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

[Marius57]

3 match bans for pulling on a ponytail, & lightly slapping a teammate. You've gotta laugh

It’s the league trying to do us a favour. Gana being banned and then away has allowed Tim and now Armstrong to step up and show they are more than capable and I’d be disappointed if Gana goes straight back in.
Keane unavailable will mean JOB plays CB. What the fans have been shouting for. If we look more balanced and perform better in the next few games, Moyes is putting himself under considerable pressure from the fans if he then automatically reverts back to Keane at CB and JOB at RB.

The league are just trying to help us out and we should probably be thanking them.

 

[wandyr79]

If someone grabs a handful of my hair and pulls it I’d consider that violent.

But, we can't consider it violent unless you give us more information.

We have more information for Keane's red card and it was never in a million years violent.

 

[judge]

If it was a deliberate hair pull, and it looked like it was to me, then he should be sent off. It's despicable/cheating behaviour (snide, underhand and cowardly) that somehow feels worse than kicking an opponent. It's on the road to spitting. Keane's character doesn't come into it (neither does 'common sense', the usual fallback for those with no credible argument). He had a 'brain-fart' and has to accept the consequences - or do we only ever punish 'the usual suspects?'

 

[Bilko]

I'd rather get a bad referee's honest decision than it go to VAR .
Championship football does not seem to have a quarter of the disgraceful decisions that the premiership get wrong every week.
You might be mad they got it wrong but at least he's making a decision as he sees it.
Should never be more than a ball over the goal line or not imo.

 

[Connor mcloud]

 

[Fedlingen]

This leak of our voicing of concern, regarding referee decisions is 100% going to make a lot of worse decisions go against us. There'll be VAR checks on everything we do, for the rest of the season.

 

[Caolam]

If it was a deliberate hair pull, and it looked like it was to me, then he should be sent off. It's despicable/cheating behaviour (snide, underhand and cowardly) that somehow feels worse than kicking an opponent. It's on the road to spitting. Keane's character doesn't come into it (neither does 'common sense', the usual fallback for those with no credible argument). He had a 'brain-fart' and has to accept the consequences - or do we only ever punish 'the usual suspects?'

I agree with you insofar as I cannot accept that Keane accidentally pulled his opponent’s hair, I don’t hold with trying to defend the indefensible. However I couldn’t disagree with you more in regard to the remainder of your post. Everything a player does outside the laws of the game is cheating, however all infringement of the rules do not result in a red card. If Keane had missed the hair and pulled the shirt he wouldn’t have been sent off. My thinking is that while it was a deliberate hair pull it wasn’t a violent act, if Keane had grabbed a handful of his opponents hair and pulled him to the ground then I would be in agreement with the referee.
The part of your post which I have the greatest difficulty with is the inference that “we only ever punish the usual suspects “ surely the biggest issue in regard to the current state of refereeing in the Premier League is the continual failure to punish “the usual suspects “. You only have to look at Liverpool v Arsenal last night, no red cards, trying to man handle an injured player off the pitch isn’t violent, the ensuing fracas wasn’t violent.
If we have set the bar at the level whereby a tug of the hair is a sending off offence then we are going to see an awful lot of top players standing on the sidelines.

 

[windymiller]

My biggest issue in all of this hoopla is that it is frequently stated, by the FA, the PL and even by PGMOL themselves, that VAR is not there to re-ref the game. The Keane incident didn't affect the game at all, the Wolves player complained a little but then happily got on with things and had Keane not grabbed his hair the outcome of that phase of play would have been exactly the same. So VAR is re-reffing the game, and to what end exactly?

 

[Simo]

This leak of our voicing of concern, regarding referee decisions is 100% going to make a lot of worse decisions go against us. There'll be VAR checks on everything we do, for the rest of the season.

I think it ramped up from when that pr1ck Masters visited Goodison, walking through the crowd outside and heard a few home truths

 

[judge]

I agree with you insofar as I cannot accept that Keane accidentally pulled his opponent’s hair, I don’t hold with trying to defend the indefensible. However I couldn’t disagree with you more in regard to the remainder of your post. Everything a player does outside the laws of the game is cheating, however all infringement of the rules do not result in a red card. If Keane had missed the hair and pulled the shirt he wouldn’t have been sent off. My thinking is that while it was a deliberate hair pull it wasn’t a violent act, if Keane had grabbed a handful of his opponents hair and pulled him to the ground then I would be in agreement with the referee.
The part of your post which I have the greatest difficulty with is the inference that “we only ever punish the usual suspects “ surely the biggest issue in regard to the current state of refereeing in the Premier League is the continual failure to punish “the usual suspects “. You only have to look at Liverpool v Arsenal last night, no red cards, trying to man handle an injured player off the pitch isn’t violent, the ensuing fracas wasn’t violent.
If we have set the bar at the level whereby a tug of the hair is a sending off offence then we are going to see an awful lot of top players standing on the sidelines.

By 'the usual suspects' i was referring (albeit badly) to individual players and the fact that Keane's (allegedly) placid nature shouldn't have a bearing on the decision - IE; if the ref thought it merited a sending off, then the decision is made on the incident alone, regardless of whether he's normally 'a top bloke.' Otherwise we'd only be sending off Roy Kean and Lee Bowyer (showing my age a bit, there). But, yes - i agree that there is also another agenda to 'protect the Sky 6'

 

[Moomin]

The simple solution to all this mess is that Keane shouldn't have pulled his hair.

Play stupid games then you will win stupid prizes.

 

[arch stanton]

If someone grabs a handful of my hair and pulls it I’d consider that violent.

if they did that to me I'd be quite surprised why they had been keeping a clump of my hair for the last 25 years.

 

[terryefc]

It's been illuminating reading the links and rules and people's interpretations.
Initially I read the rule as being a definite red if hair was pulled. I didn't read this rule / guidance correctly though.

Keane was challenging for the ball - but he did deliberately pull the fella's hair.
I do not believe it falls in the category of violent conduct and as such VAR was incorrect in making the referral.
Cavanagh has misinterpreted the rule.
A red card was not correct as 2 separate rules / guidance have been conflated.
Yes it would have been a yellow if spotted by the ref - but he did not do so. The red card should have been voided.

 

[DOMNOLAN]

This leak of our voicing of concern, regarding referee decisions is 100% going to make a lot of worse decisions go against us. There'll be VAR checks on everything we do, for the rest of the season.

What’s the leak? Would you mind sharing?

 

[Gurru991]

The simple solution to all this mess is that Keane shouldn't have pulled his hair.

Play stupid games then you will win stupid prizes.

In the ladies game where there are many more pony tails, a hair pull is an automatic red. It is a violent & cowardly act !!