St Stephens 3v2 St Blazey.

[Paul]

Right, before I go on, my I say well done to St Stephens on their win. They played well and grabbed the win. No complaints from me.

BUT.................

No way should that pitch be used for a match like today....EVER!!

WHY????

Very small for a start, I supose its to some spec but its so small.

The slide tackle is part of football, and you cannot do that on this pitch. It was clear to me that players wouldnt get stuck in at times and when they did they did it in away which gave away free kicks. It simply isnt how the game would be on grass.

Football is as much for supporters. A few poles and some sort of material dosnt keep supporters back. People just edge forward until some are almost on the pitch!! We couldnt stand behind the goal, (unless we went outside the cage!!) and near the end, a poor tackle from Danny Zalic in the corner resulted in at least 3 fans being on the pitch as they gave him an ear full.

It simply isnt set up for fans. No stand, no toilets, (unless you leave and cross a road). Its a fantastic place for training, and its there in all weather so you get to train in all weathers. At this time of year its hard enough to keep pitches up to standard so this tipe of pitch is perfect but i dont see no place for it in a senior football match.

Thats my view on the place, not their team, which played well.

Sadly for St Blazey, another red card, another lack of cutting edge, and out of another cup in the first round. Out of all 4 cups in december!! Bobbys got a bloody hard job but keep going Bobby. The club has had a major turn around in recent seasons so its going to take time to see the hard work come through!!

I hear St Blazey v Liskeard is no off on friday, so maybe some time out to come back fresh again.

[Guest st george9]

i understand your comments paul and you have your views..but the people i spoke to after enjoyed a great game of football..i thought we played brilliant and at no way did we just snatch a win .

i have played some great blazey sides of the past and you have a young team there now who when things dont go their way some bad tackles and dissent creep in it is a shame as i think there is some good players there maybe a bit of experience is needed??..we wanted it more and deserved the win

[DanBlazey]

All this nonsense about the ground, surface and facilities aside, the question remains, would the outcome have been different if the match had been played on grass? The answer: a resounding "yes".

[Guest st george9]

what makes you think that???? i understand your club is out of the cups and struggle in the leauge

so what happend when you were on grass then?

[Guest crosser]

what makes you think that???? i understand your club is out of the cups and struggle in the leauge

so what happend when you were on grass then?

he probably means they wouldn't have scored :Santa:

[Dave Deacon]

We will never know if St Blazey would have beaten you on grass. Whatever, they will cling to that thought to try and deflect today's embarrassment where on the day, they deserved no more than what they got! :D

[MOUNTAINEER]

The Feast of St Stephen has come 3 weeks early this year.

[The Villains]

All this nonsense about the ground, surface and facilities aside, the question remains, would the outcome have been different if the match had been played on grass? The answer: a resounding "yes".

Its the same for both sides.......... take the loss like a man and stop moaning............ You should be able to beat them on sand... your 3 leagues higher, they were better than you on the day

except.....

Footballs a funny old game!!!!!!!!!

[chairman]

Congratulations to St Stephens Borough for their win, just reward for endeavour and passion to win.

[Guest]

I can agree to a certain extent the remarks about the pitch but when both sides use the suirface regularly then taking that into acoount St Blazey shouild have won by a country mile. That was not the case as despite their huffing and puffing St Blazey quite frankly were not good enough.

Now here is a question for the referees. I am not going to say whether he was right or wrong to send off Maddision but what I saw was some good honest thumping tackles which is all part of the game and in a cup tie between a top side and a minnow is always going to have those types of full blooded tackles. As soon as players went flying through the air after a tackle - many of which were good challenges the referee came flying over to either admonish or card the alleged offender.

My question is does a referee take the conditions ie an artificial pitch into consoderation when what looked good challenges on grass was not acceptable to him on an artificial pitch?.

And what on earth was that little boy linesman on the side opposite the main crowd doing when he had the St Blazey NO 7 cautioned for words he said to him. There was a small group of people standing no more than five yards away from the so called incident which none of us heard. For goodness sake officials get a life. Its all part of the game. Its the old word commonsense which has almost dissapeared. If officials keep doing this then we will not have a game to enjoy watching or play in. His offside decision appeared to be wrong and the player reacted with what must have been a frustration comment. So what! get on with the game If all the linesman has to do is cover up his mistakes by getting players cautioned then what is the point. All he had to say was 'cut it out No.7 and that is that and got on with the game. But no he waves his flag furiously and the player is cautiined. Obviously if the player had persisted then he should be cautioned My plea is please officials use your commonsense or are officials just following the laws of the game blind and not using the unwritten law commonsense.

