[HerefordBull]

Agreed SCO.

With American Football the head coaches of each side also have a number of challenges so are able to contest some of the on field decisions.Giving them a limited number as in some forms of cricket means that not every decision is challenged but invariably the important ones are and the game is not being stopped every 2 minutes for a review. Stopping the game in American Football is part and parcel of the game so is easily accepted but in cricket it is not so but the crowd have taken well to it watching the big screen for the third umpires decision waiting to cheer or not. I have always like this idea and when you look at nearly every top sport there is some type of technology available and I have never understood why it has never been embraced by soccer. ( until a little bit of late with goal line technology)

There is so much money now at stake in top sport ( don't get me onto that!) I can understand why the governing bodies are keen to try and get the correct results......except in soccer??? ( mind you with Craig Thompson the video technician would be working overtime   )

[hibeejim21]

Thomson 'at it again' this afternoon with an astounding pk decision, a potential 'game changer', against Saint Johnstone at a time when  the Saints were 2-1 ahead v the Hoops and just previously denied a pk when Swanson fouled. I listened to an 'emotional' Willie Miller (very rare indeed!) on bbc Sportsound, who slated Thomson in poss denying the Saints any 'share of the spoils' after them playing so well!! FT 2-5 for the hoops with Dembele back and 'on fire' with a 'hat trick'! This latest ref fiasco conveniently follows on from Chris Sutton's scathing remarks yesterday after a dreadful display by ref Andrew Dallas during the M'well v Hearts match - 'LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON'!  I'm sure that'll 'ruffle up a few more feathers' at the SFA!
Just listening to Saints' manager, Tommy Wright, and he is rightly livid in his post match interview but 'kept the heid' reasonably well after such a disgraceful episode of refereeing!
What next with this whole shit Scottish refereeing fiasco eh!?

Was a really bad decision,never a pk. Although as much as i hate thomson the angle he saw it from...well you can see why he called it. I didn't think the other one on swanson was that strong a penalty although i've seen them given.

He's had worse games

[0762]

It also begs the question - What happened to the SFA ref observation/vetting system? The years pass by and yet, as a footie fan, I rarely see any evidence of this formal scrutiny being used to demote rogue/incompetent referees! IMO it just confirms that the SFA group of referees is nothing more than a 'select club'. In the case of the previously mentioned Andrew Dallas, this ref has been awful on many occasions preceding yesterday's match at Fir Park - scathing criticism raised often enough in post match reports! As Chris Sutton subtly hinted - Hugh Dallas' son and possibly an 'untouchable' because of that association!

Maybe you are seeing the results of the refs simply not keep up with the changes in the game.  Football is much faster these days, the ball pings around a lot and players are prone to faking challenges etc.  All of this makes it more difficult for a ref, and then we now have the benefit of a 100 different angles to analyse the decision!!

The refs are poor, but demoting the current top ones would just probably promote even poorer refs, the whole system needs to change, we need to look at maybe 2 refs, more use of technology and better coaching for refs from a young age.  I think everyone would accept a short delay in a game to make sure the decision on the pitch is correct, in fact in some cases this could happen while the game is still going, bit like playing an advantage, then bringing it back.  Look at sports like tennis where technology has completely taken away the bad decisions or watch the Super Bowl today and first notice the number of officials, all with eyes on the play, their communication and the way they use replays to check decisions.  Not saying we want to stop the game as much as they do, but if its 15 seconds, 2-3 times a game then I would prefer to see that.

FIFA experimenting with video technology in the recent World Club finals tourney. So maybe there is a 'light at the end of a very dark tunnel' and video tech will eventually prevail in world footie as well!

[St Charles Owl]

We all want the right decision but I can also accept refs making a call I don't necessarily agree with. Not everything should be challenged or reviewed, it should be used for penalty decisions, for all goals and for potential red card decisions. It shouldn't be used for open play fouls, offsides, throw ins etc, unless it directly leads to a goal.

0762 - have you seen anything about those trials in terms of how they were recieved and how it was used??

[0762]

http://www.fifa.com/clubworldcup/news/y=...60247.html

It has been minimally used but I'd expect that in such a small FIFA tourney. I think FIFA will eventually comment further on the prospect of it's future use but nothing said yet.
Re the offside rule there is an interesting bit of FIFA radical info suggested by their Chief Technical Officer, Marco van Basten, and that is the fact he wants to scrap offside altogether! It's merely a suggestion in a FIFA circular doc but it's a curious one coming from an ex top player.

