RateTheRef

Overall, I think Tierney has had a fairly good game so far but totally overshadowed by the conduct of Constantine Hatzidakis.

One criticism of Tierney would be dishing out the yellow card to Alexander-Arnold for his (justifiable) protests.

I am sorry, but if it is a caution for dissent then the justification does not come into it.  If the decision is wrong (and I am not saying that in this case it is), then showing dissent by word or action is a cautionable offence.   It might be entirely understandable, but not justified.

The hypocrisy of this stinks.  It reminds me of players who scream and shout, eff and blind at you and then complain when a match official responds in similar terms by saying:  "You cannot talk to me like that" with faux outrage.

I would be perfectly happy for Constantine Hatzidakis to receive the correct punishment if the offence is properly investigated, a fair hearing held and guilt proved to the necessary level of certainty.  At the same time we need to have a "reset" in the way the football players and team officials treat match officials.  The following are all covered by the laws of the game and - from this point forward - should be correctly and consistently sanctioned according to those laws:-
~  Dissent by word or action.
~  Offensive, Insulting and/or Abusive language to a match official - either enforce it or change the law and allow it.
~  Faking serious injury to secure a caution / sending off of an opponent.
~  Crowding a referee to dispute a decision.
~  Asking for a VAR check (pointless in any case as they take place automatically.
~  Fannying around at the award of a penalty kick to delay matters and put the player taking the penalty kick off.
~  Any confrontation or physical contact with a match official (should be a red card followed by a minimum ban of x games - advised up front so the offending player knows the risk.
~ Delaying the restart of play (this used to be a mandatory caution, but go lost in the desire to "manage the game").

If Constantine Hatzidakis cops a lengthy ban but the above comes to pass, then it will have been worth it.  It will also be a miracle, but then it is Easter.

Quote from: bmb on Sun 09 Apr 2023 18:27

https://twitter.com/rayrayofficial/status/1645103261186129923?s=46&t=0Vr8lrEjWf6BS7tuk8ceJA

For those who haven’t seen the clip.

Doesn't work!

Quote from: bmb on Mon 10 Apr 2023 12:54

Quote from: bmb on Sun 09 Apr 2023 18:27

https://twitter.com/rayrayofficial/status/1645103261186129923?s=46&t=0Vr8lrEjWf6BS7tuk8ceJA

For those who haven’t seen the clip.

Doesn't work!

Shame - it was working earlier! This one is still working at the moment: https://twitter.com/AntonioMango4/status/1645378370132221952

Robertson is right in his face and obviously has hold of his arm, you can see this when Hatzidakis raises his arm because the players arm goes with it. Not condoning it because I think it's the wrong reaction but to me he looks more like he was trying to push his arm off of him but more forcefully than he should have.   

Reinforces to me the need for the FA to act on players aggressively approaching the match officials in the first place. Had the player not gone charging over to him, getting in his face and grabbing his arm it wouldn't have happened. It's as simple as that, imo.

If I were the AR I would be contacting a solicitor with the view of holding my employer responsible for failing to protect me in my workplace.
If you were working as a receptionist and you were constantly berated by users of a service you have the right of protection

An AR has no control in the way of sanctions,unlike the Referee,so just has to stand there and take it.

The media play a huge role in all of this. A few years ago they had a choice to make - condemn bad behaviour of players & the dark arts or go all out in whipping up the referee is to blame narrative, they chose the latter.

Perhaps if they had run their campaign calling out bad behaviour and the dark arts we wouldn't be in the position we are in. When pundits make comments such as you love to see it when a player or manager/coach is confronting a ref it says it all.

We don't get a lot right in Hungary but the media is the complete opposite there. A player falls over thin air and the pundits tell them to get up, call them embarrassing, ridicule them. When they get a yellow for waving the imaginary yellow at a ref, the pundits laugh at them and make comments such as well there's the yellow he wanted or good to see his complaining wasn't in vain and he got rewarded with a card. They show dissent pundits say oh shut up! Any dissent is yellow carded or a red depending on what is said or if there is any hint of aggression, the rare glimpses of the dark arts are rewarded with bookings for simulation. There is very little dissent, very little dark arts and referees are backed by the Federation and the media - it makes a huge difference.

The instigator of the confrontation is Robertson. If someone lays a hand on you in an aggressive manner it is perfectly justifiable, in my view, to take the minimum action to ensure one's own safety. Shrugging off someone by moving your own arm to create a safe space is quite acceptable. If this is what CH has done then he is without fault. If however he has acted in temper using more than the minimum force necessary to create a safe space then he must face the consequences. How this might be determined is not easy though.

The authorities have got to do something meaningful and quickly to stop such aggression being shown to match officials. If they do not then an extremely serious incident with somebody getting badly hurt is not far away

The only thing to do is to walk away and advise the referee of the incident. Waving your arms around will never defuse the situation.

I agree that waving one's arms about is not going to defuse a situation. From what I have seen of the clip, CH did not "wave his arms about " he used his arm to create a space between him and Robertson. It may be that having felt Robertson's hand on his person he feared physical as well as verbal abuse. Walking away is good counsel certainly but if in the moment he felt attacked then he had a right to take commensurate action to ensure his immediate safety.