Omar's moving finger writes.....

I know it’s so easy to put the blame for a defeat on the referee and I try not to for he’s an easy target, but after the decisions made by that ‘love child’, Adrian McCourt, who refereed last Saturday’s game against Linfield, I’m afraid all my good intentions are going out the window. Firstly let’s look at the ‘first’ penalty decision, remembering that the referee must make a ‘snap’ decision. Now I’ve watched it a dozen times on the television replay and I can see no obvious contact. In fact if anything it was Kearney who committed the foul as he was behind the United defenders and threw himself forward in a vain attempt to get the ball and in doing so impeded United player Stephen Collins. Then in the second half, in the same penalty box United player Rory Hamill was fouled a good yard inside the box, but the referee gave the infringement outside. Why the discrepancy I wonder? If the referee could see an infringement, where there wasn’t one, how come he couldn’t see another which was right in front of his nose and that of his assistant, if he needed clarification, is beyond my comprehension? Has the time come for referees to be ‘drug’ tested? When I come to think of it, is that why John Ferry (the laughing fairy from Londonderry), always had a smile on his face. Maybe it also explains Davey Malcolm’s reluctance to give a foul against Linfield, in the infamous, ‘tiny testicles’ match. It wasn’t courage that was lacking; it’s just that his mind was miles away. In fact a lot of things could be explained away if referees were ‘high’ on drugs. Michael Ross for example is a prime candidate; look at his latest gaffe when United played Newry recently. Maybe he genuinely didn’t see Packy McAllister throw a punch at United’s Vinny Sweeney, as he was off on a ‘trip’? So many bad decisions could be explained away if we believed referees were drugged at the time. Or is it much more sinister than that, I wonder? Are referees after all only human and ‘err’ on the side of certain teams? Actually I think I prefer to think they’re drugged, otherwise I might think I was paranoid!