2020-2021 England Referee Appointments (EPL+) [Rs]

hey @MassachusettsRef you think it would be possible to sticky the roster of PGMOL referees at the beginning of the season once we find out what that roster is?

 

Second Community Shield for Marriner, having overseen Man Utd's 3-1 win over Chelsea in 2010.

 

I read where Darren England and Robert Jones have been promoted to Select Group 1. Cannot find anything on retirements. A list I saw has 19 Select Group 1 officials. However, Lee Probert tried to give it a go last year, but announced his retirement in September citing injury. So, we may see a change during the run in to the beginning of the season.

England has been in the Premier League before as an AR.

 

Jones is very good. He is from Liverpool I understand, but don't know which color he prefers, anyway don't expect to see him
on Liverpool or Everton matches.

PH

 

Hard to tell.. but VAR looked at it and confirmed the goal. Is there any handball there?

https://streamable.com/7uzr2g

 

Jones also was an AR at one time, but not in the Premier League. There are at least 3 other Select Group 2 referees who were long time AR’s at higher levels. Is this new, or has this always been something that has happened in English football?

 

It’s starting to feel like it’s going to take a serious injury to swing the pendulum back towards protection of players.

 

Shades of Nigel De Jong there, but with a bit less ferocity.

Yes, that needs to be a red.

 

Might still be red in a league or cup match. Community Shield is a bit different.
Many see it as a glorified friendly/exhibition match, with referee keeping cards low.
Cards don't carry over into season anyway AFAIK.
(Now fully expecting video of someone getting sent off in previous Charity/Community Shield match. I know they are out there).

PH

 

Mariner is staring right at that. Beside the “exhibition match” standard argument (which I think is likely the reason). I struggle to see how he looks RIGHT at that and doesn’t come up with red.

At the end of the day, this IS a trophy and it does count.

The perception and judgment of England’s referees continues to underwhelm me.

 

It's pretty apparent now that Marriner just doesn't want to make big decisions anymore in any game. It's been a trend now for several seasons. He just doesn't want to make big calls and with the VAR serving as his "backup" he's even less inclined to act.

There have been countless penalty appeals and red cards where he's looking straight at the incident and doesn't act.

The issue with many EPL referees is they have been around so long they become almost like Supreme Court judges. Lifetime appointment.

At least from my outside there doesn't seem to be any real pressure for them to perform? It's not like MLS where we've seen referees cut due to performance.

As long as you can pass the fitness test and adequately manage the match (they've been around so long and know everyone that it is almost impossible not to), you're never gonna lose your job and your assignments.

 

I’m thinking of one official who has a shaved head and has never done the FA Cup.... dont want to say names. IYKYK.

 

@RedStar91 I seem to remember Uriah Rennie “retiring” in his 40’s around 12-13 years ago. Officially listed as an injury. . He had multiple 10 red card seasons. But, you are so right. I looked up the list of select referees going back years. There are actually 4 referees who were in the Select Group who were demoted. Steve Tanner and Keith Stroud were both demoted together in 2009. Stroud is still in Select Group 2. Tanner had gotten a white badge and of course lost it at the same time. Andy D’Urso got demoted after being suspended in 2004 for failing to send off a player with two yellow cards. Matt Messias, who was a bit of a fair haired boy in the mid ‘00’s, (including several decent international assignments) was demoted and quit. A cursory reading of his story has a suspension and then a subsequent revelation of letting things get out of hand in a match THREE years before. It seems the pressure of the big time may have gotten the better of a referee who seemed destined for good things.

But, as Red Star points out, it has been 10+ years without a demotion. Lots of referees leaving under strange circumstances (Clatts, Madley for starters). Atwell earlier in his career. Then, there were years where older refs were promoted. Neil Swarbrick made the list at almost 46 and Roger East was 48.

 

Yes, it is claimed that Atwell took the demotion by “mutual consent” in 2012. He was the youngest referee ever appointed to the select list at 25.

 

He did

On Stroud - I always liked him as a referee (cognisant of some recent disasters) and thought he could succeed even at an international level, but apparently PGMOL didn't agree.

 

Excellent comment - couldn't agree more!

PL Refereeing is essentially run by the league itself so technical refereeing considerations are certainly outweighed by managing an exciting football match (as eg. Marriner does). Former players are essentially the referee observers in PGMOL too, it's a simply bizarre system...

 

Anyone got an update on how Bobby Madley did this year? Any chance he moves back up in the future?

 

I just don't understand a system where you have a bunch of players - most of whom either didn't have a clue about refereeing or the Laws of the Game, actively tried to deceive referees to gain a competitive edge, or both - essentially in charge of observing and assessing.