I only saw the second half so I have no idea what happened in the first. Likewise in the St Dominick v Newquay match Everyone was dumbfounded when a Newquay player was cautioned for what must have been one of the best tackles in the match. I cannot comment on the 2 second half sendings off because I was not there. The sending off of the Newquay player for handball at the start of the game was a judgement call by the referee because the player stopped the ball entering the net. The referee did delay stopping the game because a St Dominick player had a chance to score but he hit a post. In my view excellent refereeing. It was just unfortunate that it happened at the beginning of the match and the referee didn't have any option but to send the guy off.

People may ask why I get annoyed. It is not for my benefit but for the good of the game which we all love.

I'm sure B Manning will be the first to reply with his usual 100% backing of all match officials and say rules is rules.

[DanBlazey]

All this nonsense about the ground, surface and facilities aside, the question remains, would the outcome have been different if the match had been played on grass? The answer: a resounding "yes".

Its the same for both sides.......... take the loss like a man and stop moaning............ You should be able to beat them on sand... your 3 leagues higher, they were better than you on the day

except.....

Footballs a funny old game!!!!!!!!!

Sand?

[Home Waters]

:Santa: Sorry to interupt a Cornish argument. If its just about the playing surface, then its a matter of individual opinion as to wether or not you enjoy watching football played on that surface. Personally I do not, as to me its a bit like an overgrown 5 a side match. It doesnt, in my view, produce the real drama of the game and would not like to see it generally at all. Even though our ECPL team adapted well there and won, its not the same. :SM_carton:

[goodsense]

ECPL

I can not comment on the red card or the caution given at st. Stephens boro. on saturday, but as for the three red cards at st. dominick all three were justified. Number one was given for deliberately stopping a goal scoreing oppotunity by handling the ball. Number two was given for kicking an opponent as he was on the ground shielding the ball . Number three was for something said to the Referee and his assistant. Its easy for any one to say officials should use commonsense but why should any body have to put up with any sort of abuse or desent from any one.

Would you be willing to stand there and take the sort of abuse given to match officials on a regular bases ? I believe the answer would be no so why should they take it . Its easy to say the Law is the Law but it is and if its not used correctly the next official at that game would be abused then moaned at for dealing with it properly with comments such as the ref last week didn`t do that. Common sense should be used but just because an official goes by the letter of the law is he wrong. As a famous Italian Ref once said the best refs are not the ones who are not seen during a game but the ones that do their job.

Talking to players helps and most players will listen but there are the few who don`t and if you as an official try and help them by giving them some rope to play with they will hang themselves, then you are left no opition but to deal with it. Lets stand back and look at the bigger picture and not compartmentalize players and officials because we find they are easy targets. In an ideal world life would deal us better hands but hey football wouldn`t be as good as it is if no one muck up now and then.

[The Villains]

Quote DanBlazey........... "Sand?"

You know the stuff you build SAND castles with............... beach, sea and sand!!!!

[DanBlazey]

Since when were we playing on sand? It wasn't beach football.

Some of the posts on this forum are getting more and more bizarre!

[Guest]

Thanks goodsense. I spent a great period of time on the whistle so I know what it is like to get the odd 'that was crap ref or even worse' and so on but as I said in my piece COMMONSENSE has long gone and is ruining our game. I'm also not complaining about the sendings off at St Dominick. I agreed with the first one but didn't see the other two.

I'm surprised you never got around to answering the question which was:

My question is does a referee take the conditions ie an artificial pitch into consoieration when what looked good challenges on grass was not acceptable to him on an artificial pitch?.

Perhaps it slipped your mind.

On the point of what is a good referee. I have just finished watching the last 10 minuites or so of the Norwich City v Ipswhich Town match when a player from each side had an altercartion and the referee gave them a good talking to and that was that. GREAT REFEREEING. Unfortunately he will most probably be hauled before some obscure committee and be told, thats your career up the spout son.

My point being we all know what the laws of the game are but as I keep repeating myself COMMONSENSE - its great to see it being used properly. Good on the ref.

[isaac rosenberg]

You've obviously never been drawn away to St Ives at the Saltings, then.

[Guest Teasy]

"Now here is a question for the referees. I am not going to say whether he was right or wrong to send off Maddision but what I saw was some good honest thumping tackles which is all part of the game and in a cup tie between a top side and a minnow is always going to have those types of full blooded tackles. As soon as players went flying through the air after a tackle - many of which were good challenges the referee came flying over to either admonish or card the alleged offender."

Are you sure? Both tackles were awful and clearly late! The second deserved a straight red and the tackle by Zalic at the end was just as bad. Yes i agree, part of the game is about a hard tackle and few enjoy that more than me but there is a difference in hard and intentional knee high frustrated tackles.

[B Manning]

It`s all here to see I dont even have to post and that **** ECPL is having a dig at me, unbelievable!.

