I didn't put this is the match review as I thought it would make an interesting point for discussion.
At the Watford game I noticed that the Watford players had very clear instructions when talking to the referee. Whether they were complaining to him or receiving punishment, every one stood away from the ref with their hands behind their backs and nodded. They only ever had two players talking to the ref and they were always very respectful.
This tactic had clear benefits. Whenever a Watford player went down they got the benefit of the doubt and they got a lot of decisions their way. Even when they did get booked they took it with the same hands behind the back attitude and the ref reacted to it.
I imagine if you are in a job where people constantly shout at you and surround you and call you names, when a group don't you react differently to them. Also I imagine the types of people who become referees love this deferential attitude. This alowed the Watford players to then take the piss.
Did anyone else notice it? I have spoken to a Brighton fan today and apprently Watford got a lot of ref decisions their way at their game as well so I imagine they have this as a set policy.
Personally I think its a great idea if you can get your players to be level headed enough to do it. The benefits are clear.
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http://bhappy.wordpress.com/2013/01/01/watford-3-charlton-athletic-4-01012013/
Giving the impression that Charlton were rather 'robust' in the tackle but were allowed to continue by the ref due to the fact that it was the way we played and wasn't malicious.
Guess we all see things differently!
We need black and white rules not open to interpretation IMO.
I would love to see a ref give a keeper two yellow cards for time-wasting, I think it's a horrible tactic, even when we do it. Imagine the message it would send, if players got sent off for it?
Saying that, I remember a win against Liverpool about a decade ago where we ran the ball into the corner for the last 10 minutes, and just kept it there, getting throw-ins, corners and free-kicks, and taking them all as short as possible. At the time, I found that hilarious.
I've just noticed that I have digressed somewhat from the original thread. I think it's because I'm trying to do some work.
I qualified as a class three ref ages ago. So firstly I both get and don't get the idea about 'the types of people who become referees love this deferential attitude'. Firstly I became a ref because as a player when the ref doesn't show or isn't available somebody has to do it, and i was deemed better at it that the others (it helped that I was also one of the crappest players), I carried on after playing, not because I was an egotist wanting deference, but because I wanted to stay involved.
However I found I wanted a kind of deference from players because that attitude is essential if a referee is to be able to actually do their job. Constant abuse and challenges is what referees hate the most. Fawning crawling is not what referees want, an acceptance that it is supposed to be a sport, and someone needs to be in charge is what they do want.
So when you take charge of a game, if a player, or a team, seems to accept your decisions, are polite and respectful, you're likely to 'like' them more than the snarling tossers who constantly have a go. If you get sarcastic 'good decision referee' stuff you think 'tosser', but the polite look at you to ascertain the correct position for a throw or free kick, the quick acceptance of your decision (even if you have doubts about it yourself), the general spoting nature of a player or a team will (because of human nature) work in their favour. It may also lead you to make a crucial 50/50 call in their favour too, and influence the result of a match.
Incidentally, I would be amazingly impressed if ANY of those Watford players had even read the laws of football. Mark Kinsella on the 5th told me he had never actually read the laws which is honest. I used to have a copy of the laws down my socks like shinpads when I reffed locally, and if a particularly arsey player wanted to have a go about how I was wrong, I used to offer him the book and ask him to prove he was right and I was wrong!
Regarding players surrounding the referee, the referees and the FA are far too scared of the big players/clubs to ever do anything about it. Fergie pioneered it whilst at Aberdeen to great effect and brought it south with him. Now virtually every club does it and it's despicable. The FA really should clamp down on it, if they cared about the game at all they would. It's fair enough at the top level to a certain extent, there's big crowds and TV cameras. But at the lower levels of football the players ape the mega-stars, surrounding and abusing referees where there is absolutely no protection at all. The FA (and the professional clubs/players) have a duty to stop this behaviour, a duty they spectacularly and constantly fail at.
And I have to disagree slightly with Randy. Yes it is up to refs and the FA to enforce the rules but is it not also up to clubs, managers and players themselves to observe the rules? Football seems to have an odd acceptance of a low level of constant cheating or at least bnending of the rules. Zola (if this policy has come from him) has found a way to instill a bit of polite-ness into his playing staff even if it is to gain an advantage in other ways. I would like to see us adopting a similar policy.