There's a great deal of uncertainty surrounding tackling at the moment among our senior referees. Dangerous tackles are rewarded with red cards which are then rescinded by the FA. Top referee Howard Webb lets a chellenge go unpunished during the Sunderland-Arsenal that was identical to one a few days earlier that saw another premiership player sent off.
It's hardly surprising that fans are seeing inconsistent decisions, and there's not really a whole lot that can be done about it. Referees are operating at the very limits of what is possible as players - supported by managers and a total obsession with victory - stretch the laws of the game and of what is acceptable to the extremes.
A referee in the Premier League is making an educated guess when a player dives in to a challenge, making a load of calculations in a millisecond before deciding whether it was legal, reckless or violent enough to warrant a red card.
And the "victims" of these challenges have very quickly realised that they can "help" a referee out by writhing in agony, giving a good impression of having suffered serious injury before miraculously recovering two minuts later.
The referee is ticking off a checklist. One or both feet off the ground? Studs up? Charging in at high speed? Is there intent to injure? All these judgements are made instantly. It's hardly suprising that different referees give different decisions. Each incident will look subtly different and will be treated as such.
So I suppose it's a situation the referee just has to accept and just try to get it right as often as possible, but out game's authoirities should be warned that even the best refs will make mistakes. There's just no physical way that the eye can spot everything about such high-speed tackles.Slow motion replays are a wonderful tool of hindsight not available - yet - to the man in the middle.
I dodn't know what the answer is. But I know we haven't found it yet.
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