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 Kelly’s i, make a note of the date, 15th March 2008.
What is so special about that particular date?
It was not only a watershed for the English Premier League as the day when not the leagues top goal scorers made the headlines, no Van Persie UNLEASHING a hat trick or Ronaldo brace were making the headlines or Fabregas or Rooney magic, nope it is more bizarre than that, it was the day the Premier League title was decided not by Arsenal Football Club, Manchester United, Chelsea or even Liverpool, not even by Martin Taylor or even any football player at all.The 15th March was the day a referee called Mark Halsey could just have decided the outcome of the English Premier League with his complete inability to know the rules of the game as he ruled out a goal that was perfectly legitimate because he got it wrong. He will not go and apologise for it and he will probably defend his decision to the hilt even if he knows he is wrong.
The problem we have with all referees is that they are becoming untouchable and unapproachable. They are wired in to the fourth official and the two linesmen (old school person here) and they don’t like criticism and are totally against technology as it would make them seem maybe…….fallible.
We have slow motion in replays in most competitive sports where technology is embraced to assist in making correct decisions like Rugby, Cricket, Tennis to name just three, so why is football so against it ? The revenue in football is massive and for decisions to be left to a person who does not apply the rules in the correct situation is practically laughable. TV companies insist on speaking to the managers and players after a match, what they should also insist on is to ask to speak to the referees as well as they leave the field of play, make them accountable for their decisions as they leave the field or before they have a chance to catch up on the feedback of their decisions, make the microphones that the referees have ‘live’ for all viewers to hear as well like they do in rugby when they are making a decision. The reason referees won't like to do this is because their analysis is all done behind closed doors and reviewed by referee panels made up of referees and ex-referees. Talk about keeping it in the family. Technology is the way forward at some stage in football, whether it is now or not will have to be seen but with the like of Mark Halsey in charge of matches it should be sooner rather than later.By the way, if you believe it would never work, it already has been used! Let me inform you...Do you remember the World Cup final when Zidane head butted Materazzi, well the referee totally missed the incident and so did the two linesman as well, but somebody in the stand, probably the fourth official notified the referee at the time and he went back and handed Zidane his red card, so yes we do have the technology and it works well.
 When it is all said and done, however I wrap it up, we still should have scored more goals against a weak Boro team, its just the frustration of the fourth draw on the spin and all I keep hearing is that Arsene is not going to spend, we are a team in transition, we are good enough, Robin Van Persie was going to be UNLEASHED so Arsene said at his usual Friday press conference, well if that was being unleashed that we are in trouble, it was his worst performance ever. And as for transitional, well this is the third year of transition I knew he was going to take a few game to get into the swing of it again and so did most of the 60,000 people watching as well, so why did Arsene believe he was going to hit the ground running and scoring goals for fun ? Silly remark from Arsene really. One thing is for certain, Adebayor is looking lost again, totally out of it, Bendtner is looking the better player at the moment and Arsene should now be starting with Theo as he is changing every game what he comes on in now and a start as a lot longer run out is needed. Well, it is only Chelsea away, Bolton away Liverpool 3 times and then Manchester United away, easy really. Lets hope we get some goals on the way. |
