What's the worst bit of refereeing you've ever seen?

[Pete’s Picture Palace]

I realise it might be a thankless task to pick just one bit of inept refereeing, but I think what I saw at Selhurst Park yesterday takes the proverbial biscuit, above the 1966 World Cup final goal, the Hand of God, and Ray Tinkler scuppering Leeds at West Brom. Several by Clattenburg also come to mind. And Graham Poll issuing 3 yellows. OK, some may be worse than the below.......

Now, as you know, I'm a Palace man so am delighted with the 3 points, as they say in the interview room after the game.

But in the last minute of stoppage time, Villa's Jack Grealish ran at the Palace defence, was nudged in the back by Zaha, kept going, laid the ball off to Lansbury and then when challenged by Cahill, fell over. Lansbury scored.

The referee, Kevin Friend, had whistled for a dive as the ball was on its way to Lansbury. He disallowed the goal, booked Grealish, and denied Villa a precious point.

I can only imagine the outcry from Palace fans had roles been reversed and Zaha had tumbled in the box while passing to a teammate.

Now, why would Grealish have dived, having already successfully laid the ball off? Is he that stupid?

In my opinion, he didn't dive at all. The referee got it completely wrong. And as for VAR, what a farce. The technology is there to overturn a rubbish decision, but they can't use it because he whistled. What a fiasco!

[farmersboy]

This one has stayed with me for nearly 40 years.
1980, FA cup 3rd rd. Pompey then div 4 v Middlesbrough, then div 1. In front of 31000 at Fratton park. I kept the £2 admission money under my mattress so I wouldn't spend it. Being on the dole at the time I didn't eat for about 3 days!
Last minute 1-1, Pompey's Alan Rogers, gets to the bye line and pulls back a perfect cross. Terry Brisley coming from deep as usual, slots it in. Delirium, but no, a free kick is given for offside out on the wing. Presumably Rogers was in an offside position after crossing the ball. Even by the offside rules of the day, Rogers was clearly not interfering with play after he had crossed the ball out on the wing.
Lost 3-0 in the replay

[overlap]

Got to be that flamboyant attention seeker Clive Thomas disallowing Bryan Hamilton's goal for Everton against Liverpool in the 1977 FA Cup semi final.

He never did quite decide on the reason why he didn't give it.

[Five and In]

Nobody else will remember this one except me, but I'm still aggrieved by it!

Back in the mid eighties I was playing Sunday morning football in London for Edmonton Green as a right back.

A cross field ball came my way as I raced like a wing back ahead of my time down the touchline inside my own half.

I chested the ball down perfectly and was away with only the goal in sight and a very rare chance scoring already in my mind....until, the referee blew his whistle for handball!!

I was not very happy obviously and as an angry young man, I proceeded to throw the ball at the ref and was then called over to receive the inevitable yellow card.

Still fuming, when asked for my name (which is Buck), I managed to spell it incorrectly and added OFF to assist in his spelling of it.

Unsurprisingly, a red card followed to which I took my shirt off and threw that at the ref before being dragged away by several of my team mates.

I received a four week suspension and a £28 fine for my actions.

Where was VAR when I needed it?

[PhilWBA]

The more I see the Grealish incident the more I feel the ref got it right, Grealish leaves his leg dangling waiting for the contact, something he does on a regular basis. He has no need to do stuff like this as the bloke is talented but he's another in a line of talented players with a justified reputation.

This season the refs we've had especially our recent game against Reading have been awful, worst one that springs to mind was a midweek game against Manchester United where Rob Styles was in charge, absolute nightmare of a game for him.

[pafcprogs]

In a Ford five a side game the ball whistled past the upright and through the ill fastened net. The players trotted back to line up for the kick-off restart only to look horrified as they saw the referee pointing for a goal kick.

Even the goalie who had just been reprieved looked slightly confused before quickly taking the goal kick in case the ref changed his mind.

Not my finest hour in black! Luckily the team penalised ran out comfortable winners and even invited me on their coach tour to Germany to play their German counterparts as their designated linesman....and during which tour we were presented with champagne at a nightclub who somehow got the impression we were a Spurs reserve team on a pre-season tour...but that' a whole other story.
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[pompeypete]

1992/93 pompey v leicester play off 2nd leg

offside goal by at least 5 yards..............


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[pompeypete]

1970/71 Pompey away to Leicester (again)

disallowed goal

And to make things worst Peter shilton quoted thats the 2nd time a goal had been disallowed by hitting the stanchion in 5 months, the other being v aston villa......villa lost 1-0.


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[seand]

Five and In wrote:

Nobody else will remember this one except me, but I'm still aggrieved by it! Back in the mid eighties I was playing Sunday morning football in London for Edmonton Green as a right back. A cross field ball came my way as I raced like a wing back ahead of my time down the touchline inside my own half. I chested the ball down perfectly and was away with only the goal in sight and a very rare chance scoring already in my mind....until, the referee blew his whistle for handball!! I was not very happy obviously and as an angry young man, I proceeded to throw the ball at the ref and was then called over to receive the inevitable yellow card. Still fuming, when asked for my name (which is Buck), I managed to spell it incorrectly and added OFF to assist in his spelling of it. Unsurprisingly, a red card followed to which I took my shirt off and threw that at the ref before being dragged away by several of my team mates. I received a four week suspension and a £28 fine for my actions. Where was VAR when I needed it?

Your hand was in an unnatural position.

[Pete’s Picture Palace]

I can think of some Palace goals ruled out by blind officals. Clive Allen at Coventry 1980. It was on MOTD too. Everyone reading this will be familiar.

