Officials need to take responsibility for their poor decisions

Over the weekend there were some shocking decisions by officials in the Premier League.

And the two biggest refereeing errors were not even debatable. Those two awful decisions came at Goodison Park and Molineux.

Red

Young Everton midfielder Jack Rodwell was on the end of one of the worst refereeing decision I have ever seen as he was dismissed for a challenge on Liverpool striker Luis Suarez. He did slightly lung in but he went for the ball, got the ball and didn’t look like he was meaning to injure Suarez.

The Uruguayan didn’t do the youngster any favours by producing a double pirouette as he fell but I didn’t think he was trying to get him sent off I think he was just trying to win a debatable foul. The blame lies squarely with referee Martin Atkinson.

The referee was on the spot and had a great view of the incident so he had no excuse for getting it wrong. I bet his face was as red as Rodwell’s card when he saw the incident again.

Penalty

The other awful refereeing decision came when Wolves midfielder Jamie O’Hara was brought down in the penalty area by Newcastle defender Steven Taylor. Everybody saw that it was in the penalty area but the referee duly pointed for a free-kick to the disbelief of everybody in the ground.

The Wolves players, staff and fans rightly went ballistic about the decision. O’Hara was a few yards in the penalty area and it was another example of shocking refereeing. Mark Halsey you should be ashamed of yourself. Wolves were also denied an injury-time equaliser, which to be fair was a bit more debatable but I feel the goal have stood.

Consistency

In the case of the Merseyside derby Martin Atkinson was more like Rowan Atkinson as he did his best impression of the bumbling Mr Bean. He showed no consistency in his refereeing at all. There were far worse challenges than Rodwell’s that went unpunished.

All we ask for is these officials maintain a certain standard and at the moment the standards of refereeing in this country is atrocious.

Acceptable

We as fans have to have accept that referee’s are human and we accept that. Doesn’t stop us as fans getting irate when they make decisions that ruin peoples weekends though. What would help most fans accept these poor decisions is if the referee came out after the game and admitted he was wrong.

However in the case of Marks Halsey and Martin Atkinson the silence is deafening at the moment. Do these referees have no honour or sense of personal pride?

Responsibility

The referee’s seem to have immunity to do whatever they like and never have to take responsibility for their mistakes.

However if a manager comes out after the game and says how he feels about the referee’s display he can get fined and dragged in front of an FA disciplinary board. I don’t think that is balanced in the right way to be honest.

Standard

The standards of refereeing in the Premier League are just not good enough. I watch a lot of La Liga and the German Bundesliga and the referees seem to be of a far higher standard than in the English top flight.

Howard Webb is supposedly the best referee in this country, yet in the last year he has produced some  nightmare displays. As a member of her majesty’s police force you would expect him to be good with rules but even he has struggled at times.

Incompetent

It seems that Martin Atkinson and Mark Halsey have made honest mistakes with the two incidents talked about. However if I made such a glaring errors at work questions people would ask about my suitability for the job.

There must now be some sort of action taken against referee’s like this to help them to learn how to do their job properly. Quite simple this weekend they had absolute nightmares and their performances overshadowed the games they were involved in.

Supporters go to the game to watch their teams not the referee so please get a grip officials and start earning your money with dignity and honour.

Should action be taken against Martin Atkinson and Mark Halsey?