Ah! Another controversial thread here. This has been troubling my mind lately
everSince King Kenny thinks the Referee Webb's penalty decision against Liverpool is a joke!
& Similarly Babel was punished 10K for his twittering 'joke'.

Let me begin here by quoting what one of our resident 'Pulis' has to say
Pyro was referring to 3 card Graham Poll in his dailymail column

Thought this would be a decent topic to discuss on?

agree so much
solstice818, i agree much too that this thread is discussable, but its like giving you a great topic to write an essay, but it was started with a even greater opening lol

Take a look at the Biggest Crime thread. we try to discuss the healthy discussion on "FA and Babel" issue and so on. We ignore the "controversy" that is slit in between his "healthy discussion". it is TS himself who divert the attention back to Berba's dive and how the "FA favours MU". No matter what, he keeps on coming back with his SAME POINT over and over and over just with different topic title.

His obsession with MU is respectable, even i dont think of the team 24/7 

if he really did say that, he really need to be slapped in his face. If you can't respect your elderly, don't even think people will respect you outside the football pitch.

What was once a "man's game", is turning out to be a game for pansies if you ask me. Just 2 decades ago, you had elbows being thrown about and tackles from behind were legal if you won the ball. Yet, teams played with less players even though the risk of injury was higher. Back in the 1965 FA Cup Final, Gerry Bryne broke is collarbone in the 3rd minute of play but stayed on the field through the 90 minutes plus extra time. Despite constantly being sent into warzones, Phil Neal once played 365 consecutive matches for Liverpool. I just get the impression that players were built of sterner stuff back then and players these days are highly protected because clubs have an obligation to look after 'investments' made by sponsors.

On the issue of referees, I'd say that the FA is being overprotective. I do not condone physical contact of course, but what's wrong with telling the ref to F*** off? These days, you get booked for so much as sneezing in his direction. In a game where decisions are often disputed due to the absence of conclusive evidence, there will be arguments but what is wrong with that? I personally used to berate refs back in the day I was actively playing in Futsal and Basketball tournaments because I see it as part of the game. Is isn't as though all of them are getting death threaths in the manner Anders Frisk did, forcing him into retirement. If you ask me, the FA should focus on getting the refs as much assistance as possible to ensure that wrong decisions are minimised. More officials, goalline technology, video replays, whatever it takes. Do you see anyone shoving the refs about in the NBA or NFL? Sure it happens, but how often and how many times are the refs at the centre of controversy compared to football?

Just to sidetrack, I was really looking forward to Collina refereeing in the EPL. Too bad he chose to retire altogether instead.

The question isn't about whether protection is necessary, it's about the extent it is implemented. By referring to players, I was a drawing a comparison to the degree to which referees will one day be deemed "untouchable".
Don't follow. The fouls in NBA are harsh? You mean the punishment?

There is a lot of contact in basketball, most often go unnoticed especially in the post but the penalties are the same. Just the other day Lamar Odom and Ron Artest were ejected along with Baron Davis and some other dude. When you raise your hands, you get ejected, just like in football.

The point I was trying to make about refs in the NBA is that they use video replays to review controversial moments, hence players don't see the need to badger him constantly. If someone punched someone else, the incident is replayed instantly to see who the offender was. In football, the refs decision stands and not until later is there a review of the incident. Players therefore bug the ref less knowing that even if he is wrong, the game won't be affected because they can fall back on television replays. In football, the game is affected and punishment meted out later does little to fix the damage that is done. This is why players harass referees in football, because his decision is final, no replay. 

To get back on track, I'll say this again. I think referees are given too much protection and authority.