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Why do people become referees?


kwsaint

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I, personally, would hate to become a referee but want to know the opinion of people who do referee games. I mean, what is it that appeals you to be them. The amount of abuse they get wouldn't be socially acceptable if they were in the street.

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I can imagine different people take it up for various reasons but for me it was a chance to be involved in the game at a much higher level than I could achieve as a player. Currently I officiate in the Wessex League and senior Hampshire leagues as well as the FA competitions (FA cup/vase/trophy) which is far cry from the pub teams that I used to turn out for back in the day!

 

It is a tough job sometimes and the abuse we receive is rarely proportionate to the competancy of our performances. I have had some terrible comments aimed at me but fortunately I'm thick-skinned enough to simply smile at them. Interestingly it is worse when the crowd is small; in front of a thousand or so spectators all you hear is a wall of moans but in front of one man and his dog you can hear every single comment!!

 

To sum up, love us or hate us we are as important to the game as the ball itself and I would encourage everyone to take the chance to referee a game to gain an insight into what the role involves.

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A couple of the lads I used to coach are now referees.

 

One of the key things for them as youngsters was that they were getting paid a decent amount for taking part in games they loved even at Sunday league level. (30 quid to the ref for one game, cash in hand. Two games is easily do-able on a Sunday, so 360 quid a month cash in hand per month.)

 

But after that novely had passed they keep going, they love the game, enjoy being a part of it and there is a certain kick in being part of the system that allows football to happen.

 

The lads in question are not egotists, they do not want to be the centre of attention but it allows them to be a part of football, beyond the level they could have reached playing. They want to be fair and even handed and love it when they fade into the background when the football leads the way.

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I can imagine different people take it up for various reasons but for me it was a chance to be involved in the game at a much higher level than I could achieve as a player. Currently I officiate in the Wessex League and senior Hampshire leagues as well as the FA competitions (FA cup/vase/trophy) which is far cry from the pub teams that I used to turn out for back in the day!

 

It is a tough job sometimes and the abuse we receive is rarely proportionate to the competancy of our performances. I have had some terrible comments aimed at me but fortunately I'm thick-skinned enough to simply smile at them. Interestingly it is worse when the crowd is small; in front of a thousand or so spectators all you hear is a wall of moans but in front of one man and his dog you can hear every single comment!!

 

To sum up, love us or hate us we are as important to the game as the ball itself and I would encourage everyone to take the chance to referee a game to gain an insight into what the role involves.

 

Kudos to you. I never played football at a high level, Hampshire League was my pinnacle. But refereeing was never something I would ever aspire to, simply because of the grief I constantly saw the refs get. And it was worse the further up the pyramid you go; I found Sunday morning footy was probably the best it got!

 

There needs to be a massive culture change in football; sadly its got much worse in the last 20 years rather than see an upturn. I've reffed a handful of games, none of them competitively, and absolutely hated every single minute of them due to the amount of abuse that you get (most of which isn't heartfelt but just a natural reaction that is a part of the game).

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I, personally, would hate to become a referee but want to know the opinion of people who do referee games. I mean, what is it that appeals you to be them. The amount of abuse they get wouldn't be socially acceptable if they were in the street.

 

Abusing the ref (at the professional level) is predictable and ritualistic. Generally speaking, if your team gets the three points, the ref's OK, if you don't, the ref is inadequate. One of the unfortunate side-effects of being and avid supporter is that it often creates an irrational, tribal response - an unhealthy amount of hate and ridicule. Part of the football culture, I know, but still often OTT.

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Because they crave authority.

 

Its a cheap and easy stereotype, but its a bit naive too. Some of the best refs I've played with, and most importantly some of the best referees you'll see at the top level of the game, are those that don't need to express their authority on the game. They blend into the background as best as possible; hence the old adage "the best referee is the one you don't notice".

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Because they crave authority.

 

Many refs would have started their career because they were asked to ref games - because without a ref, there is no game. Then they realised they could get remunerated for participating in a game they love. Your attitude is so cynical - but shared, unfortunately, by too many people.

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Because they crave authority.

 

You're confusing referees with internet warriors....

 

As someone who has refereed in a different environment, it's also about putting something back into the game that has given you a lot of pleasure over the years. as someone else pointed out, with referees there would be no game for us to watch. The lack of respect (ably illustrated by some (to be fair the aboce posters comments was probably firmly tongue in cheek) does annoy me. We really ought to have refereeing as in Rugby when no back chat or physical contact is allowed.

