Is giving officials abuse counter-productive?

[Fifes Elite]

Having a interesting debate at work regarding the crowd and how they can sway the referee into making a decision. I'v always maintained when you visit grounds of the so called "bigger teams" then quite often crowd pressure can effect the referee and make him think twice about giving decisions against them or might be swayed into giving a penalty it there’s a big shout or even numerous big shouts against earlier decisions made by the officials. I for one can give linesman or referee's pelters if I think he has made a clear mistake or is being inconsistent although I don't sit on the edge of my seat waiting for an excuse to berate them.

A guy a  my work has a different view that many referee's would be less inclined to give you a decision if you are giving them dogs abuse the whole game.

Kenny Arnott touched on the topic at the last supporters council meeting where he said there had been a few complaints by linesman of abuse at games and he went onto to say "referee's and linesman talk to each other". Which I took to mean we might be getting a bit of a reputation on the subject.

 

I was wondering what people thought?  Does the stick become counter productive most of the time or is it to our advantage overall?

 

[Paradox]

TBF the officials that run the line in front of the NW tend to get an absolute roasting most games.  That said, I don't think many people are going out of their way to do it.

It's all borne out of frustration at the generally poor standard of refereeing in this country.

I think on Saturday the NW side linesman had a great view of the tackle on Josh, and had that been acted upon accordingly, the Ayr players might not have been so inclined to lunge into other reckless tackles.  He also had what looked like a decent view of the tackle on Callum, as well as the penalty claim in the second half (when the Ayr player as good as caught the ball with both arms), and the elbow on BRE.

In recent seasons, linesmen seem to be really hesitant and indecisive a lot of the time, which means they either aren't good enough, or aren't sure of the call they are making.

[Fifes Elite]

Someone did mention that refs and linos agree duties before a game. So some lino's only call balls out of play and offsides for some? I remember when an Amateur ref came in for one of our games because of an injury the ref called the offsides from them on and the guy only flagged for balls out of play.

Also we have to remember they often have headsets to talk to each other so linesman could be advising gthe ref without putting their flag up

[Vinnie]

If I was a ref I'd be less inclined to award free kicks for marginal decisions.  If Im not allowed to give the V's, I'll wind you up in other ways.  Maybe that's just me.

I don't think Linesmen or Refs have a predetermined idea that they are going to give decisions either way, although I would imagine they have an idea of who the talkers are, how the divers are, and who the choppers are, and will be ready to pay them extra attention when they get involved in play.

[Fifes Elite]

So Vinnie admits he would be a cheating bassa ;-)

I think you are right the refs and linemans all know the players and who to watch out for, I actually think that doesn' help Josh at times he has a reputation for going down a bit easy but he also gets some nasty challenges too. Some harsh fouls arn't punished properly at time, a classic example on him being Saturday's tackle which is a straight red any day of the week

 

[Deutsch Par]

Not sure if it is counter productive tbh.  If you're going to do a job of officiating at football matches then you should have a thick skin and if a wee bit abuse is upsetting then you should look for something else especially as the North West is close enough for any marginal decision going the wrong way for the linesman to hear exactly what he's being called, having said that East End Park isn't the only ground where the linesman is only a couple of paces away, Glebe and Stair Park are two examples that come to mind.

[Elmer J. Fudd]

I don't think there can be any doubt that there are folk in the north west just itching to berate the linesman, for any small decision. There are those who stand in the stairwells just to get a better run at him and others climbing over the security to get to the wall. It was happening on Saturday and will always happen.

 

i would hope that officials are not influenced in any way.

[Fifes Elite]

I do think they are influenced at ibrox and celtic park. One of the games we played Rangers a couple of seasons ago one of our players was pressing the Rangers player in their half in the corner nearest the the pars fans with him sheilding the ball with his back to what would be our goal.

 

He then used his right to grab the pars player behind hims shirt and pull it down as the pars player was trying to get the ball. The lino is yards away and no one else is around them and he blows for a freekick to Rangers. Me and my mate just looked at each other and burst out laughing it was pretty much clear as day nonsense from the lino.

 

I think the media up roar when the officials  make a mistake against the old firm coupled with the fans furore does effect refs, I do think the ref on Saturday was determined to be strong against a vocal Dunfermline crowd hence the reason he didnt want to send off their number 8 for persistant fouling or the challenge on Josh

 

 

[D.A.F.C]

During the Calderwood era I can think of lots of games where we were the equal of the old firm at eep and thought that their fans definitely shouted at the ref until they got decisions. There was a 3-3 game where their big Greek defender wrestled Andy Tod to the ground twice. Rather than give the pen he told him to stop it. Next corner comes in and he does it again. The ref almost apologised when giving the pen.

Another game they were struggling Cannigia wins a free kick on the touchline then throws in in to almost the 18 yard line. Crosses it in and goal.

behind the linesman was about 300 rangers fans. Pretty sure he flags for that otherwise.