From The East Stand with Bill Harris
The Premier League have stated that Stuart Attwell has not been dropped for this weekend, it is just the rota that he is going to be a fourth official on Saturday – More shame them!!! Atwell should not be allowed to referee another professional match until he grows up and demonstrates more maturity and a greater understanding of the game.
It was not just Liverpoo’ls first goal. Attwell has a reputation for being a stickler for observing the letter of the law, yet during this game he…
- didn’t make Torres retreat the full 10 yards from the free-kick which resulted in the disputed goal
- didn’t award Sunderland a second penalty for the assault on Welbeck by Reina
- didn’t make Skirrtel leave the field after receiving extensive treatment on the pitch
- didn’t give Carragher a yellow card for coming back onto the field without permission (and shirtless) after receiving treatment – this would have been Carraghers second yellow and hence a red
- didn’t give Gerrard a red card for the elbow to Welbeck’s head when Gerrard got no where near the ball in the challenge; gave in Torres when Torres refused to come to him when called across for a yellow card.
Whilst a couple of these might be open to interpretation, most of them are black and white letter of the law situations which Attwell got totally wrong.
He was over-awed and allowed himself to be bullied by Carragher, Gerrard and Torres in particular.
Far from coming out and defending him the Premier League should be doing their best to improve refereeing standards and letting fans know that they actually know a poor refereeing performance when they see one and are taking steps to prevent it happening again.
