Comrades
This arvo Glory defeated Gippsland 2-1 in what was perhaps the most eventful match I've ever seen. To briefly summarise Gippsland took an early lead through Canosa (I think), only for Glory to win it in the second half through Kalogeracos and a very late Despotovski penalty. But mention (or rather, a long rant) MUST be made of the performance of the referee, Mr Wayne Dade.
Now, I do not say this lightly, but Dade was responsible for probably the worst refereeing decision I've ever seen. Five minutes into the match a Gippsland corner curved high, untouched and out. It was physically impossible for a player fully twenty feet in height to make contact with the ball. Both teams moved out for a goal kick, but incredibly Dade suddenly decided to award a corner. Glory, being the unprofessional outfit they are, argued and bickered and, not surprisingly, conceded a goal. For the rest of the half the chant of "Corner Corner" rang around the ground. Dade, abused by all and sundry, was plainly distressed when he left the pitch at the interval.
But that incident was only one of several that left both teams (not to mention the fans) angry and bewildered. Four or five Gippsland players were booked in the first half, all of them for physical but not particularly dirty fouls. Indeed, one was for an attempt of a foul that missed its target. But immediately after the goal we saw a mini-repeat of the Wolves incident when a Gippsland player (Hastie I think, but he was too far from me to be sure) ran up to The Shed to give it the finger. Dade saw nothing wrong with that.
In the second half the first obvious foul, committed by Hastie on the edge of the box, drew a second yellow and the Falcons were down to ten men. After that there were several fouls of an identical nature, mainly by Gippland but also by Glory, which Dade didn't punish. Hastie has grounds for complaint. I think "inconsistent" is too mild a word.
The late (and match-deciding) penalty I can't say too much about, as I didn't see it. In fact very few people saw it, including the radio commentators. The two explanations that I've heard so far are that Sekulic buried Scott Halpin with a *very* late tackle, or Sekulic stomped Halpin in an off-the-ball incident. Whatever the offence Sekulic was given a straight red card. After that there was an enormous shoving match, the two players at the centre of things being Samson Siasia and Manny Gotis. Gotis then had to be restrained first by Buljubasic and then his own team-mates from ATTACKING THE REFEREE. And yet he wasn't even cautioned! That Despotovski took the penalty with such aplomb is remarkable considering the five minute wait he had to endure.
It could then be argued that Despotovski and Buljubasic could have been booked for over-celebration, as they both charged well off the field. Gotis then got away with a very bad foul on Carbone (born of frustration methinks) and Buljubasic for a two footed the-ball-well-past-him tackle on Thompson. By this stage Dade's cards were stapled to his pocket.
After the final whistle Canosa had a prolonged shouting match with Dade and then invited disaster by sardonically clapping the Glory fans as he slowly walked towards the tunnel. A missile was thrown.
Now none of these ridiculous events would have taken place if not for the plain ineptitude of Dade. His corner decision was blatantly incorrect and I think the abuse he copped from the crowd rattled him. Quite frankly it was not a performance fit for the level of the NSL, whether at Perth Oval in front of a large crowd, or a poorly attended midweek slug-out between two cellar-dwellers.
Special mention must be made of fourth official (and WA ref) Lou Prospero. Unbelievably he managed to hold up the wrong numbers for a substitution using the ELECTRONIC board. His error held the match up for a full two minutes.
Criticisms of this country's officials have often been made on this list, particularly over the last few weeks with the efforts of Con Diomis at Belmore and Suncorpse. Earlier in the season it was most notably McKay at Breakers Stadium. Several times on the radio I've heard commentators, coaches, ex-coaches and ex-players, lament that the current generation of officials is inexperienced and a class below. Clearly the standard of refereeing in Australia is unsatisfactory.
The question I ask is, how can it be fixed? Full-time referees?
Also, will we ever see a day where a referee (Dade) is asked to explain why he/she made a certain decision (awarding a ridiculous corner)? In other words, accountability?