I'm sure everyone saw the antics of the big time charlies at Chelsea last night...
Feigning injury..
Players Surrounding,Chasing and man handeling the Ref..
Drogba Screaming abuse into the T.V. camera..
Hiddink saying he forgives and understands the actions of his Loutish Players..

One Radio Phone in (Talksport) presenter was even banging the drum for the game to be replayed..

you couldn't make it up...!

Out of the 4 penalty incidents they claim there was IMO one of them was clearcut....

Now i've seen some bad decisons in R.L. matches that have had me seething,and must be even worse for the players...
The Chris Joynt voluntary Tackle Grand Final comes to mind,if ever a player could lose it in a match that was the one....
But I'm proud of the way R.L. players behave on the pitch and the respect they have for the officials....

I know we say this a lot but football could learn a lot from our game..

Can you imagine how long the bans would be if players behaved like that in a RL match or what the managers fine would be for talking like that after a match.

Players and managers will always push it as far as they are allowed to and it is about time the FA started to support and protect their officials.

I was eluding to this last night before my post was moved.

But I think its a credit the way our lot (players and media) respect the refs decision.

Agree they could learn a lot from RL players, who seem to have more respect for match officials.

Like you say only one was a definate pen, but to be fair Ballack was only trying to get the wasp that was on the referee's head:

Do they really think they are going to change the refs decision??...I'm sure some of them act like this because they can...

Or maybe our players could learn something from the footballers' willingness to stand up for themselves instead of being sheep who accept the mass incompetence of RL refs.

SL has been ruined for about the past five years by garbage refs. Its time some of our players and coaches stopped taking it and fought back.

Bring back Greg McCallum.

Disgraceful, why weren't Ballack and drogba sent off i'll never know. I cant believe he only booked him.

Agree the reffing standards are poor...But the way those Chelsea players behaved was way OTT..

Good job the respect campaign is in place otherwise it would have been bedlam.

The ref did seem to have a strange old game, which didn't help but the guy is in charge and has the final say.

There are a good many things that soccer could use from RL - respect being the main one.

Another example of how too much money has ruined what was originally a working class game.

Maybe Drogba should take some tips from lEE briErs about how to talk to a ref

That had nothing to do with money, it was about players having pride and wanting to win and showing how they felt about some disgusting refereeing decisions. Drogba went over the top like he normally does, when the adrenalin is flowing you can understand the frustration of the Chelsea players.

If that had been a working class game as you put it on a park somewhere then the ref would have probably got lamped, just imagine if it had been in Korea or parts of South America where you can watch numerous youtube clips of refs getting chased over high wire fencing or getting karate kicked by players

To be honest refs get what they deserve in football. They allow the players to treat them with contempt with little recrimination. If they stood still following a decision (instead of running away from players) and yellow/red carded any dissent or abuse it would stop almost instantaneously.

Anyway it's a crushingly dull game for the salavating masses.

Agree with this 100%.

The referees need to tell the players before kickoff that ANY dissent will result in an immediate yellow card. Foul or abusive language or ANY act of aggression towards the referee will result in an immediate red card. They then need to have the nuts to carry out their 'threat'. Some players may be a little dim, but most coaches aren't - it wouldn't take long for the message to get through.

However, how long would a referee last before the appropriate governing body, under pressure from the media and the paymasters on TV, demoted him for finishing games 8 players v 7 or whatever?

absolutely spot on....in the Recent Warriors St George game Steve Price questioned the Referee on awarding a St George try without going to the video Ref.

Price walks to the ref stands in front of him and simply says something ...no running no shouting no hand waving......however the Ref saw something in Prices manner and the Ref stood rooted to the Spot and told Price to "go away I'm not having you coming at me like that."

Steve Price takes what he thought was a wrong decision (which it wasnt BTW) with some frustration but is intelligent enough to realise he wont achieve anything from carrying on moaning and walks away....

the thing is about talking to refs, is its not about changing the decision thats just been made, its all about getting in the refs head to try and influence future decisions.....

later on in the game Warriors score right on the corner flag and As Price Walks up to the Ref, the Ref puts an arm out and says "I'm checking it that's all you need to know". to me that's Ref and Player in perfect harmony....


And the sin bin would never work in football, players like Drogba would get some kind of thrill out of having cameras on them while being all "angry and Moody" waiting to come out of the bin ......

I didn't realize players could get booked or sent off AFTER the final whistle

Players should be allowed to shake referees. Not hit them. Just shake them roughly.

I reckon Barry Sheck would get them off.

What about a slap to the face with a velvet glove using 18th century polite vernacular?