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My lad has started this year, its a chance for him to earn a few quid - he earns in 1.5 hours what some of his mates earn on paper rounds or MacD's in 9!

He told me he also had enough of getting rubbish refs and felt he could do better.

He has done several Saints academy games this year and loves the fact he has possibly officiated some future Prem stars from West Ham, Chelsea, Saints etc

Although he only does youth games at the moment he has had to control some right planks on the line.

 

Oh Chorlton he also wants to be a copper ....and that is comical.... authoritative when compared to him!!!

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I wonder how much premier league refs get paid..

 

is it a basic yearly wage...with extra per game...?

I would think travel/accomodation and all expenses are taken care of...

 

I also wonder what sort of fee they get from UEFA etc

 

with the amount of money in the prem, I would like to think we are investing properly in refs..

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My old man dedicated over 50 years to the game as a ref in the Surrey and Hampshire leagues and then later on as an assessor (he assessed one current Premiership ref and 2 Premier lino's in their early careers) and had a few "interesting" moments in his time. I once asked him what he did if there was ever a mass punch up during the game and he said you just stand back and let them sort it out, then act afterwards.

 

Things like the death of the Dutch lino last weekend (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-20638608) are thankfully rare, but just shows how important the FA Respect campaign is at grass roots level.

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I wonder how much premier league refs get paid..

 

is it a basic yearly wage...with extra per game...?

I would think travel/accomodation and all expenses are taken care of...

 

I also wonder what sort of fee they get from UEFA etc

 

with the amount of money in the prem, I would like to think we are investing properly in refs..

 

They get about £100k a year, don't know about expenses. Plus £5k for a Champions League match. This was highlighted with the Clattenburg affair and the potential loss of earnings he would have experienced.

 

I think it's right they get paid this much. They are all now professional, i.e. they don't do anything else (unlike Ellery the Headmaster). Which means they concentrate specifically on their job and fitness. It was ludricous that we didn't have professional refs for years. I think the standard of reffing has improved, but the game has got quicker which has made their job and the assistants even more difficult. Also mistakes are put on the spotlight due to the explosion of social-media etc.

 

A tough job though. I qualified as a ref when I was 16, but preferred to play and have no wish to try it now! Have a great respect for anyone who does it.

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I wonder how much premier league refs get paid..

 

is it a basic yearly wage...with extra per game...?

I would think travel/accomodation and all expenses are taken care of...

 

I also wonder what sort of fee they get from UEFA etc

 

with the amount of money in the prem, I would like to think we are investing properly in refs..

 

£1,500 per Prem game, £5,000 per World Cup game. So nothing compared to the 22 players they ref every week.

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My old man dedicated over 50 years to the game as a ref in the Surrey and Hampshire leagues and then later on as an assessor (he assessed one current Premiership ref and 2 Premier lino's in their early careers) and had a few "interesting" moments in his time. I once asked him what he did if there was ever a mass punch up during the game and he said you just stand back and let them sort it out, then act afterwards.

 

Things like the death of the Dutch lino last weekend (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-20638608) are thankfully rare, but just shows how important the FA Respect campaign is at grass roots level.

 

Yep and he would of done it with a smile on his face as well. He had a way of dealing with it in a friendly way....the voice of experience here as I was ticked off a few times by him for some of my agricultural tackling.

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I wonder how much premier league refs get paid..

 

is it a basic yearly wage...with extra per game...?

I would think travel/accomodation and all expenses are taken care of...

 

I also wonder what sort of fee they get from UEFA etc

 

with the amount of money in the prem, I would like to think we are investing properly in refs..

 

I can't answer that from that level...I can at local level and yes they do a great deal in Hampshire for the referees especially the young ones.

Mentoring, refs associations, training, fitness etc all available for local refs and that helps them push on if they want to do professionally or up levels.

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They tried that before but when teams was defending corners they just abused the ref and then boom! ball goes back 10 yards and they get a goal kick. Made a farce of the whole thing really. Besides which I kind of like it when it all kicks off and there's a mass brawl of players surrounding the ref. It's exciting!

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I understand it may have been unfair of me to label all referees with the same tag, but no one can deny that the overall standard in our sport is very poor. You can defend them all you want but the reality is they should be the best people for the job, who get the majority of decisions correct. We shouldn't have this 'without referees there would be no sport' nonsense, because in that case I could do the job but are Definately not qualified. It may be a tough job, but if a manager can't do theirs, they get sacked, and it's the same in other jobs. Referees are only praised by their governing body and managers and players are punished but never them. That is perhaps what causes me to label them as arrogant and those who love attention.

