RATE THE REF - Stephen Martin v Swansea City

[jdrobbo]

Stephen Martin (Staffordshire) v Swansea City

How to Score
A. Decision Making (including use of advantage) - out of 25
B. Consistency - out of 25
C. Fitness and Positioning - of 25
D. Control and Authority - out of 25


Please only Rate the Ref if you attended the game and only do so, after the game has ended. Thank you

[jdrobbo]

He was excellent for the final hour,

BUT… was totally ‘off it’ in the first 30….

A 13
B 10
C 15
D 13

[rincon]

He was excellent for the final hour,

BUT… was totally ‘off it’ in the first 30….

A 13
B 10
C 15
D 13

agreed, he should have booked at least 3 of their players, before he came to. After that, he had a great game.

[dougcollins]

Swans extremely lucky with one red.

Could have been three with another ref.

[Bosscat]

Prefered him in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels wit Michael Caine but hey ho ....

Not the worst we have seen but ...

A 12
B 10
C 16
D 14

[what_no_pies]

10
10
15
15

Took control eventually but Tella was dragged back/fouled at least 6x by their two left sided defenders. If the ref correctly booked them for their first professional fouls they wouldn't have been allowed to repeat the trick. Linesman didn't appear to help much eithet.

[Goobs]

Said to my family they were lucky not to end the game with 8 players. Then there was the insane decision to only add 1 minute in the 2nd half. It was the humane thing to do but there are rules to follow and in a tight league another goal in what should have been 5 minutes minimum could make a difference.

10
12
22
17

[bfcmik]

A. 14
B. 20
C. 22
D. 22

[Rileybobs]

Said to my family they were lucky not to end the game with 8 players. Then there was the insane decision to only add 1 minute in the 2nd half. It was the humane thing to do but there are rules to follow and in a tight league another goal in what should have been 5 minutes minimum could make a difference.

10
12
22
17

Awful officiating only adding on a minute. What’s that about? Since when did we cut games short to spare the losing team, this isn’t an under sevens game. As we were up against 10 men we were the only team going to score and we were deprived of probably 5 additional minutes to improve our goal difference and just as importantly to entertain the paying spectators.

What right does the ref have to cut a game short?

[Luppy]

Interesting seeing some of the comments. I thought he had a really good game - could possibly have had one of their lads in the book early doors, but that aside I thought he had a good game.

A - 20
B - 20
C - 20
D - 20

[claretcarrot93]

Awful officiating only adding on a minute. What’s that about? Since when did we cut games short to spare the losing team, this isn’t an under sevens game. As we were up against 10 men we were the only team going to score and we were deprived of probably 5 additional minutes to improve our goal difference and just as importantly to entertain the paying spectators.

What right does the ref have to cut a game short?

Exactly when you factor goal difference

[jdrobbo]

Interesting seeing some of the comments. I thought he had a really good game - could possibly have had one of their lads in the book early doors, but that aside I thought he had a good game.

A - 20
B - 20
C - 20
D - 20

I see where you’re coming from, but he literally ignored the first five or six shirt pulls.trying to let an early decision go, I totally am in favour of, but give it six in such a short period….had to mark him down for that, especially where consistency is concerned.

[Goobs]

Awful officiating only adding on a minute. What’s that about? Since when did we cut games short to spare the losing team, this isn’t an under sevens game. As we were up against 10 men we were the only team going to score and we were deprived of probably 5 additional minutes to improve our goal difference and just as importantly to entertain the paying spectators.

What right does the ref have to cut a game short?

Yep it's absolute disregard for the whole spirit of the game. The standard of refs in this league is absolutely terrible. I honestly believe I could do a better job myself and I haven't reffed a match in about 25 years. The one thing I would guarantee is that the rules would be followed correctly and consistently. Sadly because of that I would likely only get to ref a handful of games before being canned as it appears that is not what is important to PGMOL or whatever they are called.

[Luppy]

I see where you’re coming from, but he literally ignored the first five or six shirt pulls.trying to let an early decision go, I totally am in favour of, but give it six in such a short period….had to mark him down for that, especially where consistency is concerned.

Yes he could have booked one - possibly two - earlier than he did, but in fairness he didn't miss any big decisions. We will have a lot worse at the Turf this season.

[Dark Cloud]

He was really good (imo). I only remember one probable error where he should have allowed Burnley to play advantage (which we clearly had) and then come back to book the Swansea player later, but he stopped the game with us in a really good position. Otherwise he was spot on for me. I liked him.

[jdrobbo]

Yes he could have booked one - possibly two - earlier than he did, but in fairness he didn't miss any big decisions. We will have a lot worse at the Turf this season.

No arguments there

[Goobs]

Yes he could have booked one - possibly two - earlier than he did, but in fairness he didn't miss any big decisions. We will have a lot worse at the Turf this season.