[truros mr mourinho]

It`s all here to see I dont even have to post and that **** ECPL is having a dig at me, unbelievable!.

your right mate,i think you must off sent him off ,or stood on his toes,never mine while he is having ago at you hes leaving some one else alone,nice to see you today and have a lovely xmas,perhaps santa wont bring him any pressies :Santa:

[HENRY HORNET]

As for the Maddison double yellow/red card(s). Being within a few feet of both "tackles" there was genuine belief from quite a few around touchline that Maddison never touched Number 2 on either tackle !!! Should No2 be nominated for this year's Oscar Performance ??

Blazey lost their way in the second half by lobbing the ball forward instead of playing to feet, this was due to panic clearances ??? Things looked up in the second half when Dave Trott came on for the second half and quickly laid on the second goal and had three good chances breaking free from tough tackles only for the Referee not to play the advantage. For the remainder of the game Blazey bypassed the midfield and the two forwards by lobbing the ball 60 feet in the air. Blazey do not have the height in any position to play like that and goes against all the plans of Mr Oaten about playing on the grass. He was let down by a number of players.

Interestingly, when St Stephens had a free kick, the Referee measured it out almost to the inch. When Blazey had a free kick he didn't bother. I agree with the comments about the "young eager" Asst Referee on the far side. His idea of the offside rule was certainly different. Both sides were adversely affected being on when off and being off when on. I think the "young eager" Asst Linesman made more decisions than the Referee??

As for the booking of No7 in the first half, there appears to be genuine belief that the Referee wrongly booked No10. Hence when No10 did commit an horrific tackle at the end, the Referee was clearly heard to say "Danny - just keep cool - I'm blowing up in a minute". Was this because he had wrongly booked No 10 in the first half??

On the day, on whichever surface, St Stephens played to their strengths and deserved the win. Some of the Blazey players must learn to follow Mr Oaten's plan of playing football on the grass and not 60 feet in the air. Why else do we cut the grass? Don't get disheartened Mr Oaten, we all know your aims are to produce a good footballing side, it might just take a month or two longer.

[goodsense]

ECPL

Sorry i forgot to answer your question . But why should playing on any type of surface be it artifical or not be treated differently I would not , a foul is a foul , a fair tackle is a fair tackle. I believe the ref should treat them all the same way what ever the state or type of surface, It seems that may be the players believe it should be different.

As for common sense i hope when I officiate I use it, and this season I tried a bit harder to use commonsense and I have enjoyed my fixtures more as I am there for the players benifit and not the FA`s .Oh yes I will and have dealt with players to the letter of the law but only when all other avenues have failed.

I have started to believe TALK FIRST if that fails DEAL WITH.

[Guest Frank le tank]

HENRY HORNET

'As for the Maddison double yellow/red card(s). Being within a few feet of both "tackles" there was genuine belief from quite a few around touchline that Maddison never touched Number 2 on either tackle !!! Should No2 be nominated for this year's Oscar Performance ??'

Probably the worst comment i've ever seen on this forum i was playing centre half for Boro so was feet away from our right back on both occasions when he got done by Maddison. Both were deservably yellows and he was lucky not to get sent off earlier for kicking out. Were you the man with the white stick and stevie wonder glasses Henry Hornet?

[Guest]

Ok you budding officials IS IT IN OR IS IT OUT.

And who is the player?

We all know that it is all the ball over all of the line So is the ball in or out. Its close but assuming the ball was stationary is it in or out?

[HENRY HORNET]

I had a clear view standing on the Tamar Bridge with my binoculars looking through the wrong end. I wondered why the Saltash Tunnel looked so small !!!

[Guest crosser]

IN :Santa:

[John The Baptist]

Joe Carey is the player and the ball looks in. From where the assistant is standin he probably deemed the ball in because he's looking down on it.

[DanBlazey]

Ball is in, no question. No sand there either.

[Dave Deacon]

Well isn't it that the ball is out of play when it's completely over the line.

So looking at the photo - I would say it is still in play.

But is it an optical illusion!!!

By the way, I think the player is St Blazey's No. 7's Joe Carey.

What the prize anyway for getting either right? :Santa:

[Guest Uncle Albert]

An anorak, Dave. :thumbsup:

[Dave Deacon]

An anorak

God I've got too many of those already! :thumbsup:

[Guest Uncle Albert]

How about a new pair of step ladders, in case you need to climb over any fences at remote Devon grounds in future . . .

[Guest higgy]

firstly well done st stephens borough! to beat a team 3 leagues higher than themselves is a great achievement in anyones book.

to be honest though blazey cant have too many complants seeming they train on the same pitch every week!

but as i mentioned before the match was played, playing on 3g is not the same as grass for the players and the spectators looking at the fans who watched the games posts!

simply 3g pitches shouldnt be used in competitive games.

p.s the ball is in!

