Dissent and Referees

I don't know why, but I have become much less intolerant for poor refereeing since I started playing again.

But when I saw Harry Kewell go at the referee after the Brazil match, and watching the replays afterwards, it reminded me of what I did one half-time a few weeks back. Not as severe, and of course I asked in the nicest possible way, but it was still slightly aggressive (and shocked my teammates).

Perhaps I have forgotten what it is like to have coaches run up to me and scream, but I think that there was enough close decisions going to Brazil to really mess up the game.

Sometimes I think that a referee will start to worry if a lowly ranked team starts looking good against a highly ranked one, and have their decisions influenced. It is just a shame that Australia always seems to be in that position (though admittedly about 85 mins in the Japan game, we were lucky not to concede a penalty).

I hope the standard improves, though maybe it will just be a case of one-eyed Peter wanting Australia to win, and getting annoyed when they don't.