Referees/Officials

[Terra Passenger]

The Cold War's over, mate.

If that's your genuine view then it's a bit pathetic to be quite honest and I'm not trying to send this off topic or start some sort of shit slinging contest but your home country doesn't exactly have the most squeaky clean record. If it makes money, it makes sense. That goes for every country.

You're right. I appoligize. That bit about doping for the Olympics was fair play - we should have thought of that.

Again - Russia, China, and North Korea can totally be expected to play fair. And tonight's ref was totally corrupt.

My bad.

 

[Colin Bells Boots]

Messi did dive in the box and was told to get up but not carded,no ref is ever going to book him for diving

Steady Karen, that's quite an accusation, he's a Barca player and they do not dive !

 

[Terra Passenger]

If it was my not choice and not the owner's, I wouldn't, as I have pointed out several hours and posts back, before you presented your thoughts for us all to digest.

You seem to have attracted the interest of several other ( paranoid/ conspiracy theorists ) also known as posters, so I'll let you continue spreading the " UEFA is innocent " propaganda.

Have a nice day, y'all !

Yeah, you're right.

I'm probably not going to watch any more UCL matches. Refs are totally corrupt - no way we'll win.

 

[Dave Ewing's Back 'eader]

Messi did dive in the box and was told to get up but not carded,no ref is ever going to book him for diving

Referees leave me with the notion that they will apply their own personal feelings and ideas to the Laws of the Game. The foul on Sterling by Digne is a yellow card. Sterling was past him and he gets yanked back by having his shirt pulled. When that didn't work he was tripped unceremoniously. The ref blew for the foul, but it was a clear attacking opportunity that was halted by foul means. It should have yielded a mandatory yellow card regardless of the time on the clock. Digne had a couple of other nibbles before the ref started getting the card out. I call this institutionalised cheating. The same goes for those time-wasting bastards who masquerade as goalkeepers. You waste time on ten minutes but it won't be for another eighty minutes before you get a yellow card for the umpteenth effort at wasting playing time. Teams are being cheated, fans are being cheated and the Leagues, PiGMOL and the governing bodies of the sport fiddle while Barca burns!

 

[GaudinoMotors]

+1

On the night yes, incompetent. But, he was, after all selected to referee in a hugely important UCL match - so I put it down to a hugely bad night.

Cheater, no.

Biased no.

Totally incompetent - presumably not.

Bad night - absolutely so.

Consistantly incompetent - Yes

 

[Colin Bells Boots]

Yeah, you're right.

I'm probably not going to watch any more UCL matches. Refs are totally corrupt - no way we'll win.

Despite the refs being corrupt, last night proved we can win ? Corrected for accuracy.

Please yourself good buddy , do what the f*ck makes you happy !

 

[blue by birth]

Sterling dragged his leg across the defender looking for the foul.

IMO, though, it was still a foul.

At the very worst a non-call.

But I think that Sterling was looking for the call and his exaggeration, in this instance, didn't work to our favor.

Bollocks mate it was a clear penalty, Sterling wasn't looking for a pen as he had no need too.
I was on the first row SS1 and had a clear view of it.
Definitely a penalty and no way could the ref not see it.
Either he bottled it or he is a cheat.

 

[Chi-town blues]

Nemar was in his own half ... nowhere near offside, Chi.

My bad . I thought he crossed the center line.
Cheers

 

[Terra Passenger]

All I said there was each opinion to their own and talked about your point hypothetically. There is plenty to base our opinion off (that he was biased, corrupt or not), from past Barca games and things such as the article I posted.

I'm not naive.

Yes, you're correct.

The ref might have been biased - perhaps unconsciously so. This might well have affected his calls.

But to call the ref a cheater... that requires an entirely different level of proof.

That the ref may be more used to continental games and would have referred in that vein - absolutely.

That the ref might admire Barca and may unconsciously have referred in their favor - maybe - the article you cite lends credence to that opinion.

That the ref was a cheat and intentionally made calls, knowing that the call was wrong, in favor of Barca... well maybe.... but that requires a ton of proof to back up which I've read nothing nearly enough to make this conclusion.

Moreover, that a ref who was corrupt was allowed to officiate, means that the entire UCL referring management chain is in on this as well.

Not sure how in hell Chelsea won a few years back in that case.

 

[Rolee]

Sterling dragged his leg across the defender looking for the foul.

