Official West Hartlepool RFC

wheatley lad Wrote:
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> Your very fair match report...


Thanks for that...normally I'm accused of being biased!

I am as passionate a West fan as anyone on here but for what it's worth I don't think the blame can be laid entirely at the door of Wheatley Hills - yes they came to play a physical game and that went too far at times but I'm not naive enough to think our players were 100% innocent.

What I don't understand is the criticism of the two red cards about which more than one Wheatley supporter said to me "how can you send two players from the same side off for fighting...did they punch each other". Firstly, if red cards were being dished out for punches we'd have been playing 3-a-side. The referee obviously saw something specific from those two players that he felt was worse than anything else he'd seen - otherwise why make such a decision.

As for all the talk about the return match - I think we're getting caught up in the heat of the moment. I'm sure the hospitality will be good, just like every other club and I expect another physical game but there's no reason to think it's going to be anything like Saturday.

El Pedro, anyone who was able to watch that match and keep their mind on writing notes to be able to create a match report is very dedicated to the cause indeed.
As for the criticism of the red cards, from a personal opinion, if the cards were given to two West players and not ours would you feel aggrieved? Bear in mind that you have stated you couldn't see anything to suggest why it should be that way (I'm not saying there wasn't a reason, just that, like you, I saw nothing to suggest anything but an equal amount of cards).

The only opinion that matters on this is the Referee's. He was right on the spot and gave his view to the WH captain before showing the cards.

I'd love to know what he said to the WH captain.
I bet he's not on their Xmas card list, though.

I believe The ginger lad got red carded for deciding to throw a punch once the fistycuffs had ended, flaring everything up again!

Hi All,
I havent posted for sometime, and usually stay out of debates etc. However, on reading this thread I feel the need to make a few general remarks. I was not at the match as was officiating elsewhere. From a referee's perspective, we see events from a unique angle which is often different from that of the spectators and players(we are closer to the situation, but may have obstructions blocking our view). When a mass brawl breaks out (which I assume from reading this thread, thats what happened), it is difficult to decide what went on. The best we can do is stand back, observe and wait until it fizzles out if the players do not respond to whistles.

When observing we are looking for a number of things, are players running from a distance to join the situation. The level of injuries being sustained. Opportunity of players to protect themselves or avoid being hit. Areas of the body being hit. Level of intent involved with the punches/kicks etc.

Once the situation has stopped referees will then work one of a number of scenarios to deal with the situation. One scenario is sometimes to deal with the players that started the situation. Another is to deal with players that joined after the fight had stopped. A further situation is to deal with foul play which knocks players to the floor. There is no exact science to this, so all a referee can do is get themself in a position to be able to see something and be effective.

At the end of the day, the referee in this game, observed the situation, noticed some act of foul play by some individuals of a greater intent than others, and had decided whatever they had done warranted a sending off.

The only way you will find out the exact reasoning behind these cards is to be at the disciplinary hearing and listen to the further explanations in relation to the report.

Cheers
PF

Thanks Ref for your concise explanation of the situation, very much appreciated.

On reflection, I for one thought the referee handled most situations very well, considering the difficult circumstances that arose throughout the game.

He can only officiate the game as he sees it!

What's done is done and let us just wish Wheatley Hills the best and that they dish out a beating ( sorry for that word ) to Percy Park as we may well need them to. Let us hope for a better display by our boys than at home to Pontefract, the only game I was able to see this season when they travel there this week.Well done to the Stags and Bucks once again.
The story of Keith Baggs reminded me of the Euthanasians trip when we got to Aspatria to watch the Pilkington Cup clash and another typical Baggsie comment as we were next to each other in the toilet cubicles without toilet roll and he asked me if he could borrow a ten bob note!!! Never forotten that nor the full weekend including "disco dancer" call at the line out!!!!

Thanks to the Ref for that insight.
Not so happy about the insight from Denny about Keith Baggs. We always assumed that like Royalty Baggsy never went to the toilet.

why do you think every other club called him 'shitbaggs' >>>

The ref obviously knows that 2 red cards in that situation is going to be controversial so he must have had clear reasons for doing so. It would have been easy for him to just give a red to each side but he didn't, presumably because he has seen two specific incidents that stood out from the rest (in the various ways mentioned by ref above)

Very interesting, Help the Ref, but what's that got to do with it?

DP - do we have to tolerate this repeated bad language from the Headland headcase?

Just read wheatley hills report on their website
Unbelievable!!!!!

The match report put on our pitchero is copied and pasted from our local paper, and would like to have thought the person updating it would have used a bit more common sense as to take out some of the provocative statements in the report.
I don't agree in it being copied on to our website.

I'd like to think the inference of 'north-east referee' came from the fact it's the name of the league we play in and good luck proving otherwise.

The inference is that the official kept on playing until West won which is quite disgraceful. As I say it is up to the RFU and the official.