I'm not inclined to go down the systematically corrupt road, although these last few days have not been a good look for the PGMOL.

But I do think Michael Oliver has given us enough dodgy red cards that we can now say he is at the very least unconsciously biased against us. The stats are stark and I think the MLS dismissal is a textbook example of this unconscious bias.

He was behind the incident and so did not have a great view of it, so he guessed and gave himself no time to think about the decision (you'd think removing a player would require at least a degree of thought), he reacted emotionally and not logically.

Darren England's application of the VAR process is the thing that concerns me, although I'm sure that when we hear the audio, it will all be very plausible. Especially given the still image @flobaba referred to previously.

I just can't see how he can have justified a decision, with all the images available to him, that almost to a man, the entire football world has been utterly shocked by.

The speed with which the appeal was upheld seems pretty telling, but I don't know if that's standard.

Also, just to say on the point of how long it took the red card to come out and be cleared by VAR, it would be nice if the same level of scrutiny applied to disallowing a goal was applied to removing a player from the pitch.

  • Tam likes this.

  • Dom

  • Post #232

Having a bias is a form of corruption for a referee.

I'm being totally serious when I say this: if I was a professional ref and was asked to referee a Man Utd game, I would refuse. There's not a chance I could referee that game fairly.

Tierney, England, Kavanaugh and Oliver are objectively anti-Arsenal. Their performances have shown they cannot be neutral in an Arsenal match. Even if its existence is not made public, a competent body should analyse refereeing performances for irregularities such as bias.

This isn't only for the benefit of Arsenal. There'll be refs that are biased against Liverpool or Newcastle or Villa. Man City are unscathed because they may be paying off refs and they're a small club so no-one outside of north London and Liverpool feels strongly about them.

biases aren't corruption. we all have biases. i have to recruit people at my job. every interview i walk into, i look into the screen or across the table and despite all my bias training i have already formed a rich opinion of the candidate in front of me - and it has an impact on how i will assess them. it helps that i have a structured interview format and scoring rubric, but those biases still linger. this stuff isn't corruption. it's just a hazard of the job that you need to actively manage against.

    • Dom

    • Post #234

    That analogy doesn't work in this context. A referee's only job is to officiate a match between two teams as a neutral.

    Having a bias against one of the teams displays a lack of integrity and honesty, which is the definition of corruption.

    Biases aren't a choice. We all have them and are blind to them for the most part. I'm sure referees are trained on mitigating them but it's not a form of corruption.

    Corruption is a choice and implies some form of illegality or law/rule breaking.

      daredevil not all biases are the same. Maybe the biases of the referees made them blind to on-field decisions being wrong, or maybe they disagree with the on-field decision, but let it pass because he's their colleague and they want to support him. The latter is on purpose, and if you don't think that's happening in the league then I guess we'll just have to disagree.

        If a referee is unconsciously biased, then he's an idiot. It's like excusing a judge for having unconscious bias and putting black kids away while letting white guys go free for the same offenses. Bullshit. Their job is to be conscious of their biases and to manage them. If they can't, bin 'em.

        FWIW, there's no way I can ever be convinced they they have any unconscious biases. They know exactly how they feel.

        • Mirth

        • Post #239

        One individual could be unconsciously biased but an entire organisation...? It's not like Michael Oliver is the only one with issues.

          Mirth in a career that is almost literally about managing biases, to be unaware of your own seems slightly ludicrous.

            • Qwiss

            • Post #241

            Claudius you can’t have a child traumatized like this.

            The man is 18 years old. Have some respect.

                Qwiss

                Not sure is tongue in cheek.... But... 18 is not quite a child, but not quite a man either.

                  They appointed a Liverpool fan to ref our game v City

                  If anything, I think they will all be too anxious to do anything overly dramatic.
                  Only issue is that it might allow animals like Kovacic license to do some gangster shit

                  • JazzG

                  • Post #246

                  RocktheCasbah I think they know they are being watched and under scrutiny so you'd think/hope they'd wait a while before they can screw us over. But you never know with this lot.

                      This guy wished he never wrote this article. Doesn’t know what backlash he will get from Arsenal Twitter who are a force to be reckoned with: