Three of the referees that will immediately draw heavy sighs, or even snorts of disgust, from long time fans will not be reffing any of FCD's remaining games. Back in July, I remember a contingent of USSF referees huddled in the FCD Stadium Club watching and reviewing the ref crew. Guess this might be why... 3 MLS Refs Done for Season Three veteran referees, including 2008 MLS referee of the year Jair Marrufo, will not be assigned to any more MLS matches this season, the Insider has learned. Marrufo was removed from the assignment rotation for "poor performances" over the course of the season, according to the U.S. Soccer Federation, which oversees officiating in American leagues. Meantime, Michael Kennedy and Abbey Okulaja have been sidelined for failing midseason fitness tests that involve sprints and long-distance running. Kennedy and Okulaja cannot work in any competitions the rest of the year. Marrufo, a FIFA referee, remains eligible for other events...
I understand how the form of players can go up and down, but I've never understand how this happens to referees? He could he be a top ref one year, and then one of the worst the next year? And if you look at the comments on the link, all the fans are laughing and are happy, but the first thought that comes to my mind is: What are the odds that the 3 referees that replace these guys are any better? (Assuming new ones come in instead of the current group taking on more games)
The only thing that we can hope for is that the remaining refs, and new ones who may be coming in, see that there are consequences for your actions, which include relinquishing of duties. A little accountability never hurt anyone if you ask me.
I think the age (?) thing got him. Either that or he just retired. I do know that FIFA has an age restriction for referees. That is why Collina could not work WC '06 after being considering the best in the world in the run up to WC '02 and working that final.
correct. Hall's last year as an international ref was 2007 due to hitting the age 45 limit. I'm not sure if that age limit affected whether he could still ref in MLS or not, but in 2008 he joined US Soccer in the position of Manager of Assessment and Training. Not sure if he still holds that position as of today.
That is probably worse than him being a ref. At least then you only had to deal with his horrible calls once every few games. Now he is teaching everyone else how to suck at refereeing.
This made me giggle coming from the guy that's bashing on people for hating SH for a few bad decisions. Jusy sayin'....
He still holds the position and does reviews of calls of MLS games (along with by U.S. Soccer Director of Referee Development Paul Tamberino) each week and posts in a column called "Referee Week in Review" - http://www.ussoccer.com/Referees/Referees-Home.aspx If you don't follow this column, I highly recommend it. They call out both good and bad calls.
I'm not bashing people for hating SH. I am bashing people for making up reasons to hate him. I don't like him either. I think he was the wrong guy for the job. I'm at least going to give the guy a chance when he brings in new players instead of glorifying our current players who are playing like crap and glorifying draft picks. As far as Brian Hall goes he has never done anything to make me believe that he was competent as an MLS ref. Judging by comments made about him here in the past I assume that most people agree.
See how easy that is? You're willing to let the opinion of most people determine your opinion of a ref, but you want to play contrarian when the public opinion says Schellas is in over his head? I don't want to derail this thread into another SH dogpile. I just enjoyed the juxtaposition of your posts and attitudes regarding refs and Schellas. OK, back to work!
No the opinion of other people has no weight in my opinion that Brian Hall was a poor ref. I saw it with my own eyes. I am playing contrarian to everyone here on Schellas because there are things he has done that have actually been good and not many people seem to want to acknowledge that. If you can give me an example of some good Brian Hall has done then I will gladly acknowledge that. It seems that with the posters here it is either you suck or you are good. There is no possible way that a guy can be good at some things and need to improve on others.
How about this for a crazy thought... Maybe we're not so inclined to blow kisses for whatever good he might have done because the bad he's done seems - based upon the evidence at hand (the general mood of the team, from what we're hearing, and those pesky standings would be at or near the top of the list) - to be far outweighing it these days. Can you at least admit that? So, given that he's currently in his 2nd year in charge of this mess, maybe we're just a bit pissed off that he's still on the negative side of the ol' good things/bad things ledger. Understand now?
Tell me, how did you feel about Clarke after 2004? We were horrible in 03 and pretty bad in 04. Who knows maybe as some of these young guys continue to develop maybe we will start to turn things around like we did in 05.
After the mess Jeffries left this team in '03 and Clarke had us within ONE game of the playoffs in '04, people were quite pleased about Clarke and for good reason, while looking forward to '05. We had a chance to make the playoffs last year, even with the dysfunctional roster you claim Morrow left us with when SH took over (remember Ferruzzi did get a couple of results in the interim), but the bus driver, in his infinite wisdom decided it was time to give Bruno a run of 8+ games right out of college and threw that chance away. Thus started the disgust associated with driving the bus into the ditch. Odd how you fail to remember those relevant parts of '08 Would you like to try again at blowing sunshine up our ..... ?
Dallas finished last in the west in 04 5 points behind Colorado for the last playoff spot when it was really tough to miss the playoffs. So more than the one game you claim it was. Last season Dallas finished 3 points behind New York for the final playoff spot. I guess you're right though. It was Bruno Guarda's fault we missed the playoffs last season. Surely it couldn't have been the leaky defense that turned a lot of wins into ties last season.
Hmmmmm.. '04 results show otherwise amigo. Besides, I was there at the Cotton Bowl for that last game against SJ in '04. We all knew what was at stake and could only draw that game. If the bus driver had of left well enough alone, yes we would have made the playoffs last year.
Look I am going to just end any and all discussion about SH because I feel like I am being demonized here for having a dissenting opinon. We all want the same thing... we want the team to win and be successful. Some of us are just a little more optimistic about the future than others.
This is one of the things that really soured me on SH last year. It was never Bruno's fault. Great guy, played hard but no one steps into MLS right out of college and plays attacking mid. SH made people hate Bruno. The proper phrasing is it is very likely that by being stubborn and forcing Bruno to play one of the hardest spots on a team and shoe-horning Saragosa in any spot available (anyone remember him at left mid?) Dallas missed the playoffs last year. Could they have missed it anyway? I would have liked to see them try with their best players and then had they not made it I wouldn't have blamed the current coach.
Not demonized. Roughed up a little? Maybe. You are right that every move hasn't been bad (couldn't believe he actually traded Saragosa who is a decent dmid back up but SH couldn't help himself by starting him almost every chance). I believe the way he treats players and doesn't take accountability makes it hard to give him credit and easy to pick on. A little humility would go a long way. Winning a lot would force it to the background but it would always simmer.
Jumping Jesus on a pogo stick people, this is a thread for bashing refs. If you want to bash Hyndman (and I do) go to one of the 48 other threads dedicated to that subject. 3 refs get the stick for outright sucking at their job. This is a glorious day! Mention Hyndman again in this thread and I'll pull the car over, godammit!!!