Gillingham FC Forum

To The Football League

I am writing to complain about Referee Kevin Wright who was The Referee at Bramall Lane as Gillingham lost 2 - 1 to Sheffield United on The 27th of September.

I thought Kevin Wright gave some favorable decisions to the host and I felt Sheffield United were awarded some soft free kicks and his decision making wasn't consistent for both sides.

I thought there blatant foul in the build up to Sheffield United's winning goal as Luke Norris was clearly fouled and Gillingham should of been awarded a free kick and I have no idea why nine minutes of additional time were played at the end of The Second Half when The Fourth Official put up six minutes on his board.

I don't think Referee's are accountable for the decisions they make - a poor manager gets sacked, a poor player gets dropped or rested, but a poor referee is in-charge of another match the following week.

I know referee's have a difficult and challenging job, but when Sheffield United score in the 97th minute when six minutes are shown by the fourth official, I feel like Gillingham have been cheated and what happened at the end of today's match was infuriating and that result was difficult to take.

Thank You for reading My Email and I hope I will get a response to the concerns I have raised in this email.

Thank you for your email, this has been passed through to the referees department for their information.

Firstly, it is worth stating that The League receives numerous queries and complaints regarding individual referee's and match officials’ decisions and their overall performance. Without usually commenting on specific incidents or bookings, we can advise that the performances of all officials are constantly monitored by way of club and assessor reports, match videos or DVD and, at some grounds, Prozone statistics. Matches are also analysed by the Referees' Manager, a referees’ coach and the referee and, despite the perception of some, match officials are most accountable for their performance.

In a general sense, in some cases it is extremely difficult to spot every single incident that occurs on the field of play, whether this be due to the proximity of the ball to players, the position of the referee, or other players obscuring views of the officials. In addition it is a fact that the human element of the sport means referees do also make mistakes during games, just like players and managers do. With only one chance to view every incident, and no benefit of replays, the modern referee has a sometimes difficult task. In all situations the decision of the referee is final.

The Referees’ Manager also works with his group in a bid to constantly improve standards in a game which has become faster and more frenetic over recent years. Every match is recorded and referees are under closer scrutiny than ever before. The match assessor is asked to consider the referee’s and officials’ overall performance and circumstances of the match in determining the mark awarded for his performance. This will include consideration of any proactive or preventative measures taken by the referee which aided his control of the game, of how the referee responded to situations that occurred in the match, and how the referee managed the consequences of any difficult decisions or situations.

Specifically, the assessor is asked to appraise the referee’s performance against the following competencies;

• Application of the Laws of the Game and disciplinary control
• Management of the games and players
• Personality
• Teamwork
• Fitness, positioning and movements

The information shared between the referee and his assessor is not made public and is confidential. This is similar to conversations between a club manager and his players for example but as aforementioned, assessors are present at every match. In addition there are a range of ‘integrity measures’ in place to ensure that referees abide by the high standards required to perform. Should any particular club have reason to query a referee or want to discuss a referee’s performance, they do so by contacting the referees manager.

We trust that this highlights to you the procedures in place designed to improve performances and thank you for contacting us with your comments, which as aforementioned have been noted and passed on.

Thank you for contacting The Football League.

Regards,

Andrew Pomfret
Customer Services Department
The Football League Limited
www.football-league.co.uk

sorry gary couldnt disagree more if I tried.

Football does work that way. The more times you shoot the more chances you have of scoring.

I agree it doesnt create 9 minutes of injury time, but we were played off of the park. I have spoken to 3 of my friends who went and they all agreed we deserved nothing really.

Football does[n't] work that way. The more times you shoot the more chances you have of scoring.