Referees’ need for consistency

YEOVIL Town will feel aggrieved at not earning a point from their encounter with Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday, and with a little more luck they might well have.

However they didn’t have a player of Jermaine Johnson’s calibre in their side that turned the game the Owls’ way on 71 minutes. Having been dogged by a hamstring injury he picked up in January, the Jamaican international had a stop-start end to last season, and this was his first taste of action in this campaign.

In the previous ten minutes he had been on the field, he showed a quality seldom seen at League One level. Despite the best attentions of Craig Allcock and Paul Huntingdon - neither slouches themselves - his speed and ball control was dazzling, and the the way he took his goal showed a lot of class.

He turned inside two defenders before unleashing a delicious right foot curler from 25 yards just beyond the fingertips of Stephen Henderson and inside the far post.

A late penalty when Luke Ayling tripped Jon Otsemobor rubbed salt into the wound especially as a late assault on the visitors’ goal saw the ball scrambled off the line three times in one incident before Owain Tudor-Jones struck the angle of the goal frame in added time where Owls keeper Nicky Weaver ripped the net from the post in trying to get to the ball, resulting in a delay for running repairs.

I have been critical of Terry Skiverton and his team’s performances earlier in the season, but they have recently picked up two good away wins as well as putting in good home displays against Southampton and Sheffield Wednesday. In both games refereeing decisions could have affected the result.

There has been debate in the national media for a few years about the need for consistency among referees, ensuring that they interpret the rules and award decisions in a manner that every footballer can rely upon regardless of the individual.

That has yet to be perfected, and on a weekly basis you see contradiction in the decisions between the men in black.

However I don’t see how that can be achieved until they eradicate individual inconsistentencies.

This is more prevalent the lower down the pyramid you go, and Saturday’s referee Graham Scott who has been on the National List since 2008, is a typical example of such inconsistency.

I have great sympathy with the official when the crowd are baying for his blood after he misses what they see as a blatant offence, as sometimes they are shielded from the play and unable to see.

However having watched Mr Scott closely on Saturday, I can see why so many players get frustrated to the point they get booked for being too vocal in their disgust at the decision, or often non-decision, or take retribution.

Despite having a clear view of incidents on several occasions he failed to be consistent; one moment penalising what appeared to be an innocuous situation, and then later ignoring a more serious version.

Even with the help of his assistant who was much nearer than he was, he failed to see a clear stamping by Owls skipper Darren Purse on Gavin Williams, which with around a quarter of the match still left may have had a different outcome on the game.

It may not have been significant in the end, but consistency from the officials would help reduce some of the aggravation on the pitch.

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