UEFA Competitions 2023-2024 Referee Discussions [Rs]

https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/s/lt7sc0m65r

In Rennes Villarreal VAR took a goal off the board because the free kick from outside the PA went off the crossbar and back to the original kicker lol

 

Some here will hate it, but if there was EVER a time to have a referee verbally announce a VAR decision, this is it. Indirect free kick so it looks like offside

 

Dani Parejo (Villarreal #10) would be my guess.

 

No, I don't think you're seeing things--he's definitely engaged with Le Fee, almost to the point of distraction.

 

Lindsey Horan gets a straight red after a shove and some (likely bad) words post being fouled in #UWCL group play pic.twitter.com/VluwXaEEcC

— Taylor Vincent (@tayvincent6) December 21, 2023

Lindsay Horan picks up a straight red card in this WCL match. The clip didn't cover what instigated this, which was the opponent coming from behind and challenging with with what amounted to a hip check. Those two players got into it a bit about a minute earlier which seemed to spill over into this incident.

My guess it was the colorful language Horan used if you're able to read lips. Plenty of players surrounding the referee in this incident as well.

 

Here’s the full sequence. Tackler didn’t receive a yellow for that challenge

https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/s/SM7QHDd58B

 

Based on the referee's body language it appears to me that she was going to give Horan a caution, but then changed her decision after she heard whatever Horan yelled at the other player. Abusive language send off, from the looks of things. From what I know about Horan, it probably was pretty abusive.

Based on reactions online, this looks like yet another example where a referee actually punishes someone for abusive language, but then the footballing world shows outrage over the "soft" red card. I wonder if we'll ever find out what Horan said specifically?

Seems like the classic double standard of wanting refs to be authoritarian over player verbal misconduct in the abstract, but then getting mad when someone is the first mover and actually does something about it. I'm seeing people say this was a sexist decision because "it would never happen in a men's game that way" and that there is a "lack of consistency." The referees can't win currently.

 

I'm not Jomboy, but it does not appear she used the F-bomb.

A straight red for Abusive Language makes me wonder if it was a homophobic slur. Argument against it would be the number of players protesting the eventual red card that is about to come out.

In modern era women's pro leagues, you're extremely unlikely to get a red card for yelling "F-You" to a player.

 

A persons head passes right by her mouth as she says something so it’s probably too hard to see what she actually says but it looks like she makes an f sound with her mouth to me

Dissent and abusive language will never be viewed favorably among fans/the public. Even further hypocrisy when the British EPL fans say how much they like rugbys respect for referees and want soccer to have that, but for some reason feel that at the same time soccer referees deserve to be disrespected and have dissent and abusive language spewed at them and punishing it makes them thin skinned

 

I’m no Jomboy either but I think she called the opponent a “f*g”.

Whatever it was the R immediately went red. And I counted 8 players surrounding her and notably Horan wasn’t in the frame at the time.

 

This is what I was hinting at, but I don't think folks were reading between-the-lines.

It might also explain why the Referee didn't immediately pull the red card. We've all had those "Did I hear what I THINK I just heard?" moments.

 

If the US women's soccer team's captain used a homophobic slur, the Internet would've melted by now.

 

1) It would have to see reports that that happened first before it could melt down over it. It doesn’t even seem like most people realize this was an Abusive Language red card, they think it was for the shove.

2) I think you’re underestimating the extend to which halo effect biases affect the general public. For a relatively well-liked player (she is the captain of the USWNT after all), most American WoSo fans would probably be inclined to give her the benefit of the doubt or even turn most the blame onto the opponent or the referee.

3) It doesn’t have to be a racial or homophobic slur… there’s got to be some middle ground between language that is totally acceptable (no punishment) and language that would warrant a multi-game ban plus severe media backlash. Language can rise to the level of a red card without being that bad. And of course, there’s so much subjectivity and gray area with these things that no two people will assess the severity of language the same way. I’m not a lip-reader so I’ll defer to others on that, but unless someone can get a good read on them, there’s no reason anyone should be jumping to the conclusion that she said something homophobic.

 

Jumping right to that is quite a claim. She could have easily said f you, or f you and something else, even that could hit AL if the ref wants. Any sort of homophobic slur would be quite a controversy. And since AL is somewhat of a subjective decision, this ref might feel f you directed at a player is worthy of that while another ref might not.

Would have been nice to see the ref give a YC for that reckless tackle. Maybe if she had it out quickly it could have stopped the result.

 

It feels like a miscarriage of justice. Horan gets a bad challenge from behind, was going to get a yellow for her response to it, which gets changed to red, and the offender still gets no punishment from doing it. I can understand the team side being pissed about it

And the red card taking so long to come out is a bad look, as is usually the case when there is any delay in yellow or red cards coming out

 

When you watch the longer provided Reddit clip, the only comment that is 90% certain is at the 47 second mark Horan says what appears to be "I wasn't talking to you".

Both times when Horan is barking, turns and clearly looking at the opponent, it's hard to believe the referee would think that she's talking to her.

Listening to the ladies speak after VAR decisions in WWC2022 was cringeworthy and unfair as we could barely understand most of them. While the English language factor now seems to have played a factor, it doesn't explain everything that happened.

 

During the Super Cup semi with Real Madrid vs Atletico Madrid, the RMA goalkeeper grabs the referee by the shoulder and spins him around to protest a decision.

I understand the mentality of keeping all players on the pitch, it's a final, it's two super club... but what young players see...

 

I’ve said before that I think there needs to be pretty close to zero tolerance for any contact with officials while protesting a decision. The NBA did it, and guess what? It almost never happens because players know the consequences and know it is basically automatic. How we got to a point with bumping and grabbing refs, I just don’t understand.