The Sun-Herald

When will soccer introduce video technology ?
Central Coast were robbed as there was a blatant hand-ball. Im still furious with the decision. On another note, i have inside information that Italian heavyweights Juventus will be doing a pacific tour which will include China, Hong Kong & Australia in May. Im sure this will hit the news over the next month or so as Juve are one of the biggest clubs in the world.

• by Lupco Klimovski on March 01, 2008 at 09:56 AM

played the game all my life,scotland,
new zealand,australia.touch the ref,
and the penalty is suspended,sine die.
no extenuating circumstances.
end of story

• by gazza on March 01, 2008 at 10:09 PM

Meh, He deserves the punishment.

• by Timbaggins on March 01, 2008 at 10:54 PM

What about Fabregas, Rooney and Tevez. Ronaldinho isn't automatic first choice at Barça these days, Gerrard is a good chance of not playing champions league next season if he stays with the merseyside rabble, which he will and Cannavarro isn't even the best defender on his team anymore.

• by James Fisher on March 02, 2008 at 12:29 AM

I feel for the Central Coast fans. Yes, they were robbed. By their own team, which was lacklustre and outplayed. The Jets were the better team on the day, and deserved to win.

Was it really the Mariners' game plan to wait for a technical foul in injury time to scrape a penalty shot and an outside chance to send the game into extra time?

Why not just play better, like they did two weeks earlier? Why blame the referee for being human?

Slagging off at the referee is the crowd's second favourite activity, but we don't have a game without them.

• by Pierre on March 02, 2008 at 01:43 AM

The referee MARK SHIELD is the one who should be fined and suspended for 15 months. To miss the blatant obstruction on aloisi inside the box a few minutes out was tragic, but to then turn a blind eye to the very obvious hand ball was just unforgivable. Players train hard all year making big sacrifices and then they get a ref like that. What a tragedy.

• by Andy on March 02, 2008 at 07:22 AM

I played the game for almost 20 years, then refereed (to National Youth League level) for several years thereafter. As both player and referee, I understood that the 'holy of holies' was that you DID NOT EVER assault a referee. It was the expectation, when I was playing, that to do so would automatically mean a life ban.

However, times have moved on, so players now do not necessarily get life. What they should get should be based on a couple of principles:

* whatever the circumstances, the punishment for assaulting an official should be HEAVY.

* if the assault injured the official, or had the potential to cause real injury (as in De Canio's example - pushing someone heavily could cause them to strike their head on the ground), then a much much heavier penalty should apply.

* the argument that something has been dealt with on the field should be thrown out. It's idiotic, and clearly opens the door to injustice.


In Vukovic's case, the penalty is, I believe, slightly too heavy. There seemed to me to be no attempt to injure Shield nor any likelihood that real injury would ensue. In Griffiths' case, the penalty given to Vukovic would be much more fitting. I suspect that, on appeal, Vukovic's penalty will be reduced to something like a 3 month suspension, plus a 6 months suspended suspension, plus a fine - and I also suspect he'll miss the Olympics. To have him in the team may be an embarrassment we should avoid,

Whatever the outcome, FFA MUST maintain a regime where any assault on an official, even one done in a split second of acute frustration, attracts the level of suspension and fine that tells players very clearly that this is a no-go zone. If they don't do that, who'd ever want to be a referee?

• by kywong73 on March 02, 2008 at 09:58 AM

ahhhhhhhhh, the beautiful game!

• by Cherax destructor on March 02, 2008 at 11:19 AM

What is the ref's punishment for missing the penalty?

• by Shayne on March 02, 2008 at 11:58 AM

"When will soccer introduce video technology ?"

They already do - it's called the Match Referee (or Official). The real problem is in the rules: if the incident has been dealt with on the field then there is nothing that can be done about it. The "Red Faces" in the FFA are (apparently) attempting to rectify this and allow more post-match analysis. However, this is a departure from FIFA rules and they will need special permission.

As for Video during the match? If the referee (and the official) didn't see the handball (or else it would have been given), and the only reason you go to the video is because five CCM players surround the ref and harass him or her about an incident, then it will merely promote "appealing" to the ref and players attempting to take control of the game. At what point does a players appeal become a legitimate one? When another player agrees? Two others? Six?

