Patrick Cryne owner of Barnsley F C

http://www.barnsleyfc.co.uk/page/New...889402,00.html


A REFEREE'S job is a tough one.

I know because many years ago I took the referees' examinations at Sheffield and Hallamshire FA and turned out to officiate in games in the local leagues.I can't claim to have been an outstanding performer with the whistle and after a few seasons I gave it up to spend more time on developing a career that suited my real talents and would give me a living.

Being a referee now of course can be a career in itself, but how do you flourish and get noticed so that you can make it your main source of secure earnings?

My fear with the modern game is that officials feel under pressure to show that they can make the "big decision" during the course of a game as a means of proving themselves able to be a career referee.

Sometimes it appears as though making a "big decision" is more important that making the right decision.

Last Saturday the referee at Plymouth made a "big decision", justifying it by reference to ensuring player safety.That motive is laudable of course but where was the evidence of the players' safety being at risk?

There were few fouls during the course of the game and little if any presence on the field by the physios.If player safety was paramount, then one might have expected that the referee would have shared his concerns with the managers and players at half time (or at any time), but he did not.

Instead, he took the decision to abandon the game without reference, making it a "big decision" on his part.At the time he took his decision, playing conditions were difficult but not impossible particularly if compared with the conditions at our match with Southend in the FA Cup in January 2007 where the referee played the match to a finish even after the point of farce had arrived.

On Saturday, Barnsley were coping in the conditions and looked like adding to their goal tally at the time the referee decided on abandonment.Of course had the referee played on rather than abandoning the game when he did, he may have been forced to make the decision to call it off some ten to 15 minutes later when the rain took on the proportions of a full-on monsoon.Had he abandoned at that time, then the decision might well have been right and accepted by all, but then it would have not been a "big decision".

The consequences of his "big decision" prejudices only Barnsley and its players.

The absurdity of the abandonment means that Anderson de Silva has not served out his suspension, because it was a non-match, but perversely the yellow card picked up in the Plymouth game by Nathan Doyle does count resulting in his suspension for the Blackpool game.

So we lost three points that seemed assured; our fans have to endure the cost of an aborted game and the replaying of one of the most distant matches on our calendar and we are two players down for the Blackpool game.

But that's OK, because the referee got to make his "big decision" and move his career onward and upward and wrap his decision in cloak of protecting the players.There is an irony in there that would not be lost on Iain Hume

This seems to be showing a lot of sense!!! I assume that the majority of fans also feel like this!