RateTheRef

Quote from: Grantham Mariner on Fri 04 Oct 2019 12:41

https://www.devonlive.com/sport/where-you-draw-line-matt-3390298

Exeter manage not happy with Bret Huxtable's decisions. Should he be making his views public though? I believe this is not the first time Exeter have shown a dislike to Devon referee Bret Huxtable's refereeing.

I think his comments are very fair and reasonable, especially compared to what some other managers come out with.

Absolutely, couldn't agree more !   He asks a good reasonable question in entirely moderate terms. This change to the ludicrous requirement for fouled players to leave the field only to be waved back a second, or less, later was meant to not penalise the offended team any further than necessary. Too many referees are still making players leave the field unnecessarily. There is no consistency in its (infrequent) application. A match at Roots Hall saw a Southend player required to leave the field despite his treatment being concluded long before the referee's issuing of a deserved red card. Do they not know the rules ?  These are the easy bits - no wonder they struggle with the harder stuff.

Why shouldn't the public be privy to this reasonable question and, more importantly, to an official response. The public, or those of us who pay to watch football on a regular basis, have every right to know why referees are making the decisions they are - especially when they appear to be at odds with both the Laws and natural justice.

Quote from: Acme Thunderer on Wed 02 Oct 2019 08:36

I hesitate to mention that Charles Breakspear issued another red card in the Southend v Accrington game, suffice to say that brief highlights on Quest suggested that the card was entirely justified, as is normally the case with Charles.

He must be terribly unlucky with his appointments given that all his red cards are "entirely justified" and he manages about 3 times the average. Perhaps his general style of refereeing leads to more incidents where he can show his red card. I've always thought of him as a well below average official who courts controversy rather than seeks to manage a game unobtrusively.

The brief highlights you mention only showed one of the two yellow cards he showed Ralph so there is no way that you can say it was any more than 50% justified !

Similar thoughts have been going through my mind about Mr Breakspear for a while now.  I don't think he courts controversy nor do I consider him 'well below average'.  I would put him higher than that amongst his peers.  However the number of red cards that he has produced, over a considerable time now, suggests to me that there must be something about his style or his game management that is contributing to it.  Sadly from the outside I can't see what it might be.  I hope someone on the inside has more insight and is working on it as I believe he has the potential to be a good official at this level.