[Dave Deacon]

How about a new pair of step ladders, in case you need to climb over any fences at remote Devon grounds in future . . .

Sorry this one's a bit deep for me on a Sunday evening! Any chance of explaining a little more! :huh:

[Guest]

I'm glad you all agree because the lino gave the ball out because he anticipated wrongly that the ball was going out of play as the ball ran along the line. And yes it is Joe Carey.

The prize. Now lets think.

For getting the ball in or out question right - A free course on how to raise your flag and wave it in the correct manner when you want the refereee to know you are in need of a comfort break.

And for getting the player right - A whoopy cushion for all St Blazey players to sit on when the manager wants to give them a pep talk about playing on plastic.

[Dave Deacon]

One ball out of play wrong, but how many did he get right? You guys should show the official more respect :D

[MOUNTAINEER]

Re the picture:-

As it is shown it appears to be fractionally IN play however this cannot be evidence of wrong doing by the officials, the photo does not show the movement of the ball also the players foot is a long way over the line and if playing the ball that is still in motion it may have ventured the extra millimeters to put it out of play.

We only have someones word the ball rolled along the line, wouldn't that be hard to judge if taking a photograph at the same time?

Is showing this picture an attempt is to discredit the officials for the demise of a Peninsula team on what has been a glory day for St Stephens?

OR just harmless fun, it is difficult to tell at times on these forums.

[Guest crosser]

I'm glad you all agree because the lino gave the ball out because he anticipated wrongly that the ball was going out of play as the ball ran along the line. And yes it is Joe Carey.

you can't really use that photo to prove that the ball was in to bash the lino, if the lino had his flag up in the photo signalling a throw in maybe, the only way you could prove it would have been if you posted a video not a still.

FAIL......

[B Manning]

This especially for ECPL, If the assistant did nothing and play carried on then the ball was in play, on the other hand if the assistant raised his flag and the referee stopped play and awarded a throw in then the ball was out.

[St Darren]

I think you missed out the word "adjudged"

[Phil]

Looking at the picture is there no dug outs for the subs to sit in at this ground? I thought at senior level that would be a requirement for entry to the league. Isn't there a law that says only 1 or two should stand up in the technical area and all others must remain seated?

If this standard of pitch is ok, do you people think i'll get Threemilestone in the combo playing at Truro college?(have to get a bit higher up the table first though!) :Santa:

[Guest Frank le tank]

There are dug outs there for every game provided by Boro.

[Guest Peppermint]

Following on from Ron Manager's posting and Frank le tank's reply - in the photograph if there are dugouts then why are all the subs and managers and physios etc standing and there is also no technical area marked out. There looks like that there are no dugouts unless they are invisible.

Another point - on the Peninsula League Forum somone states that St Stephens Borough will soon be in the CSWPL - Phil Hiscox has replied stating that no way would they be allowed in the league with the present pitch.

[Guest Frank le tank]

Think the comments about Boro soon being in the CSWPL may have been a bit toungue and cheek! But can assure you the dugout are there if you look closely.

[Mark C]

parkway reserves won 6-2 on that surface so why shouldnt yo have done the same. that is if we are talking about st stephens borough not st stephen!

[Phil]

parkway reserves won 6-2 on that surface so why shouldnt yo have done the same. that is if we are talking about st stephens borough not st stephen!

Don't think that anyone is doubting the result of the game, just the strangeness of what for me would feel like playing in a school playground.

[The Villains]

If St Blazey had won this game, nothing more would have been said or qouted, the better team won on the day THATS FOOTBALL.............

Ref the picture....... its a bit sad to have to take photos of the Assistant referees line calls......... a still photo of this action, does not prove anything....... other than when it was taken it looks to be in, whos to say the photograper didnt clicked the button when the ball was out, but there will have been a split sec delay in recording the photo, hence the ball appearing to be in.

Footballs a funny old game.............. :thumbsup:

[Guest st george9]

yes mark c it was st stephens borough..we played parkway 2nd game of the season and we were understrength with injury and people away but parkway were far to good that day..best team we have played by a mile...but think it going be alot closer when we meet again :D

[chairman]

If St Blazey had won this game, nothing more would have been said or qouted, the better team won on the day THATS FOOTBALL.............

Let's get something straight here, the result is unimportant and only meaningful to the winners.

The issue is all about the facility or lack of. It just is not up to standards and must be stopped before we all allow senior football to decline further.

We really have all been badly served by the ruling body in Cornwall, who have not done their job.

[Guest The Judge aka RED OR DEAD]

Who is the young lino and can we have him every week, he seems to be the only one I have seen keep up with play !!! (our own wonderful unbiased Andrew excepted)