How many people watched Match of the day last week?
If you did you must have seen the unbelievable decision by the referee in the Man City v Southampton game. This is how the BBC match report summed it up:
However, Aguero should have been given the opportunity from the penalty spot on 10 minutes. The City talisman was scythed down by home skipper Jose Fonte's lunging tackle, but looked up to see referee Mike Jones showing a yellow card after the official decided he had dived.
Mike Jones has previous for bizarre decisions however. Here is an extract from a match report from 2009:
In October 2009 Jones infamously allowed to stand a bizarre goal scored by Darren Bent for Sunderland against Liverpool. Bent's shot at goal took a deflection off a beach ball which had been thrown onto the pitch by a fan in the Liverpool supporters' section. Under the Laws of the Game, the beach ball should have been considered an "outside agent" and Jones should have disallowed the goal and awarded a drop-ball.[1] He was subsequently demoted for one week to officiate a match in the Football League Championship the following weekend.
So I assume after his bungling of the Man C v Southampton game he has once again been demoted to officiate in the Championship which was not lucky for us. Maintaining his usual low standard he managed to ruin a good game at Molineux today with a series of baffling decisions. By producing a red card after a 50:50 challenge resulted in a minor clash of heads, and ordering Rajiv Van la Parra off the field, he changed a good game of football played by two equally committed sides into a bad tempered, frustrating affair.
Earlier on Gillette Soccer Saturday today, the pundits reviewed the 'dive' which earned Aguero his yellow card and all agreed that it was a laughable decision. Phil Thompson went further, he stated that, and I quote, "It was the worst 45 minutes of refereeing that I have ever seen". A damning statement from a 60 year old man who has been watching and playing football for most of his life.
So my question is simple: Is Mike Jones fit to referee games at football league level, in my opinion he is not.
Mike Jones
posted on 8/12/14
You think you have problems, the test here is less than 5 mins on the road and then reverse through some cones, preceded by 20 questions multiple choice where 75% is a pass.
Motorway driving isn't even covered, there are no motorway rules, over take, undertake, do what you like.
Add in the fact its automatic so you don't even need to engage the brain leaves you with the worst driving in the world.
posted on 8/12/14
34,000 road deaths in the US v's 1,700 in the UK would bear that out , cinci.
posted on 8/12/14
Driving test. Doesn't exist here. Herd a sheep through a gate and get yourself a Mercedes. Allow your 14 year old son to drive it around. No insurance of course. MOT every two years or not as the case may be.
Lights, Nah!
Wipers, Nah!
Exhaust, Nah!
Cigarette lighter, obligatory.
posted on 8/12/14
I spent a long time in Cyprus, Cyp, pre-motorway days as well.
Most LGV's were 'crabs'.
Was very close to getting killed myself. Hit by a farmer suddenly turning right with no indication as I was overtaking on my motorbike. He was found guilty by the SBA court but had no insurance as he was a 'poor refugee'.
He also thought it would be a good idea to bring a 'rent-a-priest' with him......but thats another story.....
posted on 9/12/14
Cyp, I'm surprised by your comments about driving standards in Cyprus. I was on hols there a few years ago with a hire car, and we took a day's drive from our hotel in Protaras up to Nicosia, then south westwards down through the Troodos Mountains to Paphos for dinner, then zoomed back late evening across the southern part on the dual carriageway back to Protaras, all without incident or any sign of bad driving from the locals. Just traffic and congestion in Paphos, which I gather is always busy.
posted on 9/12/14
If you want inconsiderate, careless and downright dangerous driving, Saudi Arabia is the place for you. A licence can literally be bought and it's officially the world's most dangerous place for road deaths (over 6,000 deaths a year in a population of 28 million) and we couldn't wait to get to the sanity of the roads in Bahrain and Qatar. I flat refused to drive in Saudi.
posted on 9/12/14
Was in a Cypriot taxi a few weeks ago. We were driving up to a set of traffic lights which turned red. The taxi driver accelerated across the lights. When I asked him what the hell he was doing he said "don't worry, I am professional Cypriot taxi driver".
We carried on a few miles and came up to a second set of lights. Same thing happened when they turned red. Driver accelerated across with the reason "don't worry, I am professional Cypriot taxi driver".
When we approached the third set, they changed to green and the driver screeched to a halt. When I asked him why he had stopped on green, he said "there might be a professional Cypriot taxi driver coming the other way".
posted on 9/12/14
comment by Cyp (U16330)
posted 43 minutes ago
Was in a Cypriot taxi a few weeks ago. We were driving up to a set of traffic lights which turned red. The taxi driver accelerated across the lights. When I asked him what the hell he was doing he said "don't worry, I am professional Cypriot taxi driver".
We carried on a few miles and came up to a second set of lights. Same thing happened when they turned red. Driver accelerated across with the reason "don't worry, I am professional Cypriot taxi driver".
When we approached the third set, they changed to green and the driver screeched to a halt. When I asked him why he had stopped on green, he said "there might be a professional Cypriot taxi driver coming the other way".
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posted on 9/12/14
Bournemouth Chairman thought he was going to die at the hands of the Wolves fans after the game!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/30395121
posted on 9/12/14
If the Bournemouth chairman was worried about that he should go to Nicosia in peak taxi time