At the fortieth minute mark of the first half on Friday night, Kevin Muscat took possession of the ball just behind halfway. Glancing up, he dinked a lovely ball over the top of the Central Coast defence to Archie Thompson.
Thompson’s first touch was deft, but Victory supporters were never to find out how good his second would be as the linesman’s flag went straight up.
From the third tier of the Telstra Dome, almost directly along the halfway line, it appeared that Thompson was onside.
Indeed, it appeared so close that probably 21,455 pairs of eyes turned to the Dome’s two big screens to see if the linesman had got it right.
But a replay was not forthcoming.
Instead, spectators simply got an eyeful of the TAC’s road safety campaign.
Mariners fans would have been even more frustrated not to have seen vision of Dylan Macallister’s disallowed goal just after half time.
The decision, which curiously did not warrant broaching in the match report on the A-League’s website, would have had far more bearing on the game than the Thompson one earlier.
Replays showed later on Fox Sports confirmed the decision was incorrect, but those in the crowd were again left wondering as the TAC’s campaign got another spin.
The reluctance to show any incident even mildly controversial is a long-standing practice at the Telstra Dome, but never fails to rile the punters.
From the creation of the A-League, Football Federation Australia has endeavoured to steer away from providing any type of avenue for supporter aggression at games.
By doing so, it has all but banished from Australian club football the spectre of violence that constantly haunted the NSL.
For this it deserves credit. No one wants to feel uncomfortable or intimidated while watching the team they love.
But surely sanitization such as this is one neurotic step too far.
And as one Victory member on Friday night pointed out, allowing replays can only lead to the improvement of the standard of refereeing throughout the league.
Referees cop criticism – some warranted, some not – everywhere around the world. Of course, they always deserve respect.
But televising incidents at games will mean officials will have to take responsibility for their decisions, and that healthy pressure should lead to better refereeing.
That – as well as the ability to get the answers to their questions on game day – is an outcome that the paying punters deserve.
Midfielder
Guest
Liam ... right it's a FIFA thing and out of FFA hands.
Pippinu
Roar Guru
The minute an umpire/ref starts worrying about extraneous things over and above what they see in front of them, and calling it accordingly, they're stuffed. If a linesman makes a bad offside call (and about 1 in 3 are actually incorrect calls) - what can he do - look harder the next time? They're looking for the same thing over and over, they either catch it at that moment or they don't. Worrying about it doesn't help them make a good call the next time. Can refs and umps learn from certain types of wrong calls for next time (dives, being blind sighted, well disquised handballs) - yes, maybe. The more you do the craft, the more experience you gain, clearly the better you get - that's natural. Anyone who has played any game extensively, and then one day decides to ref or ump a social game, never having done it before, quickly learns two things: 1. it's bloody hard; and 2. the players will absolutely whinge at you incessantly regardless of what you do.
Coach
Guest
Yeah it doesnt affect the initial decision, for sure, but do you think that the umpires might correct themselves or affect their decision next time? Thoughts?
Pippinu
Roar Guru
Coach the players do do that - it's quite funny - as always - it doesn't actually change anything!
Coach
Guest
Not being the craziest fan ever, but enough that I go to a game if there are beers involved I agree with Paddy, not completely knowing the rules and what is going at all times cos I have the attention span of a canary, I really feel replays would help the plebs like me understand why something was disallowed etc rather than asking my soccer wise pal to explain why without pictures. But I spose on the other hand in AFL they show replays and it has slowly been creeping into the game that a player will point to the screen and get the umpire to look at the decision they have just made. Whether or not this actually affects the umps or not im not sure. Very good topic tho, Cheers Paddy
Clutch Cable
Guest
Yeah as above states, it's a FIFA ruling and is the same for games all round the world. Can be frustrating as a spectator, but the danger is it would undermine the integrity of the referee and effectively lead to the referee making decisions based on video replays. Imagine a tricky decision about whether the ball crossed the goal line. With replays in the stadium, the referee could delay their decision until they've seen a slo-mo replay half a dozen times.
Liam Pender
Roar Rookie
Although i totally agree i think it is actually a fifa rule and thus out of the FFA's hands