RateTheRef

 A few nights ago I was out with some male friends for dinner.We support two different clubs.

 Over our food amongst other topics we got into a discussion about behind closed doors friendlies when two clubs agree a game whilst there is an international break or if both clubs are not involved in a cup competition.

 Question we were asking was who referees this type of fixture ?

 Is it current SG or NL refs with a full complement of assistants and a fourth official or maybe a recently retired ref  and a couple of local ones to run the line.


Any responses will be gratefully received.
 I mentioned that I contribute to this website and I am sure learned ladies and gentlemen will be able to assist.

Quote from: robbieg on Sat 17 Jan 2026 23:56

Quote from: rustyref on Sat 17 Jan 2026 22:45

Quote from: robbieg on Sat 17 Jan 2026 22:35

.....about eight minutes from full time there was a collision between a Palace forward and Sunderland defender Omar Alderete which ended up with our defender injured.I sit behind the North Stand goal where the incident occurred and whilst it looked like a flailing arm or hand it was purely unintentional when the contact came.

Alderete lay on the pitch for a few seconds and the referee waved on our physio however what happened then was the player got up and pointed at his lower jaw and cheek area where the contact had taken place and he didn't need treatment.

The referee insisted he had a head injury and made him leave the field of play even though he jogged off without any assistance however this left us one man down for thirty seconds.

 What a silly silly thing to do by the referee.

Once the referee authorises treatment the player has to go off, it doesn't matter whether any treatment actually occurs.

.........but the player himself indicated he wasn't injured at all.

What is Robert Jones. A high quality referee or a medical professional ?

A referee which is why he quite rightly handed over any decision regarding a potential head injury to the team medical staff…

 Which he then overruled.

 He ordered the player to leave the field without our medical staff ever entering before then allowing play to restart after giving the ball back to our goalkeeper.

To be honest rightly or wrongly it just looked so very very messy.

Quote from: robbieg on Sat 17 Jan 2026 22:35

.....about eight minutes from full time there was a collision between a Palace forward and Sunderland defender Omar Alderete which ended up with our defender injured.I sit behind the North Stand goal where the incident occurred and whilst it looked like a flailing arm or hand it was purely unintentional when the contact came.

Alderete lay on the pitch for a few seconds and the referee waved on our physio however what happened then was the player got up and pointed at his lower jaw and cheek area where the contact had taken place and he didn't need treatment.

The referee insisted he had a head injury and made him leave the field of play even though he jogged off without any assistance however this left us one man down for thirty seconds.

 What a silly silly thing to do by the referee.

Once the referee authorises treatment the player has to go off, it doesn't matter whether any treatment actually occurs.

.........but the player himself indicated he wasn't injured at all.

What is Robert Jones. A high quality referee or a medical professional ?

No problem whatsoever with Robert Jones but three  times in ten Sunderland home games so far this season.

Would loved to have seen a Kavanagh or a Hooper.

Just watching an episode of THE BIG MATCH REVISITED today and it featured two games from the [ then] first division from April 23rd 1976 featuring QPR V Leeds Utd and Ipswich v Derby.

 The referees that day were referred to as Mr Gow and a Mr Walters [ who was officiating for the final occasion that day].

 

 Just out of curiosity on a winter's afternoon who were they and did they have long refereeing careers ?

 Are both still alive ?

Please can I ask a polite question ?

 i know it is decades since Keith Hackett refereed at the top level but just WHAT HAS HE GOT against Sunderland AFC ?

 This season our disciplinary record is no better or worse than most other clubs but every week he is having a pop at the club not only that but it is then transcending down to the referees who officiate at our games and having seen every minute of every fixture there is not one incident either for or against us that I would criticise the officials for.

 Every week he is pinpointing certain incidents that happened such as goals that in his opinion should have been disallowed and challenges which [ once again in his opinion] should have resulted in a red card.

 He took exception over the tackle two weeks ago on Newcastle United player Dan Burn by Nordi Mukiele that the match referee Peter Bankes saw as a yellow card............straight red according to Mr Hackett.

 Last week at Brighton once again match referee Darren England issued a yellow card to Dan Ballard for a foul .Wasn't even debated on this forum so it was what it was. According to Mr Hackett once again straight red card.

FINALLY in the game with Leeds yesterday he said the Sunderland goal should not have stood due to Adringa being offside [ checked and cleared by VAR] and Tony Harrington has failed in his duties by not sending off at least one Sunderland player during the game.

 It is interesting to note that no thread has been started regarding the referee's performance either one way or the other.........and to be honest I always place 100% trust on opinion given by those who post on here so I am satisfied that the performance of Tony Harrington was would have been expected of someone in his position until someone who is more qualified than myself says otherwise.

 In the past he has had regular goes at us including one fixture last season proclaiming that Sunderland would be heavily fined for not controlling their players......can't remember which game it was or what incident was the old boy was referring to but nothing official ever came of it.

 Does he have digs at other clubs or is it just Sunderland ? 

 It really is becoming irritating but am happy to be corrected if other contributors think otherwise.

 Regards  as ever.

Peter Bankes managed the occasion AND refereed the game itself extremely well.

 There are a lot of referees  could look at the VT of the game and learn a lot from his performance.