Comments on: Head of referee organization acknowledges mistake in D.C. United-Houston match

By: wyrm1

wyrm1 — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 18:17:06 +0000

I think it was a pretty bad call, but that’s what it was, a bad call.

I think there is a pretty clear bias among refs with regards to how much slack certain star players (*Beckham, Donovan, etc…) receive from the refs, but I don’t think Andrew Hainault is one of them

The problem is the conflating this call with the other issues this playoff season. DC has gotten the short end of the stick on several issues this off season that were designed to help Red Bull at their expense (whether or not you think they were good decisions, they did favor Red Bull), and seeing their team fall apart after what probably should have been a red card has just made them more frustrated (at least me ).

I guess it is nice that the head of officiating admitted that a mistake was made, but it is ultimately meaningless unless the league and USSF take some action to improve the officiating. That includes consequences for clearly wrong calls, but it also needs to involve significantly more support from the league in supporting referees who do well and are abused by players and coaches.

By: Steve Davis

Steve Davis — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 18:04:35 +0000

Agree. Pretty much said the same thing in this post …

http://prosoccertalk.nbcsports.com/2012/11/12/was-the-critical-refereeing-moment-sunday-in-houston-really-such-an-egregious-mistake/

It was a difficult call all along.

By: geojock

geojock — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 18:00:07 +0000

Why all the talk now? The bigger point is we need this type of accountability ALL SEASON. Hopefully things will change in 2013.
2nd, we call can agree that it was the wrong call, but I still dont think it was a bad call by the ref. Walton GOT IT WRONG TOO, but with all his replays and all this talk a week later changes his mind. So if it took him a week and all these replays to get it right, then how can we really expect the ref to get it right at the speed of the game, from his angle. At game speed it certainly look like to me that Augusto pushed off then just got tangled. I think we can lay off the ref a bit here, i dont have enough fingers on my hands to count the number of calls worse than this during the MLS season/playoffs. I also hope there isnt a backlash by the refs on Sunday as a result.

By: orbmech

orbmech — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 16:47:00 +0000

Interesting. During the run of play he thought it was a yellow card but on viewing later with slow motion and angles the match ref didn’t have, he decided it was a red. A call for instant replay? Now DC can decide to play the victim – whine and feel sorry for themselves – or they can move on and try to come back on Sunday. Which will it be DC?

By: mkbryant3

mkbryant3 — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 16:46:24 +0000

Wow. This has Petraeus’s fingerprints all over it.

By: dubdiz12

dubdiz12 — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 16:40:13 +0000

This probably plays into the conspiracy theories, but let’s be honest, there have been an awful lot of no-calls that played to the advantage of DC United’s opponents so far in the playoffs…