All offences are equal, but some are more equal than others

My mate’s sister, is a cleaner at PGMOL HQ and found a copy of the minutes from this year’s PGMOL pre season meeting left on the photocopier.

She thought they made interesting reading, so passed a copy on to me.

Agenda:

Protocol 1 – Common Sense.

As part of the new procedures for this season, referees are NOT allowed to apply any ‘Common Sense’.

(Not that they particularly did before)

No grown up discussions with the players.

No decision making based on pragmatic, logical thought processes.

And definitely NO common sense.

The rules are the rules and they must be applied consistently.

Protocol 2 – Consistency.

You don’t have to apply the laws the same way for every incident.

Use your judgment and apply common sense to each situation.

Similar offences do not always deserve the same punishment.

Remember:

“All offences are equal, but some are more equal than others”

Any other business.

If you can make a name for yourself and be the main event, Go for it.

After all, us refs are the most important people on the field.

Steve Wellman

English by birth, Australian by choice. Traffic Engineer, Arsenal ST Holder, Sun DreamTeam Winner, Writer on @GunnersTown, Depeche Mode, Welcome to my world…