Video Screen Replay

[ThreeCards]

At the Dynamo/Earthquake match on Saturday night, one of the SJ defenders (I think it was Denton) threw a pretty hard elbow into the side of Kamera’s head, knocking him to the ground. No one on the referee crew caught the foul, but play was stopped to attend to the injured player. During the stoppage, a replay, clearly showing the foul, was shown on the scoreboard screen. From my seat, I could see the AR looking intently at the screen along with the rest of the crowd, which let out a resounding “boo”. The center referee walked over to the AR, who was still looking at the scoreboard as they showed another replay of the elbow. I could see the AR shake his head as the CR asked if he’d seen anything. This brought another round of boo’s from the crowd. I had to explain to a few friends sitting around me that the AR did the right thing. Even if instant replay were to be adopted by the league, it wouldn’t be used to call fouls. Since we had all just come from the Astros/Rangers game, in which there was an 8-minute replay delay just to decide if a ball cleared the fence, it wasn’t hard for me to convince my friends that instant replay is a bad idea. Bad calls are just a part of sports. I know that’s hard for my fellow Chelsea fans and any Sounders FC fans out there to hear, but I don’t believe there is any place in our sport for IR.

I was wondering if professional referees are given any instructions regarding replays shown on the large video screens at the stadiums. For some reason, it felt strange as a referee to see the AR watching the replay. Had I been the center, I’d probably ask that my assistants make an effort not to look up at the screen.

[Sport Billy]

At the Dynamo/Earthquake match on Saturday night, one of the SJ defenders (I think it was Denton) threw a pretty hard elbow into the side of Kamera’s head, knocking him to the ground. No one on the referee crew caught the foul, but play was stopped to attend to the injured player. During the stoppage, a replay, clearly showing the foul, was shown on the scoreboard screen. From my seat, I could see the AR looking intently at the screen along with the rest of the crowd, which let out a resounding “boo”. The center referee walked over to the AR, who was still looking at the scoreboard as they showed another replay of the elbow. I could see the AR shake his head as the CR asked if he’d seen anything. This brought another round of boo’s from the crowd. I had to explain to a few friends sitting around me that the AR did the right thing. Even if instant replay were to be adopted by the league, it wouldn’t be used to call fouls. Since we had all just come from the Astros/Rangers game, in which there was an 8-minute replay delay just to decide if a ball cleared the fence, it wasn’t hard for me to convince my friends that instant replay is a bad idea. Bad calls are just a part of sports. I know that’s hard for my fellow Chelsea fans and any Sounders FC fans out there to hear, but I don’t believe there is any place in our sport for IR.

I was wondering if professional referees are given any instructions regarding replays shown on the large video screens at the stadiums. For some reason, it felt strange as a referee to see the AR watching the replay. Had I been the center, I’d probably ask that my assistants make an effort not to look up at the screen.

I agree with everything you say here -- NCAA football officials use the jumbo screens all the time and it infuriates me.

Along those same lines -- why are only good plays shown.

Personally, I think controversial calls and horrible misses should also be shown. We have professional players and officials -- I think they could handle it if replay showed they screwed up.