That was one magic loogey. Dino Djubic's dummy spit left his mouth, heading for the ground, yet somehow spun around in mid air and re-directed towards referee Peter Green behind him. Yes, indeed that was one magic loogey.
Seinfeld did that routine in a sit-com. We've got the FFA, churning out the same lines, except in a 'match review panel'. Only it's not funny. The Match Review Panel is one of those ideas that sounds great in a boardroom...but the reality is, it sucks.
It's said that dodgy decisions balance out over a season - some go for you, some against - and with the A-League being a short season, sometimes we have to wait a little longer before karma kicks in (like Joel Griffiths now finding himself in a team he doesn't recognise, getting humped 5-0 by Victory, on its way to the bottom reaches of the ladder...).
I'd rather hang around and wait to see fate balance the books than have a team of blokes poring over multiple camera angles and slo-motion replays to see which direction the magic Dino-loogey went. ("Behind...and to the left...").
There are many things that piss me off about this whole process - not least of which it's something imported from other codes. Here are just a few...
1) It's negative. It just imposes fresh penalties. Its FFA mandate says it will rectify obvious errors in disciplinary decisions...which sounds like it can go either way, but will they really spend as much time looking at wiping out yellow cards and red cards and bans as they will finding new faults? No chance. Instead they're trying to spot handballs the ref missed. Lordy.
2) It's just as subjective as a referee's call at the time. Bozza escaped scot-free for his penalty box blunder. I have no wish to see Bozza get a ban...but that reeks of just as much double-standards as the Joel Griffiths sack-whacking last year. Either he fouled him and denied him a goal-scoring opportunity (and therefore should have been red-carded)...or he didn't and it should never have been a penalty.
It's only the panel's opinion, just one made with more time and more hindsight...and potentially open to political pressure from outside. The Mariners having TWO suspended 'keepers would be embarrassing all round, eh?
And I'm sure all players would love to play all their games with the benefit of hindsight, like the panel has the benefit of doing. Even David Zdrilic could have scored a lot more goals if he'd been able to play in hindsight and knew where the keepers would dive. Ah, okay, maybe not Zdrilic. But other strikers would be able to...
3) Which brings me nicely to the next point - no matter what the panel decides, it can't change the outcome of the game itself. If Bozza didn't foul, then it shouldn't have been a penalty and Roar shouldn't have had that goal. In the end it wouldn't have made any difference to that particular game, but there are occasions when it will.
Games revolve around the ref's decision - punishments handed out later don't affect THAT game, only future games completely unrelated to the opponent directly affected. If a player is a consistent offender, a ban will catch up with him anyway under the totting up procedure. After-the-event refereeing doesn't change the final score. Or maybe the FFA are planning to tinker with that too?
4) I don't want more bans. I want more teams fielding their best teams. We've got a short enough season with too few stars already without losing players to dumb-arse arbitrary bans. (And if Dino didn't spit at the ref - but still got banned for five games - then we're going to run out of A-League players by round seven if that's the benchmark for lengthy suspensions.)
5) Fans wanted officials to use video to stamp out the annoying cases of referee blunders like bad offside calls and whether or not the ball has gone over the goalline, not which way a players spits. Jesus.
6) And at the end of the day, the referee's decision is supposed to be bloody final. If he doesn't see something then that sucks. But that's life and that's football. Shit happens. Deal with it. Don't set up a panel and ban people.
++++
Match review panels aside, this season is shaping up to be a classic.
I am in awe of the way Victory have come out this year. Even in their year of the double, they didn't dominate the way they're looking to do this year. For once, they have the team and Ernie's not afraid to give them their head to attack. Perhaps he learned his lesson from the ACL that sitting back and relying on a strong defensive midfield is simply no way to win matches? It's only taken three seasons for that to sink in...
Sydney look okay too - their new players are dripfeeding their way into the team and settling in well (mostly), but they stil have a hangover from the Sydney of old in their defence and it could be their undoing. Some of that backline simply aren't up to the job. As it was, they had to rely on two own goals and a penalty for their win against Perth. But with Cole, Corica and Brosque looking the goods upfront, they might just be able to score more than than they concede each game on their way to the ultimate grand final against Melbourne.
Adelaide are the ones most likely to throw a spanner in the works for that scenario though. Their demolition of a frankly shocking Wellington Phoenix showed they're not missing Bruce Djite or Nathan Burns...and can do without crocked marquee Paul Agostino.
Phoenix look set to defy all expectations of a vastly improved second season to once again do battle with Perth Glory for the wooden spoon. Perth were valiant against Sydney and showed excellent attacking substance with new boys Eugene Dadi and Amaral. But despite all that, they still gave away two own goals and a penalty to hand Sydney their win on a plate and that's just crap.
Meanwhile Mariners are the most likely challengers for that fourth finals spot. Roar will want to play all their games away this season after the curse of Suncorp struck again - but at least it coughed up an entertaining match for neutrals and Mariners' fans. Roar looks like they will be battling out with the Jets for the place below the finals spots though.
Yes, there does appear to be an elite group emerging this season already...but I like that. It's a sign of good recruitment - and with the cap in place, it's open for every club to do the same or better next season.
++++
Vince Grella's early yellow in his Blackburn Rovers debut raised a smile as West Ham skipper Lucas Neill instinctively started defending his Socceroo team-mate to the ref and (successfully) prevented him from getting sent off for the wild high tackle, despite them now being on rival teams. Old habits die hard etc...
++++
Manchester City - wow. Sensational way for new owners to make an entry...but Mark Hughes's coat has just been moved to the hook marked 'shoogly'. How long until he's replaced? And who by? Will Sven get a second chance? And exactly how much money will they spend in January??