I don't think it's a bad idea to have a level of former player input, as long as they've also gone through the certification program and have officiated some games to get a real-world feel for what an official does. But to have them with such an outsized voice in setting referee policy seems crazy to me.

 

Assignments for the first week of EPL games:

Saturday 12 September - 7:30 AM (EST) - Fulham vs. Arsenal
Referee: Chris Kavanagh. Assistants: Daniel Cook, Sian Massey-Ellis. Fourth official: Kevin Friend. VAR: David Coote. Assistant VAR: Stephen Child.

Saturday 12 September - 10:00 AM - Crystal Palace vs. Southampton
Referee: Jonathan Moss. Assistants: Marc Perry, Dan Robathan. Fourth official: Simon Hooper. VAR: Craig Pawson. Assistant VAR: Nick Hopton.

Saturday 12 September - 10:00 AM - West Ham vs. Newcastle
Referee: Stuart Attwell. Assistants: Constantine Hatzidakis, Neil Davies. Fourth official: Darren England. VAR: Peter Bankes. Assistant VAR: Simon Long.

Saturday 12 September - 12:30 PM - Liverpool vs. Leeds
Referee: Michael Oliver. Assistants: Stuart Burt, Simon Bennett. Fourth official: Mike Dean. VAR: Paul Tierney. Assistant VAR: Andy Halliday.

Sunday 13 September - 9:00 AM - West Brom vs. Leicester
Referee: Anthony Taylor. Assistants: Gary Beswick, Adam Nunn. Fourth official: Peter Bankes. VAR: Stuart Attwell. Assistant VAR: Andy Halliday.

Sunday 13 September - 11:30 AM - Tottenham vs. Everton
Referee: Martin Atkinson. Assistants: Lee Betts, Peter Kirkup. Fourth official: Graham Scott. VAR: Andre Marriner. Assistant VAR: Scott Ledger.

Monday 14 September - 3:00 PM - Brighton vs. Chelsea
Referee: Craig Pawson. Assistants: Ian Hussin, Richard West. Fourth official: Simon Hooper. VAR: Kevin Friend. Assistant VAR: Simon Beck.

Monday 14 September - 3:00 PM - Sheffield United vs. Wolves
Referee: Mike Dean. Assistants: Darren Cann, Mark Scholes. Fourth official: Lee Mason. VAR: Graham Scott. Assistant VAR: Derek Eaton.

Oliver gets Liverpool on the first week against a promoted team for a second year in a row. Atkinson and Dean have some interesting matchups.

How VAR will change in 2020/21: (from https://www.premierleague.com/news/1749286)

“In July 2020, the International Football Association Board (IFAB) transferred the responsibility of VAR to FIFA. IFAB will continue to work closely with FIFA, especially in terms of the VAR protocol, related Laws and qualification requirements.

There are five key areas that highlight the differences in implementation of VAR in 2020/21:

• Referee Review Area (RRA): Increased use of the RRA, which will be used for subjective decisions in the three key areas - goals, red cards and penalty kicks.
• Goalkeeper encroachment on penalty kicks: The protocol does not allow for tolerance levels, so if the goalkeeper saves a penalty and his foot is over the line then VAR will advise it is retaken. If the goalkeeper is off his line and the ball hits the post or goes over, it won’t be retaken unless the 'keeper has a material impact on the kick being missed.
• Player encroachment on penalty kicks: It is now judged on any part of a player’s body that is on the ground when the kick is taken. So if any part of the foot is on the penalty area or arc line it is encroachment. The player must still have a material impact on the outcome of the kick.
• Offsides: The protocol does not allow for tolerance levels.
• Keeping the flag down for tight marginal offside offences: When an immediate goalscoring opportunity is likely to occur, the assistant referee will keep their flag down until the passage of play is completed. Once the goalscoring opportunity is complete, either a goal is scored or the chance is gone, the assistant will then raise the flag to indicate the initial offence. If a goal is scored the VAR will then review the offside judgement.”

 

https://www.premierleague.com/news/1814868

So it looks like red and blue are gone. "Volt" remains, and "hyper-turquoise" (i.e. mint green) and "vivid purple" are the two new colors. Probably good to move from red and blue given so many teams wear either red/claret/burgundy (ManU, Burnley, West Ham, Liverpool just for openers) or blue (Everton, Brighton, Chelsea), but the mint and volt colors will clash with a lot of goalkeepers.

I just wish FIFA/IFAB would take the bit about referees not clashing with keepers out of the Laws of the Game. No one really follows it much anyway.