Blog: Who's To Blame?

GOLD Coast United's loss to Melbourne Victory was so predictable that that I wrote most of this blog on Thursday night. Our boys never had a chance, but who's to blame for that?

Gold Coast's problems started at Skilled Park way back in September, when referee Peter Green awarded Kevin Muscat a second chance at a penalty. With United already reduced to ten men, Melbourne won the game 3-2, securing a valuable psychological edge for the return fixture.

So how many A-League players have since been booked for infringing the box during a penalty? Anyone? Bueller?

Then we had Steve Pantelidis suspended for accumulating too many yellow cards. Some of these were "soft" yellow cards and would have been no more than free kicks against other players.

Clearly, Panta has courted a reputation as a Hard Man, but was his two-match ban really deserved, based on what he's done this season? Can we think of anyone else *cough* Muscat *cough* who might have done as much without punishment? Try again, Bueller?

Things got worse when Kristian Rees got red-carded in Adelaide. The send-off was questioned by many, including TV commentators. Then Bas Van Den Brink copped a post-game suspension from the Match Review Panel (MRP) for touching the referee in the ensuing melee.

Strangely, Scott Higgin's touching of the referee did not elicit any punishment at all. Neither have countless other such incidents over the season. So where's the consistency? Bueller?

Now this is where you're expecting me to blame our loss on the FFA, their Match Review Panel, and their bloody hopeless referees. And on Thursday I was all ready to do just that, I really was. But not now.

Fact is, I don't begrudge our A-League officials for their best efforts. Sure, they are generally just not good enough and if they were players, some of them wouldn't be on the field.

But that's not their fault, they are products of the Australian system. You might as well blame Eddie The Eagle for not being the world's greatest ski-jumper.

Personally, I'd like to see some guest refs brought in from overseas for short paid stints - it would be a good working holiday for them, and hopefully it would be highly inspiring and educational for our mob.

I would also like to see (as mentioned previously) a trial of video referees and extra officials behind goals. Maybe the rest of the world is not ready for that experiment just now, but Australia surely is.

But again, that's nothing to do with our 4-0 loss on Saturday. In fact, the refereeing by Ben Williams was quite good.

So who's to blame? Maybe Miron Bleiberg, for starting Jason Culina up on the wing? But desperate times call for desperate measures, and the gamble nearly paid off when Culina put in an early cross.

Maybe I could blame the goalie, but I think Scotty has already copped his fair share of abuse this season. Maybe I could blame Matt Osman, just for fun? Or maybe I should blame Fate for all our recent injuries, including (OUCH!!!) Fitzy's dislocated finger?

But do you know what? I think maybe I'll just take this loss on the chin.

If it's true, as it sometimes seems, that Gold Coast are being specially targeted by referees, officials and other teams, maybe we should just take that as a sign of respect and move on. The table will tell the only tale worth talking about at the end of the season.

At least our youngsters got a good run. The experience of 20,000 fans baying for their blood should serve them well in years to come. After all, they will be wearing Gold Coast United shirts.

Now bring back my team, and bring on the Marinators next week.