The Ref’s News

The Ref's News — Technical analysis & officiating reports
General/OriginalPaywall

Premier League Admits Referee Error But Says VAR Was Right Not to Intervene

The Premier League’s new weekly refereeing review has produced an immediate talking point after its independent panel concluded that Brighton should have been awarded a penalty against Aston Villa, while simultaneously deciding VAR was correct not to overturn the referee.

3 Sept

General/OriginalPaywall

Omar Artan makes history with UEFA Super Cup referee appointment

Somali official Omar Artan will become the first non-European referee to take charge of the UEFA Super Cup when Paris Saint-Germain face Aston Villa in Salzburg today.

12 Aug

General/OriginalPaywall

New Red-Card Option Targets Mass Protests Against Referee Decisions

The IFAB has approved a new competition option allowing referees to send off players or team officials who encourage teams to leave the pitch in protest at a decision.

11 Aug

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Are referees getting decisions wrong, or has VAR changed what we expect from officials? We examine the biggest talking points, the pressure on match officials and what really happens inside the VAR room.

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Has technology made football fairer, or simply more complicated? The evolution of the offside law, semi-automated technology and why the smallest margins create enormous controversy.

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What does it really take to referee professional football? The preparation, pressure and split-second decisions that shape every match.

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From disputed goals to match-changing penalties, we revisit the refereeing decisions that shaped football history and ask whether the officials got them right.

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General/The Guardian — Football

Arsenal and Manchester City in action, FA Cup first round news and more – matchday live

⚽ All the latest news before a busy day of football kicks off ⚽ Today’s fixtures | Latest tables | Mail us at matchday.live Good morning . David will be here shortly to lead you into another big day of football action. Leeds and Tottenham get the Premier League action under way at 12.30pm GMT, followed by Arsenal hosting Hull to headline our 3pm clockwatch. Manchester City head south to Nottingham Forest in the 5.30pm game, plus there’s a huge slate of FA Cup first-round action, the WSL’s top two both in action at 12.45pm, Bayern and Dortmund in the Bundesliga at 2.30pm and much more. Continue

7 Nov

General/The Guardian — Football

Infantino caught in the web as tide turns against Trump in midterms and leaves Fifa exposed | Barney Ronay

Trump Exposed Reactor Core Syndrome very much in play after Democrat landslide – and Fifa’s president may pay a price Oh baby, clamp me in your repulsive mouthparts. Sink your unusually large and venomous fangs into my abdomen. And yes, we are doing this in the White House cabinet rooms, out there in plain sight of the watching world, just a gleaming golden ball between us. But it’s fine. Probably. Now take a sip of those sweet, sweet tiny male arachnoid entrails. An exciting new study was published over the summer into the habits of the Australian redback spider. The research made headlines f

7 Nov

General/The Guardian — Football

Rise of the ‘schooligans’: how a wave of antisocial behaviour threatens non-league football

Teenage ultras are increasingly causing disorder and communities fear it will not be long before it becomes something more dangerous It is five past three on Saturday afternoon and the teenage ultras of Hednesford Town are running late. They have arrived in Chester for their team’s National League North fixture and have hailed taxis, determined to make their presence felt at the ground. But word appears to have got out about their arrival. As one car turns away from the city’s charming half-timbered houses and into narrow residential streets, half a dozen local youths appear, haring round the

7 Nov

General/The Guardian — Football

Thierno Barry double fires Everton to comeback win against Coventry

The most optimistic Evertonian – if that is not an oxymoron – could not have envisaged David Moyes’s team sitting fifth in the Premier League and Thierno Barry just behind Erling Haaland in the goalscoring chart at the end of the club’s calamitous transfer window. Yet there they are, team and striker defying all expectations, following a rousing if fortuitous comeback against luckless Coventry. Frank Lampard endured a torturous night against his old club as Coventry had two strong penalty shouts dismissed while the second of Barry’s double, taking him to 10 goals for the season in all competit

6 Nov