 

I take your opinions on board, that's what a forum is for.

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I understand it may have been unfair of me to label all referees with the same tag, but no one can deny that the overall standard in our sport is very poor. You can defend them all you want but the reality is they should be the best people for the job, who get the majority of decisions correct. We shouldn't have this 'without referees there would be no sport' nonsense, because in that case I could do the job but are Definately not qualified. It may be a tough job, but if a manager can't do theirs, they get sacked, and it's the same in other jobs. Referees are only praised by their governing body and managers and players are punished but never them. That is perhaps what causes me to label them as arrogant and those who love attention.

 

I take your opinions on board, that's what a forum is for.

 

You miss the point, really. The "best people for the job" often aren't interested in doing the job or are put off from refereeing entirely because of the verbal and sometimes physical abuse they are subjected to. Ask yourself how many rugby refs, cricket umpires etc are former professionals. Loads of them. How many football referees are former players? Hardly any of them. Why? Because they know the abuse that refs get, the abuse they themselves used to dish out, would be unacceptable to them. You mention managers getting sacked for under-performing; fine, there's hundreds waiting to step in. There is a massive shortage of officials at a national level, at grass roots level there simply aren't enough refs to go round already before you start sacking one and all of them for not living up to your exacting standards.

 

Sometimes you get what you deserve; if football as a whole thinks the standard of refereeing is not good enough then it only has itself to blame for allowing a culture to develop over a period of decades which allows such intimidationary tactics to be used towards the officials, such that its seen as a job from hell rather than a natural career choice.

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I wonder how much premier league refs get paid..

 

is it a basic yearly wage...with extra per game...?

I would think travel/accomodation and all expenses are taken care of...

 

I also wonder what sort of fee they get from UEFA etc

 

with the amount of money in the prem, I would like to think we are investing properly in refs..

I can only speak for the situation a few years ago when they became professional. I think it was around £75k p.a. plus extra for each match. For that the FA would have first call on their time. A few years before that the FA introduced a scheme whereby any ref living more than 125 (?) miles from the match had to stay in a hotel the night before. On the day of the match the officials and assesor all met up in a hotel conference room provided with a flipchart and the usual refreshments and the whole team was transported to the stadium in one vehicle. Before that I can remember waiting in the car park at the Dell after the match for the players to come out and at the same time the ref and other officials would each get into their own cars and drive off, pausing only to shake the hands of the Man Utd players if they had been the opposition. (I made that bit up, partly).

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You miss the point, really. The "best people for the job" often aren't interested in doing the job or are put off from refereeing entirely because of the verbal and sometimes physical abuse they are subjected to. Ask yourself how many rugby refs, cricket umpires etc are former professionals. Loads of them. How many football referees are former players? Hardly any of them. Why? Because they know the abuse that refs get, the abuse they themselves used to dish out, would be unacceptable to them. You mention managers getting sacked for under-performing; fine, there's hundreds waiting to step in. There is a massive shortage of officials at a national level, at grass roots level there simply aren't enough refs to go round already before you start sacking one and all of them for not living up to your exacting standards.

 

Sometimes you get what you deserve; if football as a whole thinks the standard of refereeing is not good enough then it only has itself to blame for allowing a culture to develop over a period of decades which allows such intimidationary tactics to be used towards the officials, such that its seen as a job from hell rather than a natural career choice.

 

What a great post...I know I am biased as explained above.

The thing is if you didn't have TV, analysts watching it over and over again then you wouldn't get this slaughter of officials.

Rugby now get the advantage of action replays and its time our refs got that as well as making that split second decision is

nigh impossible and they then get crucified later by some numpty has watched it 20 time from every angle.

A ref can only give what he see's...the problems come when he doesn't.

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The son of some friends of mine in the Southampton area started doing it after a taster course at school and not even being a footballer. Keeping fit and earning good money as a student was the main attraction. Let's face it, it beats minimum wage retail jobs.

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Like many people on here I took it up just to help out - some mates were in a low division in local football and rarely got a ref so I gave it a go. It went ok so I thought I may as well do it on a regular basis and, as has been mentioned already, get paid for it. As I progressed through the leagues it was great to be involved at a level far higher than I ever dreamed of playing at, and seeing close up just how good some players really are. Contrary to popular belief most referees do care passionately about getting decisions right especially if they determine the result of a match. Also, referees do get promoted and relegated in a similar way to clubs (although the criteria aren't as clear cut for referees so there is still a case of your face having to fit to progress). For example Andy d'Urso is now a Football League ref having been "relegated" from the list of Premier League referees.

