Reply received from FL over e-mail re. A. D'urso..

[SneydGreenStokie]

Your email addressed to Kelly Wright has been forwarded on to us for attention.

Referees make instant split second decisions from a position different from anyone else in the ground and without the benefit of constant replays. Ninety five percent of the time these decisions will be correct, when they are wrong it is unfortunate but because of human error, unavoidable. They make their decision based on years of training and experience and what they see at that moment in time. The referee can only act on what he sees, assisted by the other match officials, and not everyone will agree with the decisions they take.

The Referees' Manager will analyse the referee's performance from the data available and discuss this with him on a one-to-one basis. This data will include the match assessor's report (an assessor is present at every Football League match), the video or DVD of the match and, at some grounds, the Prozone statistics.

Contrary to expectations, the Referees' Manager will not attempt to support a referee out of sheer loyalty. It is his responsibility through Professional Game Match Officials to identify training needs of not only individual referees but also of all National Group officials.

The Manager also works with his group in a bid to constantly improve standards in a game which has become faster and more frenetic over recent years. Every match is recorded, referees are under closer scrutiny than ever before and despite perceptions are fully accountable for their decisions.

We assure you that we are constantly trying to improve and maintain refereeing standards.

Patricia Brown
Customer Services
The Football League
www.football-league.co.uk

This e-mail and any attachments are intended only for the individual to whom it is addressed. It may contain privileged and confidential information. If you have received this message in error or there are any problems, please notify the sender immediately and delete the message from your computer and any copies. The unauthorised use, disclosure, copying or alteration of this message is forbidden. Any views set out in this e-mail are the views of the individual sending it, and not the views of The Football League Limited unless otherwise stated. This e-mail should not be seen as forming a legally binding contract unless otherwise stated. Although we believe this e-mail and any attachment are virus-free it is your responsibility to ensure this on receipt.

SGS

[daverichards]

what a load of hogwash, nobody else in the entire ground thought it was a sending off , and the crowd goes 360 degrees round the pitch from grass level to 20-30ft in the air ... HE FUCKED UP BIGSTYLE

[trend.......]

They make their decision based on years of training

bloody good training that must of been

[mikeyc]

That reads like an automated standard reply - no reference to your actual complaint!

[fullerlegend]

ahahha

[LDE76]

That reads like an automated standard reply - no reference to your actual complaint!

The fact that it's been forwarded by someone who works in "customer services" says it all. What's the likelihood of Patricia Brown actually knowing anything about football?

[chrispk76]

""The referee can only act on what he sees, assisted by the other match officials, and not everyone will agree with the decisions they take.""

i must have missed the point where he stopped and paused to think about his decision while having a chat with the other officials.
he couldn't wait to sprint the 10 yards and whip his card out before the linesman could say " hold on a min andy,he took the ball clean"

[tampon]

I bet that no human has actually read your email in full, they've probably got a member of staff that just filters out all of the "referee performance complaints" and forwards them the "referees performance complaint reply 001" message.

[miffmister]

Same again tonite then, 6 fookin mins.