++++
Days since Graham Arnold fronted the Australian press: 19.
Seinfeld did that routine in a sit-com. We've got the FFA, churning out the same lines, except in a 'match review panel'. Only it's not funny. The Match Review Panel is one of those ideas that sounds great in a boardroom...but the reality is, it sucks.
It's said that dodgy decisions balance out over a season - some go for you, some against - and with the A-League being a short season, sometimes we have to wait a little longer before karma kicks in (like Joel Griffiths now finding himself in a team he doesn't recognise, getting humped 5-0 by Victory, on its way to the bottom reaches of the ladder...).
I'd rather hang around and wait to see fate balance the books than have a team of blokes poring over multiple camera angles and slo-motion replays to see which direction the magic Dino-loogey went. ("Behind...and to the left...").
There are many things that piss me off about this whole process - not least of which it's something imported from other codes. Here are just a few...
1) It's negative. It just imposes fresh penalties. Its FFA mandate says it will rectify obvious errors in disciplinary decisions...which sounds like it can go either way, but will they really spend as much time looking at wiping out yellow cards and red cards and bans as they will finding new faults? No chance. Instead they're trying to spot handballs the ref missed. Lordy.
2) It's just as subjective as a referee's call at the time. Bozza escaped scot-free for his penalty box blunder. I have no wish to see Bozza get a ban...but that reeks of just as much double-standards as the Joel Griffiths sack-whacking last year. Either he fouled him and denied him a goal-scoring opportunity (and therefore should have been red-carded)...or he didn't and it should never have been a penalty.
It's only the panel's opinion, just one made with more time and more hindsight...and potentially open to political pressure from outside. The Mariners having TWO suspended 'keepers would be embarrassing all round, eh?
And I'm sure all players would love to play all their games with the benefit of hindsight, like the panel has the benefit of doing. Even David Zdrilic could have scored a lot more goals if he'd been able to play in hindsight and knew where the keepers would dive. Ah, okay, maybe not Zdrilic. But other strikers would be able to...
3) Which brings me nicely to the next point - no matter what the panel decides, it can't change the outcome of the game itself. If Bozza didn't foul, then it shouldn't have been a penalty and Roar shouldn't have had that goal. In the end it wouldn't have made any difference to that particular game, but there are occasions when it will.
Games revolve around the ref's decision - punishments handed out later don't affect THAT game, only future games completely unrelated to the opponent directly affected. If a player is a consistent offender, a ban will catch up with him anyway under the totting up procedure. After-the-event refereeing doesn't change the final score. Or maybe the FFA are planning to tinker with that too?
4) I don't want more bans. I want more teams fielding their best teams. We've got a short enough season with too few stars already without losing players to dumb-arse arbitrary bans. (And if Dino didn't spit at the ref - but still got banned for five games - then we're going to run out of A-League players by round seven if that's the benchmark for lengthy suspensions.)
5) Fans wanted officials to use video to stamp out the annoying cases of referee blunders like bad offside calls and whether or not the ball has gone over the goalline, not which way a players spits. Jesus.
6) And at the end of the day, the referee's decision is supposed to be bloody final. If he doesn't see something then that sucks. But that's life and that's football. Shit happens. Deal with it. Don't set up a panel and ban people.
++++
Match review panels aside, this season is shaping up to be a classic.
I am in awe of the way Victory have come out this year. Even in their year of the double, they didn't dominate the way they're looking to do this year. For once, they have the team and Ernie's not afraid to give them their head to attack. Perhaps he learned his lesson from the ACL that sitting back and relying on a strong defensive midfield is simply no way to win matches? It's only taken three seasons for that to sink in...
Sydney look okay too - their new players are dripfeeding their way into the team and settling in well (mostly), but they stil have a hangover from the Sydney of old in their defence and it could be their undoing. Some of that backline simply aren't up to the job. As it was, they had to rely on two own goals and a penalty for their win against Perth. But with Cole, Corica and Brosque looking the goods upfront, they might just be able to score more than than they concede each game on their way to the ultimate grand final against Melbourne.
Adelaide are the ones most likely to throw a spanner in the works for that scenario though. Their demolition of a frankly shocking Wellington Phoenix showed they're not missing Bruce Djite or Nathan Burns...and can do without crocked marquee Paul Agostino.
Phoenix look set to defy all expectations of a vastly improved second season to once again do battle with Perth Glory for the wooden spoon. Perth were valiant against Sydney and showed excellent attacking substance with new boys Eugene Dadi and Amaral. But despite all that, they still gave away two own goals and a penalty to hand Sydney their win on a plate and that's just crap.
Meanwhile Mariners are the most likely challengers for that fourth finals spot. Roar will want to play all their games away this season after the curse of Suncorp struck again - but at least it coughed up an entertaining match for neutrals and Mariners' fans. Roar looks like they will be battling out with the Jets for the place below the finals spots though.
Yes, there does appear to be an elite group emerging this season already...but I like that. It's a sign of good recruitment - and with the cap in place, it's open for every club to do the same or better next season.
++++
Vince Grella's early yellow in his Blackburn Rovers debut raised a smile as West Ham skipper Lucas Neill instinctively started defending his Socceroo team-mate to the ref and (successfully) prevented him from getting sent off for the wild high tackle, despite them now being on rival teams. Old habits die hard etc...
++++
Manchester City - wow. Sensational way for new owners to make an entry...but Mark Hughes's coat has just been moved to the hook marked 'shoogly'. How long until he's replaced? And who by? Will Sven get a second chance? And exactly how much money will they spend in January??
++++
Days since Graham Arnold fronted the Australian press: 19.
