Found this all a bit surreal to be honest. http://www.ftbpro.com/reader/david....ait-referee-smashes-player-in-the-face-ftbpro PP
Can you imagine when Man.Utd players harassed the ref.if all of a sudden Gary Neville gets poked in the eye,Roy Keane gets nutted and a quick kick in the groin area sent Rio flying.Now that would be a good read Mr Ferguson.
Whilst I'm not condoning what the referee did, I do have some empathy with him. The way so-called professional footballers chase referees and shout abuse at them is a total disgrace. Football could learn a lot from Rugby League. But I suppose that is not a new argument.
In total agreement - I played Rugby Union where all decisions, good or bad, were accepted without question, subject to right for the captain to tactfully request clarificaton. The way that players are allowed to harras a referee it disgraceful. I do not recall them ever changing a decision but it nevertheless intimidation intened to affect future decisions. Whilst on the video the ref was an idiot, you still cannot help feeling that he ought to have a right give something back. Very funny though - the left hook and the kick in the groin does not get them, at the least the red card did
I agree in principle however I also feel that rugby referee's are a much higher standard than football referee's who are getting worse year on year because they are allowed to make as many mistakes as they want without fear of reproach and with the full backing of the FA even when they know they're wrong. If rugby referee's performed as badly as football referee's they'd be out of a job. for that reason I feel that players and fans have to do the FA's job for them by letting referee's know (in no uncertain terms) when they've got it completely wrong yet again
Football could learn from Rugby but the whole culture of the game is a million miles from football so it's not easy to compare.