http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/30639024

 

 Seems like this straight shooter agrees that our club should pursue this affront and get redress for the recent  incident that effectively lost us the match.

 

He's right as rain, IMHO, since it's  a farcical situation that should be stopped in it's tracks.

 

What do you think?

He is right but it should go further than just the player the Club should feel the brunt of it too that's the only way it will be stamped out.

 

I think I have already stated this elsewhere !

I would also support tougher sanctions but as a club we need to be aware of the old saying about glass houses and stones.  After the game in Perth, John Hughes clearly felt the referee made the wrong decision but he was at pains not to criticise Graham for his actions (although he probably accepted that there was some contact at that point).  This was not just Hughes being unwilling to criticise individuals publicly (a trait I very much admire in him), it was a more general point about players forcing the referee to make a decision.  What he said was words to the effect that if one of his players felt contact in the box he would expect them to go down and force the referee to make a decision. 

 

My view is that you should make every effort to stay on your feet.  I am really not sure there is a great deal of difference between going down when there is no contact and going down when there is minimal contact when it would have been easier to stay on your feet.  It's all very well to say that referees should be asked to make a decision but they have a split second to make a decision and are often not at the best angle to see.  It is inevitable that referees will often get it wrong.  I am therefore all for any process that allows for retrospective action which either condemns or reprieves a player.  Incidentally, such a process would also be very effective in those difficult situations where players "buy" penalties by deliberately tripping over a defender - often where a defender pulls out of the tackle but the attacker makes a slight change of course and goes over the defender's leg in any case.

I am in total agreement with your second paragraph D D there is much too much of  that going on, very often right in front of the referee too, is it ' gamesmanship ' or is it cheating ?

To my mind it is cheating. Football has never been 100 percent honest but as the years have passed the amount of referee deception has increased in all sorts of subtle ways so much so that I am really beginning to believe this is down to training ground tactics.

Apart from the blatant foul stopping a player get through on a scoring chance which is dismissed as taking one for the team there is the shirt holding and pulling, the knee in the thigh, elbow in the face and punch in the guts used when jumping up with a player for a high ball all very often missed by the Ref. Then there is the 'accidental' stamp or back heel on the player on the ground. the obstruction on Keepers. Anything goes as long as it is not obvious to the Officials.

Being old enough to remember the days when players stayed on their feet at all costs there is an element of deception in the game. It used to be blamed on foriegn players but over recent years its become the norm among all players. I remember players like Jimmy Johnstone, George Best etc who'd jump over the extended leg and score rather than waste the effort in the hope a ref was duped.

 

I think its time the corrupt lawmakers of the game at FIFA level put rules in place to stamp this out. In game like the St Johnstone one the law should be that if found guilty after game of deception to earn a goal player should be sanctioned and team forfiet game.

 

I also think more needs to be done to stop the wrestling matches in the box at set pieces and the enmasse hounding of ref's to get a fellow professional disciplined. I also think that refs need to be taught to recognise a good old fashioned shoulder charge. Maybe its also time to stop resisting the use of technology i.e video referee just like in rugby. Critics may suggest this  would slow down the game and make it boring. I dont think it would. In rugby its only used when ref is not sure. In rugby ref's decision is final and players never try to influence. Unlike the all too often card waving of players and hounding of refs.

It may slow the game down at it's inception Alex, but we would soon get used to it and it would make the game a lot fairer and more enjoyable in the end. It would cut out a lot of the nonsense we have been mentioning. The game would get back to being football, where skill prevails over thuggery with less injury and more excitement.

 

Yes players stayed on their feet even if they got knock they didn't dare go down in case they would be branded as ''sissies''. (can I use that word nowadays ???) 

 

Bring on the technology let the SPFL lead the world !!

Agree with all posters on this one. .100%.

 

So, will it change? I think not .

 

Dear Varlet,

The times they are a-changing and yonder referee knoweth best  which side his bread is buttered thereon.

Dost thou not presenteth me with fripperies like video. -- Leave all such matters to the future,  way over yonder hill.

 

Egad  and Forsooth-- what is this game all about anyway if it is to lose it's magic like hacking and cracking, tripping and cheating, ref roasting, crying the blues , simulation and exaggeration, stealthy fouling and elimination of pussies and cissies. EH?