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Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Lack of dissent already obvious at Euros - it's all about respect

It's already clear, even after just half a dozen matches, that referees at the European Championships are not having to deal with the levels of abuse, pressure and touchline hostility that they face every day in the English premiership.
European players foul just as much - probably even more - but they have learned the lesson that there is very little point getting hot under the collar about a ref's decision. he won't change his mind.
The sad thing is that it would take about a month of referees sticking to the laws of the game for them to be able to clamp down on dissent in England. If a group of players crowd around the ref for some reason, book them all. How many more times do you think they'll do that?
It's really not complicated.
Just by the way, it's fun to follow You are the Ref on the BBC's website and downright scary to see some of the responses from football fans who, I imagine, would claim to be knowledgeable about the laws of the game.

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