GRAHAM SCOTT AT HELM OF BLUNDELL PARK PEDIGREE LINE-UP

PREMIER League referee Graham Scott went down the rungs when he was appointed to last Saturday's League Two match at Blundell Park between Grimsby Town and runaway table leaders Doncaster Rovers.

In its post-match report, the Grimsby Telegraph  awarded him a marking of just five out of ten, but this was surely erroneous - he had an excellent match.

Likewise the rest of the officiating team which included 2010 World Cup final assistant referee, Darren Cann, Sian Massey-Ellis and fourth official, Amy Fearn.

Was this the first time that two women had been part of the  officiating team at Blundell Park?

* Rovers came from behind to win 5-1. 

* * Tonight, Scott and Cann will be reunited for the Premier League match between Leicester City and Sunderland. Andre Marriner will be fourth official.

                                                    

Graham Scott prepares to caution Zak Mills of Grimsby

Who me, ref? Another name for Graham Scott's  book

                     

Sian Massey-Ellis ran the same line in both halves

                                        

Red smoke from a flare ignited after the first of Doncaster's five goals

A QUESTION OF INTENT - DID ANDRE MARRINER MAKE RIGHT CALL ON BIG MATCH INCIDENT?

Keith Hackett's article in The Daily Telegraph today

FORMER referee Keith Hackett has praised Andre Marriner's handling of yesterday's Arsenal v Man City match, in particular commending him for not awarding a penalty to the away team when there was contact between ball and the arm of home defender Nacho Monreal in the last minute of the match.

In his column in The Daily Telegraph today, he writes:"To award a penalty or a a free-kick  for a handball, you have to be certain there was intent from the player concerned, and that makes it one of the most difficult areas for  referee to adjudicate on.

"I think I this instance, there was enough doubt for Andre to make the decision he did. The ball was dropping from a height while the player was in motion, and it seemed to me that he just misjudged it . . .it struck me as an accident rather than an offence he intended to commit."
                                                  

Andre Marriner

Hackett continues: "That said, if you asked  a group of referees whether that was a penalty, then I believe half would say it was and half would say it was not."

Which prompts the question:is that the sort of incident that should come under scrutiny in the event of increased use of video technology? And would such technology either have changed Marriner's decision or settled the controversy?

And what if the same incident had happened outside the penalty area? Would the referee still have refrained from penalising what happened?

"Intent"  is sometimes almost impossible to interpret. During the same weekend, Andros Townsend used the top of his arm to deflect a shot in the match between Chelsea and Crystal Palace.

Was that "intent"? Or was it a reflex action? And can a reflex action also be "intended"?

Maybe  FIFA need to take a fresh look at the law on handball. Should it be applied differently in the penalty area compared with outside it? Should "intent" be a consideration? Should "handball" apply only to the hand, not (as at present) to other parts of the arm?

Let the debate continue.

MARTIN ATKINSON: DON'T ACCUSE PREMIER LEAGUE REFS OF 'BOTTLING' DECISIONS

REFEREES and assistant referees came over well in tonight's Onside with Carragher and Neville on Sky Sports 1.

The chief executive of their organisation, PGMOL, Mike Riley, proved to be an engaging personality - as did such often-seen but never-heard officials as Martin Atkinson, Mike Dean, Anthony Taylor, Roger East, Stuart Attwell, Lee Probert, Craig Pawson, Bobby Madley, Mike Mullarkey, Steve Child and the only woman represented, Sian Massey-Ellis MBE.

Some of the insights were revealing.

After a bad tackle, a referee will sometimes take out the yellow card to demonstrate to  teammates of the injured party that he is taking disciplinary action and to discourage a potentially volatile situation becoming toxic.

But having done so, there are times, especially after seeing video replays, when, in retrospect, he realises that the chosen card should have been the red one.

Both Atkinson and Dean, two of our best referees, owned up to this, but, of course, at moments such as these, time to reflect is not a commodity available to the referees.

Atkinson said one of the pet hates of referees was when commentators accused them of "bottling"a decision.

"We wouldn't have got to where we are in football if we bottled decisions,"he insisted.

Mike Mullarkey, who ran one of the lines for Howard Webb in the 2010 World Cup Final, was particularly analytical on "tight" offside calls - an issue where there is often controversy.

Asked if there were any football grounds that posed particular difficulties, Sian Massey-Ellis - surely worthy of a TV programme in her own right - noted that Selhurst Park could be difficult
if there was a low sun.

She knows this from firsthand experience - she had to cover her eyes with her flag-free hand earlier this season for the match between home team Crystal Palace and Sunderland.

Which begs the question - who don't assistant referees wear caps in the same was as goalkeepers faced with the same low-sun situation?

The programme was not nearly as good as it might have been.

Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville were mostly superficial in their questions and should have been far more probing.

For instance, we need to know far more about prospects for video technology and where, in the Laws of the Game,  referees believe it most needs  to be applied without excessively interrupting the pace of the action.

In addition, Carragher, in particular, was far too keen to play to the camera - and this very quickly became grating.

However, the programme will have been useful if it  provides a stepping to improved future communications between match officials and the football-loving public.

Sian Massey-Ellis was on duty in yesterday's League Two match between Grimsby Town and Doncaster Rovers. Running the other line was Darren Cann, an assistant referee in the 2014 World Cup final, while Graham Scott was the referee. The fourth official was Amy Fearn.