[choirboy]

Lord D....
So sorry that we cannot agree about the standard of the refereeing last night.
In my comments I referred to Swindon as being a team that played like CHEATS.
This is a reference to the very clever and devious number of incidents throughout the match that were the 'Not So Obvious Type of Fouls' that someone else referred to and that largely went unpunished by the referee. The number of times that supporters around me claimed for free kicks when a Swindon player pushed and/or leaned on one of our players would have amounted to something like 35+ free kicks that should have been awarded to Stanley. This style of play was pratised by most of the Swindon players and looked to me as if it was a clear plan to literally 'knock our team off balance' in our desire to play constructive and entertaining football. This is exactly the type of foul play that is difficult for referees to pick up but it was clearly and visibly pointed out to him by our Captain Sean Mac on a number of occasions. I still say that had the referee booked one or possibly two Swindon players half way through the first half then he would have kept better control in the second half, which he totally lost! Of course this can be charged as being seen through 'Red Tinted' spectacles but when any team like Stanley wants to play constructive football, which is John Coleman's Mantra, then they should be encouraged/ allowed to by the referee.

Consider these statistics from the BBC Sport website coverage, here are a few things to note;
1) Swindon had 8 free kicks awarded against them for fouls in the first half.... (Everyone around me seemed to think it should have been much more than double that number!) Stanley had just five free kicks awarded against them for fouls in the first half.
2) In the second half Swindon had 10 free kicks awarded against them for fouls plus the one for 'Violent Contact' which also brought the Red Card out! (It should have been many more IMHO.) Stanley had only three free kicks awarded against them for fouls plus the one for Billy's hand ball when he fell on the ball!
3) Jordan Clarke committed only one foul in the whole match, of an accidental nature, and was given a Yellow Card right at the start of the second half! Marc Richards for Swindon committed five fouls in the match but got no Yellow Card!
4) In the whole match the Free kicks awarded against each team were;
Swindon 18....earning 4 Yellow and one Red Card.......
Stanley 9.......earning two Yellow Cards.
5) Apart from the Violent conduct sending Off I don't really think that there were any really Dirty Fouls of note. ie Swindon are not a 'Dirty' team but IMHO they are a very clever and sly team good at disrupting their opponents play!...ie CHEATS !

I do agree that life is very difficult for our referees of today which can be argued about all the day long but players cheating!!!!!!.......With these sly pushes, (as well as blatant pushes!) The pulling of shirts and the encirclement of a player by an opponents arms thereby restricting any movement towards the ball......players diving (simulation)..... the stupid new off side rules.....the permitting of a defending player to 'Shepherd' the ball out of play for a goal kick by blocking an opponents run towards the ball. This used to be called 'Obstruction' in my day.etc etc.
Some referees seem to think that if they get through a match without booking a single player that they, (the referee), will have had a good match! In truth he could have missed most of the foul play and just let players get away with too much undesirable elements of the sport.
IMHO a good referee will perhaps have booked one player, he will have endeavoured to allow free flowing football to be played, that is entertaining, and he will have kept control of the players behaviour. Finally the fans will very likely have hardly noticed that he was even on the pitch.