[0762]

Listening to a very good debate on bbc Sportsound tonight re this latest refereeing fiasco and ex ref, Charlie Richmond, hinting that Thomson is lacking confidence ever since his 'shambles' of a performance in a CL match, Dynamo Kiev v Besiktas - not in the best of form says Charlie and do what was done with Gollum - drop him to a lower league 'out of the limelight' and gradually restore confidence! Asked if the FIFA ref appointments are 'jobs for the boys'? No answer re that searching question! Also a real 'bodyswerve' on the insinuation re partiality of certain refs in Scotland rather than focusing on how to discreetly eradicate this prob if it did exist anyway!! A strong consensus naturally for trialling video technology and the view that ARs behind the goals don't do an effective job and again hinted that they refrain from interfering in certain match refs' decisions! Therefore why have them there in the 1st place and plump for video tech instead!!

[Inverurie Jambo]

Aye watched the game 0762 and was waiting for one of his decisions...........wasn't disappointed with the penalty award .....if the linesman couldn't see it from being wider how did he?....guy is a complete waste of space, just how he is considered to be one of Scotlands top refs and speaks volumes about standards up here.

Mind you was relieved when our ref yesterday chose to ignore Darren Macs handball and was lenient on Keatings for running 15 yards to deliberately chop one of their players down.  

Now who will get next weeks derby.........

Pleased to hear that Hibs benefitted from some dodgy refereeing decisions against Ayr. Most unusual!!!!!!!.

[0762]

Thomson 'at it again' this afternoon with an astounding pk decision, a potential 'game changer', against Saint Johnstone at a time when  the Saints were 2-1 ahead v the Hoops and just previously denied a pk when Swanson fouled. I listened to an 'emotional' Willie Miller (very rare indeed!) on bbc Sportsound, who slated Thomson in poss denying the Saints any 'share of the spoils' after them playing so well!! FT 2-5 for the hoops with Dembele back and 'on fire' with a 'hat trick'! This latest ref fiasco conveniently follows on from Chris Sutton's scathing remarks yesterday after a dreadful display by ref Andrew Dallas during the M'well v Hearts match - 'LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON'!  I'm sure that'll 'ruffle up a few more feathers' at the SFA!
Just listening to Saints' manager, Tommy Wright, and he is rightly livid in his post match interview but 'kept the heid' reasonably well after such a disgraceful episode of refereeing!
What next with this whole shit Scottish refereeing fiasco eh!?

Was a really bad decision,never a pk. Although as much as i hate thomson the angle he saw it from...well you can see why he called it. I didn't think the other one on swanson was that strong a penalty although i've seen them given.

He's had worse games  

I think a shocked Willie Miller 'called it right' almost instantaneously on bbc Sportsound when he said, 'Never a pk, he's just guessed the pk award and it's wrong'. Based on the angle of view, you don't guess from a refereeing perspective - if there's any doubt then you don't call it esp with a Saint Johnstone player who was facing away from the ball anyway! The subsequent post match interview with Saints' manager, Tommy Wright, focused on a very similar criticism of Thomson's role in calling that pk and any hypothetical formal video replay official would have very easily and quickly informed the guy to reverse his awful decision. As previously commented in past threads: the refereeing farce continues regardless - call it 'pot luck' for many affected teams!

[hibeejim21]

I thought Dermot Gallagher explained what happened best on sky. The SJ appeal for a foul from brown wasn't a penalty...not all contact in the box is a Pk and the Boy went down v easy.

Thomson got Celtics Pk wrong for sure,but the sj player didn't help by having his arm like that and his back to the ball. From the angle highlighted it looked like it hit his arm first.

I've no idea why Willie miller got so upset,looking at the Aberdeen Celtic highlights on the beeb they got off with a blatant Pk in the first half.

Anyway I'm in favour of video replay broadly...not that id trust the authorities not to xxxx it up.

[0762]

The best recent example of a significant video tech decision was at Murrayfield on Saturday - what looked like a 'game changing' Irish try quickly replayed by the video referee and the charging Irish player's foot identified to be touching the side line!! No try and Scotland pushed on from there. Sadly and retrospectively there have been footie refs' decisions that have been 'game changers' and are avoidable with proper action - less annoying if your team is the beneficiary but that's not the issue - it shouldn't be happening as regularly as it is anyway!