tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6165780438929797577.post8133845226183412069..comments2024-03-21T00:30:32.509-07:00Comments on From A Left Wing: I (Heart) RefereesUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6165780438929797577.post-21560678694748741452008-04-06T12:03:00.000-07:002008-04-06T12:03:00.000-07:00thank you neville for taking up the whistle, and f...thank you neville for taking up the whistle, and for reading my blog!Jennifer Doylehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05004554513454749517noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6165780438929797577.post-54461834504770632482008-04-06T10:37:00.000-07:002008-04-06T10:37:00.000-07:00Thanks for this piece, referees seldom get anythin...Thanks for this piece, referees seldom get anything other than harsh criticism that it's refreshing to hear somebody acknowledge the role we play.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6165780438929797577.post-90307210971740175382008-03-25T07:56:00.000-07:002008-03-25T07:56:00.000-07:00i know. one would hope that referees in these sett...i know. one would hope that referees in these settings would be immune from such intimidation - be it overt or subtle. but alas, they are not. it's around these issues that i suppose we see that line surface between our fantasies about football as a space apart, and the reality - that it's a big business, just like everything else these days. i suppose this is one reason why my own passions tend to be directed towards amateur scenes.Jennifer Doylehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05004554513454749517noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6165780438929797577.post-68043080402260744532008-03-25T05:25:00.000-07:002008-03-25T05:25:00.000-07:00The referee is also, or ought to be, one of the fe...The referee is also, or ought to be, one of the few points of resistance to monopoloy culture in football. Why is it that it is the players of the big 4 who habitually act appallingly to referees (witness the Chelsea posse who managed to get Ashley Cole's cowardly assault on Alan Hutton downgraded to a mere yellow card two weeks ago)? because they know referees are intimidated by the power of the clubs they represent, that they are one step away from awarding them the majority of decisions anyway, and that unjustified outrage, enacted in the perverted name of principle, is a crucial way of keeping an excess of power in their hands. Seen in this light, the referee symbolises a utopian dream of equity in a world of increasingly privatised power and merciless market predation. That the long march for social reform and justice should come to this . . .lee63https://www.blogger.com/profile/16298631761375287859noreply@blogger.com