Once again the FA have decided that a new initiative must be hurriedly introduced to the English game. This one is fine in principle because the behaviour of players towards officials was particularly bad last season.
Today saw the first run of this "Respect" initiative and I must say it was some way from what I was expecting. Reports had been about how the captain would be the only player allowed to talk to the referee to argue decisions - that went out of the window.
One incident seemed very well dealt with, A Portsmouth player disputed a linesman's verdict on a throw in and had a quick snap - he was given short shrift but he decided he wasn't finished so the ref booked him, fair enough.
But then a United player had a quick and similar initial reaction to another decision and the ref decided to stop the game to get Gary Neville (The Captain) to tell the United player (Fletcher) not to argue. This stopped the game for at least a minute.
Once again the FA and their referees display their apparent lack of the concept of "consistency"
I'm sure we'd all like to see a game devoid of players yelling abuse at officials - we know it's setting a bad example to the kids - the players of tomorrow.
But in analysing this phenomenon I come to the conclusion that the referees and linesmen have to adapt their behaviour towards the players too.
I don't know if this is an English phenomenon, but there are too many officials who behave like they are the stars of the game. We've all seen it, the very exaggerated theatrical presentation of a card - the pointing to a spot on the floor expecting the player to trot 20yards to him (instead of running over to the players) And in worse cases, the blatantly wrong decisions made.
No-one likes people behaving like this, so understandably this kind of behaviour gets the player's backs up. Not an excuse for poor respect - but a reason behind it.
It never used to be like this, I was listening to Lou Macari today talking about how referees and players were on an even footing and referee's would talk to the players during a game - making for a better atmosphere and therefore mutual respect. I present a hypothetical scenario that Macari alluded to.
A player is running past the ref who has just missed a handball in the box. The player jogs past and says to the ref "you're having a nightmare ref" or "you must need glasses"
In times gone by (Macari's era) the Ref would have shot back with a quip of his own and the game would have rolled on.
Referees these days don't do that. In an extreme case they'd book the player (inflaming an already somewhat controversial situation) or else they behave like the player is something they've stepped in (we've all seen the self satisfied, nose up pose adopted by today's officials) And just how are you supposed to respect someone who doesn't show any back.
Respect - it's a two way street.
Today saw the first run of this "Respect" initiative and I must say it was some way from what I was expecting. Reports had been about how the captain would be the only player allowed to talk to the referee to argue decisions - that went out of the window.
One incident seemed very well dealt with, A Portsmouth player disputed a linesman's verdict on a throw in and had a quick snap - he was given short shrift but he decided he wasn't finished so the ref booked him, fair enough.
But then a United player had a quick and similar initial reaction to another decision and the ref decided to stop the game to get Gary Neville (The Captain) to tell the United player (Fletcher) not to argue. This stopped the game for at least a minute.
Once again the FA and their referees display their apparent lack of the concept of "consistency"
I'm sure we'd all like to see a game devoid of players yelling abuse at officials - we know it's setting a bad example to the kids - the players of tomorrow.
But in analysing this phenomenon I come to the conclusion that the referees and linesmen have to adapt their behaviour towards the players too.
I don't know if this is an English phenomenon, but there are too many officials who behave like they are the stars of the game. We've all seen it, the very exaggerated theatrical presentation of a card - the pointing to a spot on the floor expecting the player to trot 20yards to him (instead of running over to the players) And in worse cases, the blatantly wrong decisions made.
No-one likes people behaving like this, so understandably this kind of behaviour gets the player's backs up. Not an excuse for poor respect - but a reason behind it.
It never used to be like this, I was listening to Lou Macari today talking about how referees and players were on an even footing and referee's would talk to the players during a game - making for a better atmosphere and therefore mutual respect. I present a hypothetical scenario that Macari alluded to.
A player is running past the ref who has just missed a handball in the box. The player jogs past and says to the ref "you're having a nightmare ref" or "you must need glasses"
In times gone by (Macari's era) the Ref would have shot back with a quip of his own and the game would have rolled on.
Referees these days don't do that. In an extreme case they'd book the player (inflaming an already somewhat controversial situation) or else they behave like the player is something they've stepped in (we've all seen the self satisfied, nose up pose adopted by today's officials) And just how are you supposed to respect someone who doesn't show any back.
Respect - it's a two way street.
