fevnut's musings
Refereeing
Oh how fans
love to blame referees for everything. Poor refereeing not only leads fans to
believe they are cheating but also, we think, has been one of the root causes
of players playing for penalties.
But it is
not always the fault of individual referees but more likely the instructions
they have been given. It would appear that the instructions given mean that the
referees are unable or unwilling to risk using their judgement over
interference at the play-the-ball.
We are sick
and tired of seeing players gaining penalties by deliberately heeling the ball
into an opponent at the play-the ball or even worse the dummy-half throwing the
ball at them. It’s becoming a real blot on our game and makes us look more like
the cheats of Premier League football.
Last week,
on television, we saw an absolutely appalling decision in the game between
Saint Helens and Huddersfield. In an incident late in the game, Huddersfield
player Suaia Matagi brought off a good tackle on Dominic Peyroux in front of
the Huddersfield posts. Peyroux then rolled himself on top of Matagi, pinning
him to the ground, before getting up and heeling the ball into Matagi who had
absolutely no possibility of getting out of the way, but nevertheless had a
penalty awarded against him for interference.
It really
does seem that the referees are under instruction to award a penalty
whatever the circumstances. Well, you can’t expect to have good referees if
they have to behave like robots!
Injuries
It seems to us that to have a good, successful club
requires having supporters who are happy and feel that they have a stake in the
club. Fans should not be taken for granted but made to feel valued. And that
means the club keeping them informed rather than them having to rely on guesswork.
One of the problems with guesswork is that is the perfect
fuel for rumours and innuendos, particularly in the age of social media.
Several times, already, this season there have been
posts by fans requesting information about injured players. Usually, if they
get a reply it is in the form of A spoke to B who spoke to C who spoke to the
player involved and by this means we get a response but it is one that cannot
be relied upon. It is fraught with the possibility of ‘Chinese Whispers’
syndrome or even malicious rumour-mongering.
We have seen many examples in other sports (and
occasionally in rugby league) where clubs post on their own website information
about player injuries and when they are likely to be fit to play again. There
was even an example last year at Fev when the physio reported on the injury
situation and fans were really grateful for the information. But it never
happened again.
So, here’s a plea and a positive suggestion to
those who run the club. Could we make it a weekly task for the physio to write
a brief report on the injuries within our squad and when we can expect to see
them back on the field?
We’d love to know what the situation is with
Thompson Teteh, Connor Carey, Calum Turner and Josh Walters.
Débuts
Last week
was our 7th match of the season and the first in which there wasn’t a single
player who was making their début. This
year so far there have been twelve players playing for Fev for the first time.
By way of comparison, in the 1976/77 season, when we were league champions,
there were only three débutants in
the whole season. And that season the first team played 41 matches!
There seem
to be far more injuries these days and with the preponderance of loans and dual
registration it seems to be virtually impossible to select a consistent team
who have that vital experience of playing together.
Discipline
We spoke too soon! Last
week we wrote celebrating the big improvement the team had made. And then we go
to Swinton and get 9 penalties awarded against us and 3 players shown yellow
cards. The penalties can happen on a bad day but there is absolutely no excuse
for three players having to sit out ten minutes and leave us a player short.
When you play against a
team that is struggling, the game is always going to get a bit niggly. But it
really is about time that we learned how to use the frustrations of the
opposition to our advantage and not theirs!
We don’t know what
happened in the tackle before the confrontation that led to Josh Hardcastle
getting his yellow card. But we do know that it ended up with Josh throwing a
punch (albeit a rather gentle one that was more like a slap). There is no doubt
that the Swinton player was angry and threatening towards Josh.
How much better it would
have been if Josh had laughed at him and walked away. It might also have
provoked the Swinton player in attempting to punch and get himself a yellow or
even red card. It’s called using your intelligence. Easier said than done ‘in
the heat of battle’ but far more productive for the team.
In these days of detailed
video analysis we can probably expect provocative actions by other teams. Let’s
not get caught out by it like we used to match after match against Leigh!
One good bit of news is that
despite those 9 penalties we are still currently the least penalised team in
the Championship!
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