IMO, though, it was still a foul.

At the very worst a non-call.

But I think that Sterling was looking for the call and his exaggeration, in this instance, didn't work to our favor.

Come off it mate.

 

[Terra Passenger]

Come off it mate.

It looked like Sterling was fouled when I rewatched that play. And then Sterling left his leg out and made more contact to accentuate the fact. Unfortunately, the ref saw the accentuation and thought it was entirely acting, hence the call.

But it's even possible that Sterling was stepped on - can't tell from the replay.

Whatever the case - I thought that it was a clear foul but that Sterling was trying to impress upon the ref that he'd been stepped on/struck.

 

[teddykgb]

Which is the type of thing you "see" when you're too predisposed to believe that one side is a gift to the game and needs to be protected.

I know where you're coming from on this Terra in the sense that there's seldom a reason to assign malice to something that can better be described by incompetence. In this case, however, the outcome is the same and there's almost not point in trying to split the two. He was either bent or incredibly bad at his job. Each has a differently depressing logical outcome.

All refs have bad days. Most fan bases of every team believe that refs generally are worse for them than anyone else. Usually this is nonsense confirmation bias stuff. In this competition, anyone who isn't Barca/Madrid/Bayern right now tends to suffer because the refs show these teams such deference.

 

[Terra Passenger]

I didn't say you were naive, you called me a tinfoiler for the same things you've just agreed with. The entire referring body would not have to be in on it; the article I posted reported on a case involving at least some higher up the chain but that doesn't mean all were, nor is that always the case. Making calls influenced by bias is cheating, but not necessarily corrupt (i.e. for personal gain). Anyway, made my point.

Touche.

I'm not at all arguing against bias.

But I'd like to think that the game I love most is above outright cheating by referrees at the domestic/UCL/World Cup stage. Yeah, other leagues may have problems - but I'd like to hope not these three. At least not on large scale - individual bad actors are bound to occur.

 

[Rolee]

It looked like Sterling was fouled when I rewatched that play. And then Sterling left his leg out and made more contact to accentuate the fact. Unfortunately, the ref saw the accentuation and thought it was entirely acting, hence the call.

But it's even possible that Sterling was stepped on - can't tell from the replay.

Whatever the case - I thought that it was a clear foul but that Sterling was trying to impress upon the ref that he'd been stepped on/struck.

He was stepped on.

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

Touche.

I'm not at all arguing against bias.

But I'd like to think that the game I love most is above outright cheating by referrees at the domestic/UCL/World Cup stage.

It isn't and, most importantly, our club owners know for certain that it isn't so accept it & get over it.

Refs are bent, managers are bent and players are bent. We've had our share of them at City as well.

 

[kaz7]

It looked like Sterling was fouled when I rewatched that play. And then Sterling left his leg out and made more contact to accentuate the fact. Unfortunately, the ref saw the accentuation and thought it was entirely acting, hence the call.

But it's even possible that Sterling was stepped on - can't tell from the replay.

Whatever the case - I thought that it was a clear foul but that Sterling was trying to impress upon the ref that he'd been stepped on/struck.

How anyone takes you seriously is beyond me

 

[Terra Passenger]

So you think that the game is corrupt, currently, at the BPL/UCL/World Cup level? And I'm not talking about FIFA and the award of the World Cup/other things which is obviously corrupt - I'm talking about referring in those competitions.

In other words, you think that referees in those competitions are on the take, are corrupt, and that we cannot trust their decisions because they're being paid off?

 

[oakiecokie]

He was stepped on.

Is the correct answer and I have yet to read an article from any journo who actually agrees with the refs decision.Martin Samuels made me laugh when he said in his report that it was a penalty in real time,a penalty in slow time, a penalty in replay time and for those watching the Arsenal game even they could see it.

 

[Terra Passenger]

How anyone takes you seriously is beyond me

So you think that Sterling wasn't fouled?

Or perhaps you think that the ref was clearly corrupt - had been bribed against us. Was told to make Barca win. But somehow failed in this singular capacity in spite having given ample opportunity to make Barca the victor.

Karen, I like most of your posts, but really?

 

[kaz7]

So you think that Sterling wasn't fouled?

You said you can't see from the replay if he was stepped on when everyone else can and he didn't leave his leg in either,not to mention denying there is no corruption in football,how long have you watched football properly?