Bad ref decisions - for and against - season 2025/26

[Rooney_Tunes]

13/9/25 Everton 0 Aston Villa 0

Missed our match yesterday - and only saw highlights so wasn't able to judge the refs performance.
Sounds like the ref had a stinker



This was a report from the echo...

What happened at full-time spoke volumes about one man as Everton transfer priority confirmed​

Everton analysis from Connor O'Neill after the 0-0 Premier League draw with Aston Villa​

Connor O'Neill
05:00, 14 Sep 2025

Referee Simon Hooper shows a yellow card to Jack Grealish during the Premier League match between Everton and Aston Villa at Hill Dickinson Stadium(Image: Carl Recine/Getty Images)
It has been a tradition for some time now. But whenever the Premier League anthem plays before Everton home games, it is greeted by boos from Blues supporters.

That was no different here. Everton supporters always find time to make their feelings known on the Premier League. They have done so since the club was docked 10 points, reduced to six on appeal, for breaching financial rules back in November 2023.

But the boos didn’t end there. And by the end they were reserved for one man. That man being referee Simon Hooper.


This was not one of his better games. In fact, it could be argued it was one of his worst.

And to be clear, the reason Everton didn’t pick up all three points here was because they didn’t take their chances.

The Blues more than had enough opportunities to make it four wins in a row in all competitions. But just because Beto couldn’t find a way past Emiliano Martinez does not mean that the performance of Hooper should not be highlighted.


At one point in the game it felt like every 50/50 went the way of Unai Emery’s side. But by the end, it felt like every tackle was a foul.

Somehow Everton managed to commit 17 fouls during the 90 minutes, two more than Villa.

David Moyes criticised refereeing standards across the opening round of Premier League fixtures after his side lost to newly-promoted Leeds United after a controversial penalty.

Moyes made his feelings known to Chris Kavanagh that night after marching onto the Elland Road pitch at full-time.

He didn’t repeat that here, but the boos reserved for Hooper and his team of match officials as they made their way off the pitch spoke volumes.

Match Officials​

Referee:Simon Hooper
Video Assistant Referee:Alex Chilowicz
Assistant Referee 1:Adrian Holmes
Assistant Referee 2:Simon Long
Fourth Official:Andrew Kitchen
Assistant VAR Official:Tony Harrington

Maybe we should stop booing the anthem and start praising the refs.

Works for them.

I see a penalty for no reason loading next week.

 

[judge]

Howard Webb was one of the worst of the lot. It was only going to get worse under his watch.

Oops, just saw that someone has already said this, I really should read to the end of the page before i go spouting off

 

[matty1878]

Maybe we should stop booing the anthem and start praising the refs.

Works for them.

I see a penalty for no reason loading next week.

it was the leaf

no the leaf blew by him it was pickford foot

 

[Igrok]

Wow green scumbag received yellow for diving…good call

 

[the golden visionary]

Oops, just saw that someone has already said this, I really should read to the end of the page before i go spouting off

Needs saying as often as possible

 

[mahermi1]

The amount of time wasting by Martinez yesterday was unbelievable, don't think the ref gave him a second look all afternoon, now if that was Pickford at Villa Park.

 

[NathDogg]

The amount of time wasting by Martinez yesterday was unbelievable, don't think the ref gave him a second look all afternoon, now if that was Pickford at Villa Park.

What happened to the 8 second thing for keepers?

The whole Villa side were at it tbh, but hooper lost control of the game early on, Villa were reffing it.

 

[Jamo Martinez]

We're not. Not sure what your end game is but that is not a penalty in anybody's book.

Penalty for me.

 

[Rooney_Tunes]

Wow green scumbag received yellow for diving…good call

But then should have been sent off but corruption wins again.

 

[mahermi1]

What happened to the 8 second thing for keepers?

The whole Villa side were at it tbh, but hooper lost control of the game early on, Villa were reffing it.

They knew they were being schooled so slowed the game down as much as they could, the ref allowed them to.

 

[Jamo Martinez]

In this sort of incident the VAR should have a word with the ref. I can see how the officials can miss this, the ref can`t see it and the linesman isn`t going to be able to see its across the line either.

This. Really annoys me when a corner is wrongly given as a goal kick or vice versa.

I'm sure VAR could check those incidents in a second and just let the ref know. No going to the monitor, simply accept the VAR decision.

You can talk about interpretation with handballs and fouls. You can talk about if someone's interfering with play in an offside.
But over the line is over the line.

 

[Igrok]

How obvious - Salah penalty in 95th… close this league

 

[James Patrick]

What happened to the 8 second thing for keepers?

The whole Villa side were at it tbh, but hooper lost control of the game early on, Villa were reffing it.

Doesn't apply to goal kicks.

 

[dockroad]

How obvious - Salah penalty in 95th… close this league

Defender at fault but the devil looks after his own.

 

[Lanolin]

How obvious - Salah penalty in 95th… close this league

It was about as cast iron a penalty as you could ever see to be fair, it would be a stretch to try to call that one corruption.