 

It has to be said that there were some people who seemed to do it for the power - I have lost count of the number of people who started conversations at refs' meetings by telling you exactly how many red and yellow cards they had given out. However, most people genuinely wanted to put something back into a game that had given them a lot of pleasure.

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You miss the point, really. The "best people for the job" often aren't interested in doing the job or are put off from refereeing entirely because of the verbal and sometimes physical abuse they are subjected to. Ask yourself how many rugby refs, cricket umpires etc are former professionals. Loads of them. How many football referees are former players? Hardly any of them. Why? Because they know the abuse that refs get, the abuse they themselves used to dish out, would be unacceptable to them. You mention managers getting sacked for under-performing; fine, there's hundreds waiting to step in. There is a massive shortage of officials at a national level, at grass roots level there simply aren't enough refs to go round already before you start sacking one and all of them for not living up to your exacting standards.

 

Sometimes you get what you deserve; if football as a whole thinks the standard of refereeing is not good enough then it only has itself to blame for allowing a culture to develop over a period of decades which allows such intimidationary tactics to be used towards the officials, such that its seen as a job from hell rather than a natural career choice.

Very good post actually. I agree about your point on ex professionals, that would certainly help.

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The same reason why people become teachers or join the police.

They like control over people. Years ago it seemed like virtually every ref was a headmaster or policeman but those are the type who shouldnt be refs as they cant wait to dish out the punishment. They dont know the difference between a mistimed foul and a bad foul and these are the ones who help ruin football.

 

I used to like Dermot Gallacher as 9 times out of ten hed just tell the player to get up and that stopped diving immediately.

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The same reason why people become teachers or join the police.

They like control over people. Years ago it seemed like virtually every ref was a headmaster or policeman but those are the type who shouldnt be refs as they cant wait to dish out the punishment. They dont know the difference between a mistimed foul and a bad foul and these are the ones who help ruin football.

 

I used to like Dermot Gallacher as 9 times out of ten hed just tell the player to get up and that stopped diving immediately.

 

Just like your football team...utter twaddle.

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The same reason why people become teachers or join the police.

They like control over people. Years ago it seemed like virtually every ref was a headmaster or policeman but those are the type who shouldnt be refs as they cant wait to dish out the punishment. They dont know the difference between a mistimed foul and a bad foul and these are the ones who help ruin football.

 

I used to like Dermot Gallacher as 9 times out of ten hed just tell the player to get up and that stopped diving immediately.

 

Clearly you didn't go to school which means you wouldn't have had the intelligence to join the police.........

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The same reason why people become teachers or join the police.

They like control over people. Years ago it seemed like virtually every ref was a headmaster or policeman but those are the type who shouldnt be refs as they cant wait to dish out the punishment. They dont know the difference between a mistimed foul and a bad foul and these are the ones who help ruin football.

 

I used to like Dermot Gallacher as 9 times out of ten hed just tell the player to get up and that stopped diving immediately.

 

If you read the Laws of the Game you'll find it doesn't distinguish between a "bad foul" and a "mistimed foul".

 

Next you'll be spouting the moronic line of "he's not that kind of player, ref".

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Things like the death of the Dutch lino last weekend (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-20638608) are thankfully rare, but just shows how important the FA Respect campaign is at grass roots level.

 

Whilst I agree, until they do something about the professional game, trying to sort out grassroots is like shuffling deckchairs on the titanic. You can pump as much respect campaign as the kids will take, but all the time they watch their heroes doing it on tv they will copy.

IMO the FA should take a leaf out of rugbys book, and do it swiftly and without remorse. No player except the captain talks to the ref (friendly chatting excepted obviously). Any player who does is immediatley sin-binned for 5 mins, with no maximum amount of players in the bin at any given time. Can you imagine Fergies face as his team are taken apart at old trafford by a far inferior side, while 7 of his players have to sit and watch. Arguing would stop overnight.

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They had a discussion about this on the radio the other week; a couple of the pros suggested miking up the referees as they do in rugby, as that would instantly cut out a huge proportion of players talking back. I'd also have a sin-bin system instead of just a yellow card, where you also get 10 or 15 minutes off the field for any verbal indiscretion. Refs are always going to be wary of dishing out yellow and especially red cards for a bit of chat so that might give them license to cut down on it without ruining a game by sending off two or three culprits. Rugby seems to work quite well from having a sin-bin system for any yellow card; and it might also cut down on cynical time wasting and diving too if there's a proper deterrent.

