I received a reply from the FA (Finally...)

[Hayee]

opinions?

I was appalled on Saturday to see Mr Clattenburg seemingly "miss" the most blatant of basic refereeing decisions - and why was he so easily influenced by Steven Gerrard into sending Tony Hibert off when he only had a yellow card in his hand? He did well in the first half, but to miss 2 blatant penalties - both fouls on Lescott, and to not send Dirk Kuyt off for the 2 footed lunge is beyond me. Had Kuyt been sent off, which he should have, he wouldn't have been on the pitch to score the second penalty possibly resulting in a save which could have earned Everton a well deserved draw( - intent is just as bad; what if he'd hit Neville and broke his leg? Would he then get a red card? But because Neville got out the way and avoided possibly a career ending injury it only warranted a yellow) I'm baffled!

Dear Miss Williams



I write in reference to your e-mail concerning the Everton vs Liverpool fixture on Saturday 20 October 2007.



The Football Association receives frequent correspondence on individual refereeing decisions across all levels of football as well as on the performance of referees in general. Every supporter will have an opinion on the game’s major talking points and we’re always interested to hear them.



Tony Hibbert’s red card

Some supporters have suggested that Liverpool’s Steven Gerrard influenced the decision to send Everton’s Tony Hibbert from the field of play. All decisions on the field of play are made by the referee and regardless of the context it is not for players to influence or advise the referee on a decision.



Select Group referees’ performances are assessed by the Professional Game Match Officials (PGMO) and appointments made accordingly (see below).



Dirk Kuyt’s challenge on Phil Neville

As supporters will be aware Liverpool’s Dirk Kuyt was booked for the challenge in question. FIFA guidelines aimed at avoiding the “re-refereeing” of matches generally prevent The FA from taking disciplinary action on incidents which are seen and dealt with at the time by the match officials (this includes taking no action). As a general rule, if the match officials see an incident and have jurisdiction to take action, The FA cannot act retrospectively. These guidelines prevent The FA from upgrading/downgrading yellow and red cards based on retrospective advice provided by the match referee.



Everton FC penalty appeals

Whether a penalty is awarded or not is a decision of the referee guided by assistance from the assistant referee. They are required to make a split second decisions based on what they see. This is subsequently analysed repeatedly by slow motion cameras and panels of football experts. Ultimately, football is a tremendously popular and successful game played worldwide under the fundamental principle that ‘the referee’s decision is final’.



Refereeing has been restructured with the aim of continued improvement of the overall standard of refereeing in the professional game. This sees match officials categorised into two groups with the Select Group officiating in the Premier League.



The Select Group is the responsibility of Keith Hackett, General Manager of the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL). Premier League refereeing enquiries should be addressed to Keith Hackett, The Premier League, 30 Gloucester Place, London W1U 8PL or via info@premierleague.com.



There is a system in place for monitoring the performance of referees and referee's assistants. This involves referees assessors and reports from club managers. All assessors come from a footballing background and the majority are fully qualified referees themselves. The performances of referees over a season are then taken into consideration when the leagues appoint their referees for the following season.



Whilst we can understand the frustration that comes with decisions going against your team The FA are confident that the disciplinary procedures off the pitch as well as the referees on the pitch uphold the Laws of the Game without bias to player or club.



We do appreciate all of the feedback we receive from supporters. This feedback is collated and used to build a picture of public opinion and is subsequently fed back internally within the organisation. Please rest assured your comments will form part of this feedback process.



Kind regards,



Alex Howells | Customer Relations Officer
The Football Association
25 Soho Square | London | W1D 4FA
T +44 (0) 20 7745 4545
www.TheFA.com



**If you wish to reply, please click on the below link to go to the contact us form**



http://www.TheFA.com/Feedback.aspx

 

[TX Bill]

There, that's all settled then.

 

[Dylan]

Still waiting for mine.

 

[Latch]

I would love to know where they stand on officials recieving, sorry accepting, signed shirts?, like i said in an earlier thread, something like that has to be illegal as it blatantly compromises the ref's concerned.
Has anybody had a reply to that question?

 

[Dom1878]

So basically, they didnt mention clattenberg once?!

Thats a crap reply, they just copied and pasted out of the 'rule book'.

 

[CanadaToffee]

And from the FA, you expected....???

 

[chicoazul]

Hint: We dont play in red, dont bother them.

 

[Robert Jarvis]

Just a "Kop" out. Why not copy and send the emails to Hackett then, the FA gave his email address in their reply.

 

[daz4matty]

The fa are living of the profits of the big clubs why bite the hand that feeds,its wrong and i,d say criminal but they will get away with it they always do,i feel sorry for poor sheffield united some pockets were lined very deep that day.

 

[heatmeiser]

Cut and Paste - tastic.