We have been subjected to a lot about integrity recently, referee's inparticular.Yesterdays referee did little to champion their cause with his display. This is not a comment I would normally make, but what really gave me cause for concern was the booking of Miller. Miller ran almost the length of the pitch to offer his advise to the ref and it was as if it was an after thought that the ref booked him, had it been a caley player he would have been booked before a word of advice was given.

The other thing that I found distasteful was a team of the talant of Rangers should rely on players who consider cheating a perfectly legitimate way to win a game. McCulloch built like a brick ----- house would have not of out of place in the Dying Swan. Although to far away to see it Bettie was no better believe.

What we require is integrity within the game, Caley Thistle and its management team would be an example to all.

Spot on, big man.

Remember last season? When we were getting all the dubious results? Was that also because of biased referees who were really into the Highlands?

You can't have being lucky when it goes for us and being cheated when it goes against. So did we cheat our way to the title? Not in my opinion. Try reffing a kickabout and see how tough any decision to make is.

Been there done that but at a higher level than a kick about. Having said that I do think you have missed the point. Integrity starts with the teams which was the point I was trying to make.

Ok big man. I thought there were two points you were trying to make, the cheating of players and cheating of referees. I just don't buy the second - there are plenty of mistakes in favour of the green-n-white (anything more blatant than Boruc's assault on Dargo? - not that i've seen)

But I agree with you in the first point. In fact, I'd blame FIFA/UEFA for that for allowing 'simulation' to be so acceptable that now it's the norm to go down. A foul should only be awarded when an actual foul has taken place, not because a striker wants an advantage of a free-kick. If a team is going to be continually rebuffed whilst the other team cheats, then it's a long slippery road. I applauded the stand Gordon Smith took but then he got criticised for it. It's the biggest blight on the game.

It would help the game if video evidence could be used each week to provide players, where they warrant it, to receive a verbal warning. If all clubs signed up to respect including action against diving, each club would nominate a Director to view contentious moments, and if 10 of the 12 Directors agreed, the player would receive a verbal warning. In mitigation the player would be able to appeal to a panel of three directors not involved in the original decision.

So yesterday the most contentious point would have been 'did Beattie dive or did he use skill to invite Duff to put his hands on him forcing him to fall?'In retrospect Duff did appear to touch him but Beattie is a big lad and would not topple over in the High Street with such minimal contact.

I can't figure the thread title - what evidence is there for a lack of integrity from Calumn Murray? He made mistakes and plenty of them , but the title suggests that he was in some way dishonest and for that there is not the slightest shred of evidence. "it was if it was an afterthought" for Miller's booking. Where is the evidence for this? Tell you what big man, leave this stuff for the likes of Lennon to spout. I want no part in it and neither, I would suggest, does anyone else in these parts.

I didn't think he was bias.....rubbish, but not biased.

It was not my intention to get at the ref although I didn,t think he had a great game which could be backup by the rateing he got in the papers, what I was trying to do was to point out it is the resposibility of the teams, hence the example of caley and the management, I would argue the case with the Miller booking, it did appear to be an after thought since the ref did call Miller back after having spoken to him.

A couple of years ago, ITV 4 showed matches from the 70s. It's hard to believe the difference. A player going to ground was an exception, apart from Leeds games. Now every time a player hits the deck, every 30 seconds, the opposition player goes down with him. Refs have an impossible job with all the cheating fakers. The problem is that the good guys don't complain enough. Come on, TB, let rip into the cheats!

When Thierry Henry handled against Ireland, he said the ref should have spotted it and so it was the ref's fault for Ireland going out. Some people agreed with him!!

Big Man, it is Integrity that's gone from a lot of the game.

Terry has been known not to be honest with refs himself in the past. For example

"Honest ref, I'm fine. It's just a little nick!"

I thought you were going to suggest it was one of those fake blood capsules

It was not my intention to get at the ref although I didn,t think he had a great game which could be backup by the rateing he got in the papers, what I was trying to do was to point out it is the resposibility of the teams, hence the example of caley and the management, I would argue the case with the Miller booking, it did appear to be an after thought since the ref did call Miller back after having spoken to him.

There was a spell in the game where the ref seemed to have lost the plot but all in all as modern standards go I thought he had a decent game.

Bigman, Miller was warned in the first half for mouthing and the incident in the second I believe the ref was pretty frustrated by the big mouthed toad that he became a bit flustered and realised he hadn't shown the card. Refs know they'll get a hard time if they penalise an OF player but I think he had intended penalising Miller but just had a wee delay in doing it.

As for the point someone made about blaming Uefa / FIFA for simulation. Sorry but I have to disagree with that. There is a crime of 'decieving the ref by simulation' and referee's have the power to penalise yet they dont. How many times have we seen a ref indicate play on when someone has blatantly been found out for trying to trick the ref and yet no card is shown. Start flashing yellows and the diving will stop.

But the refs are told how to referee a game by the powers-that-be. I can remember a World Cup when the refs were getting a lot of praise for letting the game flow, only for Platini to come out and criticise, saying they had to referee according to instructions, not what they interpreted the laws of the game to be. The World Cup then descended into the usual farce of play being stopped for rolling down a sock.

Referees will always make mistakes.

It's part of the game - and to be honest getting riled by it is part of the fun.

There is no bias, there are no conspiracies.

For the vast majority of fans - when your team wins the referee escapes notice.

When you lose the referee was shocking.

What is totally unacceptable are incidents like Beattie throwing himself to the ground to

cheat his side into a penalty, or Neil Lennon acting out a ficticious head-butt to get a fellow professional

red-carded. Outrageous and unwelcome.

Ok big man. I thought there were two points you were trying to make, the cheating of players and cheating of referees. I just don't buy the second - there are plenty of mistakes in favour of the green-n-white (anything more blatant than Boruc's assault on Dargo? - not that i've seen)

But I agree with you in the first point. In fact, I'd blame FIFA/UEFA for that for allowing 'simulation' to be so acceptable that now it's the norm to go down. A foul should only be awarded when an actual foul has taken place, not because a striker wants an advantage of a free-kick. If a team is going to be continually rebuffed whilst the other team cheats, then it's a long slippery road. I applauded the stand Gordon Smith took but then he got criticised for it. It's the biggest blight on the game.

The thing is Gordan Smith only paid lip service to the scourge of diving , remember Kyle Lafferty's dive against Aberdeen and Smiths silence at the time ?

Edited December 13, 201015 yr by DALNEIGHCALEY