Maybe that's the angle he was going for, but the feeling around the entire stadium was one of "who is this clown and why is he being such a pedantic little shit?" OK, maybe that was more my feeling, but everyone I spoke to had the same opinion: the guy was a joke. Nobody was trying to f*ck with him - he was giving yellows out for, and get this, one player looks like he's about to take a throw, then lets it drop while another player runs up to take it instead. And that's a yellow card. You see this in every game you watch, it's not wasting time anything like the players who were diving around all over the pitch (which he gave as free kicks time and again). The man was a joke, and far from thinking "Oh, he's a strict old referee, isn't he!" most people, and I'm sure the players too, were just baffled at his pathetic pedantry.
Indeed. http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2009/mar/05/stuart-attwell-referees-premier-league "Is Stuart Attwell the worst ref in the history of the Premier League?" LMAO
Another case of a gaijin official making a fkup in progress at Saitama ? I probably need to see it a second time, but didn't look like there was anything in the foul to begin with. Let a lone a red 5 minutes after the fact...
It was a strict call in a stupid place. Murakami got his leg up on the play and it was kind of unneccessary for the challenge. He wasn't awful and I kind of did appreciate him trying to speed up the game, even if it did come at our expense. He got a bit strict, especially with shoulder charges but he wasn't as bad a nightmare as I thought. the shame of it was, we were more attack oriented until he stifled that with the call. It kind of hurt Urawa as well. I was pissed but the line judge called it and had the proper angle on it.
Perhaps a yellow, a red really seems a case of "sissy rules," to help the poor Reds and make the game more interesting... ugh...
I already had Attwell's name in my head as someone who the FA have clearly decided is going places (as the Premier League's youngest ever referee), but so far the performances have not been up to that standard. He has already gotten himself on the UEFA list, but someone at the FA has clearly taken a shine to him and decided to get him some experience outside of Europe also. He has come very far very quickly and I am very worried that it might go to his head. He is actually only 27, so he is not even old enough to be past the complex that some referees can have when they are younger than the players they are supposed to be controlling. He might prove himself eventually, but he should be doing it in Europe rather than Japan. Which Japanese referees are being sent to England, out of interest? (I wonder also if this exchange programme is a way to try to solidify Japan's support for England's World Cup bid?)
Are you seriously suggesting it was in bias towards the Reds? I'm sure Atwell grew up in England with Urawa gear plastered all over his walls and watched every game with his father.
No, I think it was just poor refereeing and Ardija got the short straw. Bias would have nothing to do with it, especially considering Attwell's record to date in this league.
All I am saying is that he did favor Reds, little bias might come from playing at Saisuta and Reds being down, but overall, I agree, it is mainly just bad ref'ing.
I'll give him credit, he kept the game going at a decent pace and he really cut out the timewating. That red wasn't even close to the worst red I've seen this year. He just needs to calibrate his calls down a notch.
Clubs are filing a official complain on Attwell: http://hochi.yomiuri.co.jp/soccer/jleague/news/20100804-OHT1T00299.htm
Honestly I find it a bit xenophobic. How about one on Sato? In Sanga-S-Pulse he INVENTED two red cards and two penalties, turning the game around at will... Three seasons ago THREE reds (two invented) in the same game... No complain for him?
I didn't find he invented something. Players jumps, cry in pain all the time, it's hard to not get caught. And I'm not sure he didn't make the right decisions, it belongs to him, he was on the pitch. That's not an easy job. On the other hand Attwell has this habit to give a yellow card when a player take 2 seconds to make a throw-in and this is just ridiculous.
Atwell strikes me a as silly little boy given a loud whistle. He is a VERY BAD REFEREE. He may well improve in time, but who knows? Sending him to Japan won't really help him get any better.
Are you talking about Sato...? You haven't seen Sanga-S-Pulse, have you...? Because nobody jumped and cried in that game, but there was a madman with a whistle who RUINED what could have otherwise been a classic... Japanese journalists who are usually as lame as lambs gave him grades such as "3" (on El Golazo). ...go figure out...
Yes I've watch this game but I don't really like to talk about referees decisions, once you start you cannot stop. A bad match can happen.
That is what I would have said if the same idiot would haven't sent off THREE Sanga players two years before, two of them on simulations, the third one on a debatable call -- all three times for fouls on Yano, known as one of the top-3 divers in Japan. I have Japanese ref license too, I do High School games, I know it is not easy. But with Sato it is not about making mistakes, he is an megalomaniac, he likes to play God on the field.
http://www.premierleague.com/page/Magazinedettail/0,,12306~2130653,00.html Apparently they forget to mention how bad the reffing was. Still, there are seeds planted in the article that the real purpose behind this would be some underground dealings to push Word Cup 2018 England and World Cup 2022 Japan?
Wow, watching the highlights -- the list of refs mistakes in these last three rounds would be very long... In particular some absurd decisions on offside goals/non-goals: - Vegalta vs Gamba goal hugely offside - One, possibly two goals Bellmare scored vs Vissel were NOT offside - MVP Tamada scored on a rebound and -again- offside. - Minami's PK on neto a joke-he covered AND touched the ball, clearly. - Reysol third goal was never offside... - Doubts on a Ventforet's goal, Sanga goals vs Cerezo and more... The boys in black (and yellow, or red) REALLY need to tune up. Some of the mistakes were HUGE.
How is Kwak's a red card??? The shot is from 2 meters, the ball bounce son his chest and then on his arm, when is probably not going toward the goal anymore... I can understand a severe ref giving the PK, but a red card?? Terrible decision.