This Weekend's Fixtures & Watford v Chelsea

[Letters]

We all know that this league is corrupt - just as every league in world football is.

The officials have their own agenda's and their own set of rules each game.
Since when, in any sport, are the official rules 'open to interpretation' ??

Rules are rules, they should be explained exactly, precisely and to the point.

People argue that it creates talking points, but really, it's just horseshit.

Money, money, money

I always liked to think that it was just incompetence rather than corruption. The former is annoying but overall will balance out - sometimes things will go for you, other times they won't.
But corruption...if there was some money exchanging hands to prevent a Liverpool win yesterday then...what's the point of following any of this?
I don't think Arsenal are uniquely targeted, why would we be, I remember that Hull FA Cup Final and the sheer number of penalties we were denied, just clear penalties.
It did make me think something was going on to try and stop us winning.

[KSE Comedy Club]

I always liked to think that it was just incompetence rather than corruption. The former is annoying but overall will balance out - sometimes things will go for you, other times they won't.
But corruption...if there was some money exchanging hands to prevent a Liverpool win yesterday then...what's the point of following any of this?
I don't think Arsenal are uniquely targeted, why would we be, I remember that Hull FA Cup Final and the sheer number of penalties we were denied, just clear penalties.
It did make me think something was going on to try and stop us winning.

I know what you mean Letters. I've tried to argue against it before in my own mind, but the more this kind of crap goes on, the more suspicious I become.

Incompetence is one thing, but when its bloody well obvious and we now have VAR in place for officials to go back and check there really can be no other reason

Some refs are even ignoring VAR tech and just going by what they think they saw, even when its being contested. Yes there is an element that they are the ones in charge of each game and so they should be, but when the tech is there to assist, it should be used.

Its clear however, that there is still blatant cheating going on and yesterday's game only highlights it further.

[GP]

I always liked to think that it was just incompetence rather than corruption. The former is annoying but overall will balance out - sometimes things will go for you, other times they won't.
But corruption...if there was some money exchanging hands to prevent a Liverpool win yesterday then...what's the point of following any of this?
I don't think Arsenal are uniquely targeted, why would we be, I remember that Hull FA Cup Final and the sheer number of penalties we were denied, just clear penalties.
It did make me think something was going on to try and stop us winning.

Go back and look at that Newcastle 4-4.

I'll never be convinced that was above board.

[Cripps]

Old Trafford when we lost our unbeaten run.

The most blatant corruption I have ever seen.

[Cripps]

I know what you mean Letters. I've tried to argue against it before in my own mind, but the more this kind of crap goes on, the more suspicious I become.

Incompetence is one thing, but when its bloody well obvious and we now have VAR in place for officials to go back and check there really can be no other reason

Some refs are even ignoring VAR tech and just going by what they think they saw, even when its being contested. Yes there is an element that they are the ones in charge of each game and so they should be, but when the tech is there to assist, it should be used.

Its clear however, that there is still blatant cheating going on and yesterday's game only highlights it further.

It is 100% corrupt in some way, shape or form.

Corruption has been proven in Italy, Germany and France. Do you really think the biggest and richest league in the world isn't affected?

[KSE Comedy Club]

It is 100% corrupt in some way, shape or form.

Corruption has been proven in Italy, Germany and France. Do you really think the biggest and richest league in the world isn't affected?

Exactly.

If the rest of the footballing world has been found guilty of it at some point, then you can be damned sure that our league is doing its own fair share of mischief.

[Niall_Quinn]

Corruption doesn't have to involve money directly changing hands. Corruption is any deliberate abuse of the rules in order to influence the outcome. What if a ref hates a player because he copped a load of abuse from him last time out? If he shows bias towards that player, which would be a human thing to do but still a knowing abuse of the rules, that's dishonest and it's cheating. And the other way around, like overlooking the blatant cheating of certain, notorious players. Cheating. Corruption. The whole point of professional refs was to train them up and compensate them for being able to cope with these stresses. Cunts like Dean can't even cope with being out of the spotlight for more than 30 seconds. The majority of those they have found to ref the games are not up to the task. Look at the shithead they have in charge of the refs. Is it any wonder things are so fucked up?

Last night I suspect that lino took a few quid though. And the likes of Poll suspect the same, which is why he was so fast to come out in support. Like the JFK assassination and the magic bullet. When authority lies blatantly there's always a crowd of morons eager to lap it up and swallow every word. It introduces enough doubt into blatant reality to make you question the evidence of your own senses. That's why the have Poll and other "expert" refs "advising" the papers and the TV pundits. Not to help the fans understand the game more, but to smooth over and snowjob the terrible standard of reffing and to steer all talk away from the darker stuff that, like last night, is a bit too obvious.

[KSE Comedy Club]

GP and Dumbledore - both perfect examples of corruption or blatant cheating.

I'm sure there are plenty of other examples from other clubs/games too.

Add to the fact that Officials are completely untouchable and unaccountable for their 'mistakes'. They can never be questioned or called upon to explain themselves, yes they get 'demoted' to the championship, but it's only one official every couple of years, it's all for show, otherwise we would only have half the amount of officials left every season!

[KSE Comedy Club]

Corruption doesn't have to involve money directly changing hands. Corruption is any deliberate abuse of the rules in order to influence the outcome. What if a ref hates a player because he copped a load of abuse from him last time out? If he shows bias towards that player, which would be a human thing to do but still a knowing abuse of the rules, that's dishonest and it's cheating. And the other way around, like overlooking the blatant cheating of certain, notorious players. Cheating. Corruption. The whole point of professional refs was to train them up and compensate them for being able to cope with these stresses. Cunts like Dean can't even cope with being out of the spotlight for more than 30 seconds. The majority of those they have found to ref the games are not up to the task. Look at the shithead they have in charge of the refs. Is it any wonder things are so fucked up?

Last night I suspect that lino took a few quid though. And the likes of Poll suspect the same, which is why he was so fast to come out in support. Like the JFK assassination and the magic bullet. When authority lies blatantly there's always a crowd of morons eager to lap it up and swallow every word. It introduces enough doubt into blatant reality to make you question the evidence of your own senses. That's why the have Poll and other "expert" refs "advising" the papers and the TV pundits. Not to help the fans understand the game more, but to smooth over and snowjob the terrible standard of reffing and to steer all talk away from the darker stuff that, like last night, is a bit too obvious.

Indeed.

It's mass brainwashing by the 'experts in charge' that do their best to mislead and misdirect us into excusing the obvious.

[HCZ]

Corruption happens, the most notable recent example in UK Sport would be the Pakistanis and the no ball overs

But in terms of referring, we are crying for the moon if we think refereeeing has got any worse it’s just far more under a microscope.

BT always seem to think any incident in our box is a penalty, they aren’t being paid to voice that view especially they just have pundits that for reasons of their own don’t like our club.

The example Letters cites of the amount of quite legitimate penalty claims not given for us against Hull, you could argue that’s just as likely to be a weak match official who is scared to make the decision......penalties aren’t often awarded in fa cup finals.

That’s not to say it’s not corruption and corruption doesn’t exist in match officials. But I think to say that’s the only possible explanation is as much about supporter bias than anything else.

I think all sports should go under investigation to try and uncover any evidence of match fixing because there really is nothing more loathsome in competitive sport than to think that money has exchanged hands to pre determine the outcome

But I’d rather keep an open mind as to what I think I know is definitely corruption and isn’t anything else.