Not booking one or two (both of who he later booked) is a fairly big decision to miss IMO. As it was it didn't matter much. Also I call cutting a game 5-6 minutes short to save a teams blushes a fair major call too. Yes he was nowhere near the worst we have had and could actually have been one of the better ones. Sadly this is a reflection of the poor standard of refereeing in this league rather than a praise of the individual.

[MT03ALG]

Poor use of advantage at times
Poor use of cards early in the game
Poor timing of game: 8 substitutions and the odd injury = 1 minute added time !!
Basically got the basics wrong
10
10
15
10

[bfcjg]

15
15
17
16
He improved as the game progressed,he'd have had an easier afternoon though if he'd of clamped downbearlier.

[Cheshireclaret]

He seemed to ‘grow into the game’ as they say about players. The decision to not play advantage in the first half when we clearly had the advantage shows once again that we have an official who doesn’t understand the game.

Aside from that I think people feel he did well in the latter hour because we were winning. He was another ref who made things up, reacted to players, and to add two minutes on at the end of the 1st half and one at the end of the 2nd half proved what a clueless bunch of officials they were!

[SalisburyClaret]

Thought he was very good - let the game flow, penalised when necessary and used a lot of common sense - 20’s all round

[Woodleyclaret]

Agree about the 3 reds but overall
12
13
12
13 too slow asserting his authority

[what_no_pies]

On one occadsion Tella went past their defender who attenpted 3 professional fouls to stop him. Tella wasn't for being stopped and the ball stayed in play. How the ref doesn't come back and book their lad is beyond me. 5 minutes later he got booked for a professional foul on Tella.

He also looked directly at Jay going down holding his head after a clear coming together but let play continue for quite a while as Swansea attacked. It looked like Jay had genuinely taken a whack. Such decisions could have serious consequences which is why the protocol (and the referee's job) is to stop the game.

[Sean Dyche's Watch]

Is it solely the referee's decision as to how much stoppage time is added? I suspect it's not.

[beeholeclaret]

20
22
22
22

Best ref for a long time. He missed an advantage to Burnley early on and dragged us back for free kick. That apart he appeared very fit and at one stage was rubbing faster into the area than our strikers.

Good game - good game!

[Beagleheart]

15
15
21
13

[beddie]

Thought he missed a few early on but overall thought he did well. One of the best we’ve had for sometime.Looked a fit chap too.

20
20
20
20

[beeholeclaret]

Best ref for a long time. He missed an advantage to Burnley early on and dragged us back for free kick. That apart he appeared very fit and at one stage was rubbing faster into the area than our strikers.


Oops that's the trouble with typing in bed on my phone with a bit of a hangover! Shouldve been "running".

[Stproc]

15
10
20
15

[Hipper]

Just watched the full 90 on Clarets+ (most enjoyable!).

I must say I can't see the problems with the referee that about half the respondents see.

1. Advantage. There was only one occasion when he did not play a good advantage but that ended up with us on one wing so may or not have been crucial.

2. Fouls. In the first ten minutes or so both sides were aggressive - for us Brownhill twice and Cullen - but the ref rightly awarded free kicks but did no more, which I thought was correct. In that time there were two or three minor infringements on Tella which did not seem to affect things. When Tella was held back, on around 20 mins, the Swansea player got a yellow. They got two more in the first half, for fouls on Tella and Zaroury. That did the trick and I can't recall many more incidents like that for the rest of the game. Brownhill rightly carded in the second half for being over aggressive, again. Did Piroe's stamp do anything? It didn't look good so probably correct red.

3. Time added on. Two minutes in the first half didn't seem wrong - no delays, substitutes or trainers on the pitch. One minute for the second half seems odd - no real delays, no trainers on the pitch but a few substitutions. Doesn't really matter but does seem odd.

Overall all it was a well and generally fairly contested match with two sets of players trying to play football - no Watford type deaths from being tackled, badgering of the ref etc.. The ref had it easy but I couldn't see much to fault unless you want to nit pick.

[Ashingtonclaret46]

Reading the diversity of comments about Stephen Martin seems to endorse the feeling amongst many that he is like Marmite ---you either llike him or you don't.

[quoonbeatz]

Thought he was pretty good on the whole. Doesn't understand advantage but there's about 3 refs in this country who do. The bookings were all fair. Likes his Mike Dean style stances and kept up with play very well.

Whilst it obviously didn't affect the result, he has to be seriously marked down by the assessor (assuming they still bother with them) for adding on just one minute at the end. There were 8 subs, a gaol and a red card in the 2nd half. In no way does that ever equate to one minute. We want consistency in referees decision making. If they can't get the simplest thing like timekeeping right then there's problems.

[MDWat]

A - 15
B - 15
C - 20
D - 15

[MACCA]

16
16
20
16

[andyh]

Strangely low marks for someone who didn’t do a lot wrong. As a Burnley fan you could question the early leniency and the lack of injury time in the second half but those really are small potatoes.

[dougcollins]

Strangely low marks for someone who didn’t do a lot wrong. As a Burnley fan you could question the early leniency and the lack of injury time in the second half but those really are small potatoes.

But not that difficult to get right.