Padiham Saints J.F.C

I thought todays match was discusting, those darwen ranger are one dirty playing team they were pulling of shirts , barging our players, kicking our players teams, but well played our lads as they kept going considering the crap they had to suffer through the game , the ref this week was as much use as a chocolate fire guard, he was giving darwen ranger every foul everything but when it came too us he gave nothing, and we was being fouled all the time in this match, i personaly think that ref should be reported too the fa and make him take his ref training again anyway enough from me keep it going lads from andy & kerry [/b]

It's sad when a poor ref spoils a game. I've been having a discussion with a mate of mine for months and I feel that shirt pulling should be a straight red card. A player can misjudge a tackle or mistime a jump but never can you pull a shirt accidentally. When kids see this week in week out on TV and see them get away with it is it any wonder they try and emulate it.

I played football from primary school until I had to stop in my early 20's, sometime three games in a weekend and I can never ever remember having my shirt pulled. I've been felled at the knees and had my head kicked like a ball and trampled like being in a stampede but if we'd ever attempted to pull a shirt we'd have been called a big girl for sure.

This brings me to a second talking point about fouling. How much of it is taught by coaches? Some of the things I've seen watching Saints this last eighteen months are not self taught, they're shown how to do it. Long before the recent spate and clampdown of over the top tackles I'd commented to my mate about a big Scottish lad we had at senior school. He showed me how to go 'over the top' and make it virtually imposible for the ref to penalise it. The so called art was to make sure you got the ball but with your foot riding over it, your foot following through to the opponents instep and effectively taking him out of the game. I don't recall exactly but I'm sure he called it 'Hashing'.

My point is that some will go to any length to win, fair or otherwise. It really is down to referee's to protect players within the rules of the game. A sore point with me is the number of times I've seen our keepers intimidated for want of a better word by the opposition at set pieces i.e. corners and are told quite openly to do so by the coaches. Glad to say that our lads have been picking up on it and a few of the Rooks players particularly are physically getting between the keeper and the opposition. If you're standing on the keepers toes you're obstructing him and refs should give due protection.