1 / 10

10: Hand of Payne
“Same old Aussies, always cheating”. Well you could hardly blame the Phoenix fans for this lament after FC striker Chris Payne did his best Maradona to guide home a cross with his arm that was missed by the officials. It put paid to Wellington’s finals chances in season five and Sydney went on to a grand final. Herbert and Durante, understandably, fumed at the post-match presser as the bitter memory of Trans-Tasman cricket’s “under-arm” scandal reared its ugly head once more.

2 / 10

9: Mori’s Painful Hand
Damian Mori’s bizarre wedding ring fiasco was a doozy. Unable to remove the item of jewellery and not allowed to tape it up before a game against Victory, the ref Mark Shield deemed that the game must start without “Frogga”. Perth officials drew blood trying to remove Damo’s ring, damn nearly tearing his finger off. Eventually after five frantic minutes they gave up and a furious Mori was subbed off for Brian Deane before getting on the ground.

3 / 10

8: Breeze blows in Grand Final
It takes a brave man to ruin an A-League grand final. That man is Matthew Breeze who had no doubts when he flashed a red to Red Cristiano in the 2009 Grand Final against Melbourne Victory. The Brazilian was deemed to have lead with an elbow on Rody Vargas. That was 11 minutes in to the big day. United were never going to recover from that and held out bravely before losing 1-0.

4 / 10

7: Shield be right, mate
It all went pear-shaped for the Mariners in the 2008 grand final at the SFS against F3 rivals the Jets. Down 1-0 as stoppage time loomed the Coasties were desperate not to lose a second grand final. A corner offered a glimmer of hope; keeper Danny Vukovic went up for it. A shout for a penalty after an apparent hand-ball went un-heeded by ref Mark Shield. Vukovic remonstrated, touched the ref’s hand in the process and soon he was trotting off. And that was just the start for Vuko whose Olympics dream subsequently went up in smoke.

5 / 10

6:Pedj push; Paartalu Pounces
This is one decision that didn’t seem too contentious at the time but grew in controversy when the consequences became apparent. Again it was the Mariners and again it was in the shadows of full-time. Hanging on for dear life at 2-1 up, defender Pedj Bojic got his body in front of his man and appeared to be shoved in the box. The ball went out for a corner and the Mariners frankly looked too tired to argue. Erik Paartalu pounced with a powerful header from the corner and the rest is Roar history…

6 / 10

5: Flagging a dead horse
Roar + Victory seemingly makes controversy. Before Saturday night’s craziness, there was last season’s incredible miss by officials when Roar keeper – the former Victory man Michael Theoklitos – was so far out his box, it was almost a throw-in. Regardless though, he was then allowed to punt it up field for Matt McKay to nab a late equaliser. He was clearly outside of his box. Muscat was clearly fuming.

7 / 10

4: Sack whacker
“Sack-whacker” is now part of the A-League vernacular after Newcastle Jets Joel Griffiths's brazen bollock whack on assistant referee Alex Glasgow during a 2008 F3 derby. How he got off with just a yellow card and, as a result escaped a lengthy ban for touching an official, so to speak, is one of the great mysteries of A-League footy.

8 / 10

3: Accidental spitter
A few years ago Brazilian striker Ney Fabiano was pinged for eight weeks for apparently gobbing at Red Robbie Cornthwaite. Ref Breeze – him again – red carded the mouthy Victory man who, it appeared from replays, simply gave the big United defender a gob full of expletives with an accidental side order of spray.

9 / 10

2: Last man standing
Phoenix have seen somee of the worst decisions already this season with Nick Ward sent off for being the last man against the Jets when he, erm, wasn't, and Victory's Archie Thompson flagged offside while 5m onside, with half the Phoenix team between him and the goal - and later the linesman flagged offside from a throw-in. Oh dear.

10 / 10

1: And finally… one for the stattos.
Anyone remember Aussie referee Chris Bambridge? If you’re a Spain fan you might. Brazil were 0-0 with the Spaniards in the group stage of the 1986 World Cup in Mexico when Spanish midfielder Michel shot from distance. The ball bounced in off the bar behind the goal line then out again. Bambridge disallowed it, much to the disbelief of the Spain side and pretty much everyone else. He was surrounded by angry players but his decision stood. Socrates went on to win it 1-0 for Brazil. These days the whistle blower works for Football Federation Victoria as a referee development manager.