• by esol on March 02, 2008 at 01:32 PM

We could expect nothing less than a ban for Danny. It would have been simply wrong for his actions to go without a significant penalty. I don't think that issue is up for debate. There is no injustice here, but a clear application of the rules to punish "violent" conduct.

I think the injustice occurred many weeks previously when Matthew Breeze failed to issue a red card to Griffiths and the FFA were unable to follow up a case of violent conduct. Or when Danny was red carded by Breeze for an accidental hand ball outside of the area. Or when the studs up tackle that broke Sonic's leg went unpunished. No matter which club you follow, this season we have all seen too many bad calls.

For me, as a long standing Mariners' fan and life-long football fan, I have been unimpressed with the referees this season. We can forget the Grand Final incident, it's just a diversion, as the Jets already had the game in the bag and they were the better of two uninspiring performances on the day.

I don't think the issue is about Danny and the hi-five. The issue is about the referees. That decision was not a missed hand ball in isolation it was yet another bad decision to add to the catalog of bad decisions that have plagued the A-League this season. That fact alone has inflated fans' reaction to it. It is yet another injustice that has occurred on the park this season; the icing on the cake in a comedy of errors.

Yes referees and linesmen are human, they make mistakes, but when referees and linesmen make too many mistakes throughout a season the frustrations build.

I think that is what was demonstrated at the end of the Grand Final; frustration at a season of poor decision making which goes beyond human fallibility and edges into incompetence. The two missed offenses in the Jet's box were the icing on the cake, not the issue itself.

It's not just one way though. Sitting in the stands this season it has been common for many people to snicker at a referee when he makes a bad call in our favour and to throw our arms up in frustration when the bad call goes against us. This happened too often.

I think it is a shame that the Danny incident is being used to cloud the core issue; while the players are getting better season-on-season the officials are not.

This is something the FFA need to deal with if they want the A-League to succeed.

• by DK on March 02, 2008 at 03:17 PM

I think the Mariners goalie should be let off. Imagine how you feel when you have just been robbed of grand final glory because the referee and his linesman were all blind and missed a blatant handball. You dont get to play a grand final every year and for the referee and the Jets to cheat the Mariners out of possible Grand Final glory would be hard to take, i wouldnt blame him if he knocked the guy out with a punch. Referees are frustrating and video replays should be brought in. As for todays article on the most influential players on the planet i couldnt argue with the the guys you mentioned although Timmy Cahill would be in the top 10-15 players in the world at the moment, the guy is a goal-scoring machine for Everton and Australia and im sure most world class defenders wouldnt like coming up against him.

• by Nathan on March 02, 2008 at 11:18 PM

The real issue here is that Matthew Breeze and Mark Shield are still A-League referees, both will do a game a week next year, both will do finals games next year, and Shield will have the grand final and be named FFA and AFC referee of the year.

They will both look like complete clowns along the way, and everyone but the FFA will notice.

When will it end?

• by mental on March 02, 2008 at 11:34 PM

What a ripper your feature story in the Sun herald was Matthew. Its been long overdue and nice to see some actual photos of the big guns in action. I aint going to argue with the players you mentioned as they are all giants in the game. Would like to know who were some of the players that were hard to leave out ?
Wayne Rooney, Emmanuel Adabayor, Alessandro Nesta, Ruud Van Nistleroy, Gennaro Gattuso, Robinho, Francisco Totti, Frank Lampard are some names that come into my mind. To the person who said Juventus could do a tour down under, i hate that team with a passion along with Chelsea. They have the most over-rated player in world football in Alessandro Del Piero. Chelsea's Andriy Shevchenko is another world class flop. Probably the flop of the century. As for the biggest lunatics in the game, i think former Tottenham star Paul Gascoigne, Former Manchester United star Eric Cantona, Former West Ham player Paolo Di Canio and the raving lunatic and motor mouth Marco Materazzi are the 4 biggest pests in the game who all deserve an upper-cut.

• by Col on March 03, 2008 at 09:09 AM

Who cares, its only soccer anyway. Its almost now as dumb as league.

• by ryan on March 03, 2008 at 11:14 AM

What's wrong with just a 3 match ban and a stiff fine? CCM already paid the penalty by losing the championship. Also, why now punish the Olyroos by denying us of fielding the best possible GK?

• by Paul on March 09, 2008 at 06:14 AM