Whilst it is generally best for players to leave things like this to stewards to deal with clearly the player was just helping the stewards to apprehend the idiot in question so they could get on with the game..................surely the most ridiculous red card ever?

....

Several high profile blunders in last weeks Prem games will also have done little for ref's earning respect.

Compare this to the airplane jesture of the Crawley fan.

I can recall reading about a player being sent off for kicking the ball into the crowd but I can't for the life of me remember the game.

Absolutely ludicrous! No matter if the referee might be technically right under whatever law of the game, whatever happened to good old common sense. But i'm sure he pleased the assessor in the stand ,who would have marked him by the rulebook.

When referees do things like this any 'Respect' campaigns are doomed to failure, as 'respect' has to be eanred, it's not yours by right.

Well far be it from me to stick up for Blatter & Co but I don't see how they can be blamed for Mark Halsey's failure to red card Hutton when awarding Wolves a penalty or the failure of Phil Dowd to red card Carragher (at least) or how the ref at Arsenal v Sunderland and his assistant failed to spot a push by Bramble which should have lead to a red card and penalty and the goal that was wrongly flagged offside.

Now I appreciate that we all make mistakes but..........!

I can recall reading about a player being sent off for kicking the ball into the crowd but I can't for the life of me remember the game.

...it will be a long time before I watch the Premier League, the Champions League, La Liga, Serie A or international football on a regular basis again. If more people took the same approach, you might begin to see some change.

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But realistically the number of people that would be needed to take the same approach to make the difference would be too far out of the reach of anyone's imagination. By that definition, I wouldn't hold your breath.

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Gary Neville in 2005 - match report here

Having seen the Havant footage you can see why Mr Vickers got so frustrated. The home stewards weren't exactly making an effort to remove the spectator, were they?

Absolutely ludicrous! No matter if the referee might be technically right under whatever law of the game, whatever happened to good old common sense. But i'm sure he pleased the assessor in the stand ,who would have marked him by the rulebook.

When referees do things like this any 'Respect' campaigns are doomed to failure, as 'respect' has to be eanred, it's not yours by right.

In Reply To

I don't agree with that - the whole point of Respect, in my view, is that people manage to retain their dignity and not shout and bitch at people when they make a wrong decision. We had a semi-final the other day where a guy was barred from playing for wearing a signet ring which he'd taped up. He's played for 30 years without anyone having a problem with it. The side had no subs so they played with 10, and lost 1-4. Now, putting aside arguments about whether or not the ref should've let him play, it is understandably frustrating for the team concerned but they played the game and wrote a letter describing the situation to the cup committee. Apparently the ref even congratulated them on their attitude and for just accepting his decision.

That is what Respect is all about.

I think refereeing decisions are a whole different ball game.