i'd like to add another comment about r&r bob. i stopped him after a club match a couple years ago to ask about a call - which happened sometime in the first half - and how he came to his decision. now, i'm not talking about any spectacular foul that everybody went ooh and ahh over, no card given, just a vanilla-flavored foul - he remembered exactly what i was talking about! and he explained in detail why he made the call he did.
i was probably only 20 yds from where this particular foul happened, and i saw it one way. he was on the other side from me, but closer to the action, and guess what? he saw something completely different. his explanation made perfect sense, though. as close as i was, he was closer and had a better angle. here i was thinking, "man, he screwed that one up" - cause i KNEW that i was right, and as it turns out, i missed something very small, but very important in his making the call he did.
my point being - i think we need to BACK OFF the refs a little sometimes, and give them the benefit of the doubt.
another thread going on right now is a perfect example of why - dozens of posters are watching the slow motion replay, and STILL can't agree on what the correct call is. so what makes you think you can do a better job than the man ON the field with NO slo-mo?
at matches, i hear a LOT of parents screaming at refs over calls, when it's obvious that these people don't even understand the laws of the game. but the funny thing is, they seem to want everyone else to know how much they "know" about the game by screaming loudly and giving a constant commentary, when all it does is make them look worse.
sorry, got off-subject a little...getting back to bob...right after we finished talking about the one foul, he asked another guy who was standing there with us (and who also happens to be a ref) if he had seen a match a week or so earlier that he (bob) had called, and what he thought about his officiating. this other guy said, "well, i didn't think it was your best match" and bob AGREED with him. how often do you see that? i got a whole new respect for the guy right then and there - he was not only asking for opinions on how he did his job, but accepted the criticism graciously.
we need more rock and roll bobs!
**disclaimer - i do not personally know r&r bob, nor was i compensated in ANY way for this post.
