RateTheRef

It’s really poor for imo for top level officials to have to deal with equipment failures. I have no doubt the technical staff work extremely hard and no blame whatsoever on them, but if a referee needs to leave for a number of minutes as Craig did, something has to improve.

A good performance otherwise I felt?

I think Craig Pawson has had a very good game. All big calls correct.

The one thing that lets him down is he appears too passive. As we have seen from the VAR audio clips, Pawson is extremely calm on the pitch. As a result, I sometimes think he doesn’t react to dissent, most likely as he isn’t bothered or fazed at all, but it looks bad and undermines authority. Even for the penalty, huge call correct, but he just keeps a small peep of the whistle and loosely points at the spot. Don’t get me wrong, his ability to stay calm is a huge asset, but I think  he should raise his body language a small bit at times.

Ref has lost complete and utter control.

I know what you mean but respectfully I disagree. You can’t control a team that behaves like this no matter who the referee is.

I agree excellent refereeing, I only hope the PGMOL back him, and it isn’t suggested that next time he might manage (i.e. ignore) the situation.

Congratulations also to Rob Hennessy from Ireland on his promotion to the UEFA first group, fantastic achievement.

Indeed the still images I have seen do look offside, but there have been many times where even a slight angle can make a player look offside who is just on. Would be nice to see the lines drawn, but I'm sure they got it correct.

Edit: Images shown at HT demonstrate, as expected, clearly onside.

I don’t agree with Blind Referee’s comment, I feel the referee was correct to abandon the match, though I am a tad confused as to why they waited until half time if that is the case.

I do wonder where we draw the line though. Any comments on gender, race or sexuality I think we can all agree warrant the most serious response from match officials and governing bodies. But what about personal comments of a different nature? What if a spectator shouted about a referees age, weight, height or other physical characteristics. I’m unsure whether most would support an abandonment for that level of offence.

And how does this scale? I know there is a procedure for EPL and UEFA games for example to deal with chanting by fans and the likes, but if a spectator shouted a sexist comment a female AR say, would the PGMOL back a referee who abandons the game? I doubt it. In that case, we aren’t really worried about the underlying wrongness of what is said, but about how brave we are allowed to be in sending a message.

To be clear, I would have no issue with a referee abandoning a match for any of the reasons I have noted regardless of the level. But I am concerned we are expecting referees with less protection at lower levels to lead the charge while top level officials can turn a deaf ear.

Finally, I agree with bmb that these issues do appear to be getting worse. A great many people seem very detached these days, and while I don’t want to pass some big societal comment, nor am I qualified to do so, I do find in my own life that empathy is a value fast going out of fashion.