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I, personally, would hate to become a referee but want to know the opinion of people who do referee games. I mean, what is it that appeals you to be them. The amount of abuse they get wouldn't be socially acceptable if they were in the street.
And here is your answer
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They had a discussion about this on the radio the other week; a couple of the pros suggested miking up the referees as they do in rugby, as that would instantly cut out a huge proportion of players talking back. I'd also have a sin-bin system instead of just a yellow card, where you also get 10 or 15 minutes off the field for any verbal indiscretion. Refs are always going to be wary of dishing out yellow and especially red cards for a bit of chat so that might give them license to cut down on it without ruining a game by sending off two or three culprits. Rugby seems to work quite well from having a sin-bin system for any yellow card; and it might also cut down on cynical time wasting and diving too if there's a proper deterrent.

 

I completely agree. I think that way they know a 10 minute ban from the game is on its way. The mouthiest ones are usually losing anyway and so they would certainly refrain from doing so.

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Love refereeing, and been qualified for 2 years now. Needed extra cash, and it keeps me involved with the game. I only ref on the Royston crows league u12 to u18's and do not want to be promoted as quite happy turning out in these games.

 

It is not about me and I make it clear to both sets of players that I will try and let the game flow as much as possible. I have not sent anyone off and have booked about 5/6 players in the 2 years. If I need to I will get the 2 offending player together with the captains, and tell them to get on with the game, shake hands and just play football.

 

There are some great games, and it is wonderful to be in the middle. So many games are ruined when they do not have a referee, and someone from one of the clubs has to stand in. Bias refereeing ruins the game at grass roots level.

 

I really do love it, and yes you get a lot of stick, but at the end they shake your hand and all is good. Some just need to chill out a little during the game!

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Whilst I agree, until they do something about the professional game, trying to sort out grassroots is like shuffling deckchairs on the titanic. You can pump as much respect campaign as the kids will take, but all the time they watch their heroes doing it on tv they will copy.

IMO the FA should take a leaf out of rugbys book, and do it swiftly and without remorse. No player except the captain talks to the ref (friendly chatting excepted obviously). Any player who does is immediatley sin-binned for 5 mins, with no maximum amount of players in the bin at any given time. Can you imagine Fergies face as his team are taken apart at old trafford by a far inferior side, while 7 of his players have to sit and watch. Arguing would stop overnight.

 

I wouldn't disagree there, but to some extent I do have an influence - I coach my lads U7 team, so how they behave is a reflection on how I coach them to play, and how I let their parents behave when they watch them - luckily, the parents have been good so far......

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I wouldn't disagree there, but to some extent I do have an influence - I coach my lads U7 team, so how they behave is a reflection on how I coach them to play, and how I let their parents behave when they watch them - luckily, the parents have been good so far......

 

I coach my lads U8s, and you are totally correct, we've had a good chat with the parents before the season about how they ar expected to behave, and yes Ive had to have a quiet word with one or two of them since, but thats been more down to them coaching the kids from the sidelines. Its the dads that ref/line the games so if they get moaned at too much they won't do it again so theyve been really good on that front. I just feel the FA is taking almost the easy way out by targetting the kids rather than taking the bull by the horns and stamping it out of the top level.

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They had a discussion about this on the radio the other week; a couple of the pros suggested miking up the referees as they do in rugby, as that would instantly cut out a huge proportion of players talking back. I'd also have a sin-bin system instead of just a yellow card, where you also get 10 or 15 minutes off the field for any verbal indiscretion. Refs are always going to be wary of dishing out yellow and especially red cards for a bit of chat so that might give them license to cut down on it without ruining a game by sending off two or three culprits. Rugby seems to work quite well from having a sin-bin system for any yellow card; and it might also cut down on cynical time wasting and diving too if there's a proper deterrent.

 

Kraken - you're speaking an awful lot of utter sense in this thread. Good stuff.

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If you read the Laws of the Game you'll find it doesn't distinguish between a "bad foul" and a "mistimed foul".

Thanks for proving a great example of why so many refs ruin games because they simply dont understand the game because theyve never played it. I bet youd be singing a different tune if a Saints player gets sent off today for a "foul" he knew nothing about.

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