Freddie Sears at Bristol City around 2007. A low drive hit the bottom of the stanchion, came straight out, Palace players celebrated, City players stopped and looked at each other accusingly. The referee waved play on. Palace's ebullient manager, Warnock, went mad. He wasn't alone.

But going back to the original issue, surely if Grealish "dived", or perhaps fell, to the ground, he released the ball to a teammate who scored. He didn't appeal for a foul and nobody stopped despite the whistle. I maintain it was extremely harsh on Villa, and they gained nothing from it even if it was a "dive". It didn't cause Palace to stop or change direction. Had the referee allowed the goal to stand, and had a word with or even booked Grealish later, that, in my view, would have been correct.

[Benno Spire]

David Elleray not giving the goal that crossed the line when Chesterfield played middlesbrough in the FA Cup semi depriving Chesterfield a place in the final.
To make it worse he admitted the mistake later in his career.
Now he is responsible for VAR!!

Now we are in the National league I see bad refereeing every game. Whoever shouts loudest in a tackle gets the free kick and its OK to handle the ball in the box and its OK to blatantly time waste and its OK to commit would throws.

[Texas Rangers]

This one takes a bit of beating and a Cup final was decided on it. You can even see Roy Aitken look at Valentine as if to say, I’m going to take this and I’ll see what you do.

https://youtu.be/JPj6Gyc3a74

The referee ( Madden) in yesterday’s old firm game watched McGregor of Celtic scythe down Arfield, played an advantage and never even talked to him afterward. The only decision to be made was whether it was a red or yellow.

Later in the same game, right in front of Madden, McGregor goes down in a “tackle” that wasn’t even close to happening. He even gave the free kick to Rangers for simulation. As clear a case of simulation as you’ll find. No card, not even talked to. And before I’m charged with sour grapes, Celtic were well worth their win.

[pastpirate]

Back in the early ninties. Rovers v Derby at Twerton Park. Rovers were 2-1 up with a few mins to go. A derby forward broke free just inside our half and was clean through on goal. Geoff Twentyman rugby tackled him. Geoff knew what he did and assumed he would be sent of. (He was on a yellow already) and was actually walking down the tunnel when his team mates called him back telling him the ref didn't give a foul. Not one person in the stadium could believe it. Was I happy? Oh yes, we won the game.
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[williebhoy]

I well remember the incident in the cup final, although my take on it is slightly different. Most certainly it was a Rangers throw in, however such decisions are commonplace in every game, throw-ins,corners, free kicks awarded incorrectly. As kids you are taught to play to the whistle, in the cup final, I am sure Rangers regained possession at least TWICE so can only blame themselves.

The challenge by McGregor was at worst a yellow card, no injury or stoppage most likely a warning, but why stop play for an innocuous foul. Jack's studs up challenge was a different case entirely, player was clearly injured and intent was clear..high and dangerous, yet a yellow.

Overall Madden handled a difficult game very well indeed, neither side can have any complaints

Texas Rangers wrote:

This one takes a bit of beating and a Cup final was decided on it. You can even see Roy Aitken look at Valentine as if to say, I’m going to take this and I’ll see what you do. https://youtu.be/JPj6Gyc3a74 The referee ( Madden) in yesterday’s old firm game watched McGregor of Celtic scythe down Arfield, played an advantage and never even talked to him afterward. The only decision to be made was whether it was a red or yellow. Later in the same game, right in front of Madden, McGregor goes down in a “tackle” that wasn’t even close to happening. He even gave the free kick to Rangers for simulation. As clear a case of simulation as you’ll find. No card, not even talked to. And before I’m charged with sour grapes, Celtic were well worth their win.

[GrestytheLion]

A bit late to the party with this one and I didn't actually see it. I used to work with a league assistant referee. One day in the office I met him by the coffee shop and asked how was he and had he done a game recently. Alongside me was a Watford fan and the conversation went something like this.

Yes I did a game yesterday, had a nightmare.

Watford fan - couldn't do any worse than the clown we had last night. Gave us a penalty when the incident clearly happened outside the area. Not that I'm complaining we won the game.

Said friend, yup that was me...

Apparently whilst doing the line he flagged on a breakaway for a penalty that sky had great pleasure in showing was outside the area. He was dropped for several games, awarded from the assessor on that one incident a ridiculously low mark and only later in the season at a match at Southend redeem himself..

[pafcprogs]

On a tangential note I was studying to do the Referees exam in the East End of London, under the tutelege of the excellent Alan something or other ( he was a former league ref and a brilliant tutor and full of anecdotes,,,but his surname escapes me!)

Anyway, one evening he brought along one of his protoges to help out, and we got chatting. I had only recently arrived in London and my flatmate and I from Plymouth had taken in a friendly at Clapton FC which was just down the road from our flat. As we were chatting we talked about the stick refrees and linesmen got and I recalled my friend and I had given the linesman on our side of the game awful stick and his performance had gradually deteriorated as the crown gave him more and more stick.

Lockie Bramzell, for it was he I was talking to, then introduced himself and said it was one of the worst nights he had had for years as he had just stepped up to running the line at that higher level, and whilst he admitted he had dropped a ricket he was amazed that the sparse crowd had got onto his back for a friendly.

I apologised for the unwarranted victimisation and he then proceeded to give me a rules teat using every trick in the book, inclusing stoopping the test after a few minutes ( it was done with a small pitch and players counters) to ask why I had allowed the game to start with one side having twelve players on the pitch.

Revenge was a dish best served cold that nigh ( for him) but I did pass the exam a couple of weeks later.
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Currently disposing of my collection so please email any wants lists to [email protected].
Most Plymouth post 1959 but plenty of others including reserves, friendlies, Cup Finals Internationals and Club issues, handbooks and other sports.