckless and dangerous, so I wouldn't quibble with the reds.

                                              Comment


                                                From bbc website - https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/61425471. Absolutely appalling. In my opinion, a ban sine die for anyone who strikes or threatens a referee.

                                                Comment


                                                  Originally posted by imp View Post
                                                  By a happy coincidence, being too quick with the cards is the theme of this week's amazing Referee Tales blog, folks.
                                                  Whereas I'm going the other way - I'm giving too much benefit of the doubt to players when it comes to serious level cards. Example being one player who made a move that could have been accidental but could potentially have hurt someone two weeks ago in a game I was officiating,* who I only showed yellow to (as we are talking Hockey that means a sin binning) when some observers I trust as reliable felt red could have been justified (and with unfortunate foresight remarked "as he got away with it he will feel like he is able to do it again"). And then I hear that the same player did exactly the same thing last Saturday... and did hurt an opponent this time. Trip to A&E, stitches required, that sort of thing. Blast.

                                                  * - his stick got tangled up with an opponent, and then yanked it aggressively free. Which he sold as the stick rising up towards the opponent due to trying to untangle it, and not an attempt to hit the opponent in the head with it. But it probably was the latter.

                                                  Comment


                                                    A corollary to the post above, that speaks very much to imp's question on being too quick on the card, is that if I had showed this player a red two weeks ago I think that might have seen me lose control of the game. His side were already unhappy with the officiating (their tackling was dirty, and they didn't enjoy being called up on it) and likely would have kicked off totally over a red, with its subsequent suspension, rather than a yellow to their best player. So for control reasons, the yellow was 'right'. But it all shows that games don't exist in isolation - the level of leniency displayed one week, which might help you get through a particular game without it exploding on you, can have consequences for officials and opponents in the weeks to come.

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