Referee bias: a review of the last five seasons. And guess what? « Untold Arsenal: Arsenal News. Supporting the Lord Wenger; coach of the decade
Untold Arsenal on Twitter @UntoldArsenal
Transform your life: Become a professional writer
New update on Woolwich Arsenal’s definitive history
———-
By Walter Broeckx
Sometimes one thing leads to another in research and having presented facts and figures of the current season (where we look at the bias of the referees when it comes to home teams and away teams) I wanted to dig a bit deeper. That’s the case here.
And so to satisfy my own curiosity I wanted to see how the refs have been doing not just in this season but also in the previous seasons. Because after all maybe this could be the fluke year and I could look a bit ridiculous if it turns out that in the other seasons there was absolutely no home bias to see.
So I took the numbers of the seasons starting from the infamous season 2007/2008 until this season.
In this article I present the figures from the last five seasons. I will not bore you with how each season went for each ref. And if you really want to see those numbers just let me know and I will add them in another article.
But for now I wanted to take the average numbers for each ref in those seasons. I also only included the refs that are currently in charge in the EPL. (It might be interesting to see how Uriah Rennie did in the 2007/2008 season but that is history). What counts is the long term and the current refs in the EPL and how they act.
So remember according to the Chief of the Referees there is no bias at all in the EPL. Let us see at the numbers on yellow cards. Let us check his words:
|
Name |
AVERAGE HOME |
AVERAGE AWAY |
| Phil Dowd |
40% |
60% |
| Mike Dean |
48% |
52% |
| Martin Atkinson |
43% |
57% |
| Mike Jones |
43% |
57% |
| Howard Webb |
45% |
55% |
| Kevin Friend |
39% |
61% |
| Andre Marriner |
41% |
59% |
| Mark Clattenburg |
42% |
58% |
| Lee Mason |
43% |
57% |
| Chris Foy |
41% |
59% |
| Peter Walton |
41% |
59% |
| Michael Oliver |
43% |
57% |
| Anthony Taylor |
36% |
64% |
| Mark Halsey |
42% |
58% |
| Lee Probert |
42% |
58% |
| Stuart Attwell |
46% |
54% |
| Neil Swarbrick |
41% |
59% |
| Jon Moss |
42% |
58% |
|
42% |
58% |
And for those who should have doubt about my previous numbers it now is absolutely clear to see for anyone who wants to see. THERE IS A BIAS IN FAVOUR OF THE HOME TEAMS when yellow cards are handed out.
Each and every ref active in the EPL has over a period of more than one season given more yellow cards against visiting teams than they have done against the home teams.
I knew this even before I started looking for the numbers. Because it is not just Untold that has done this research but also others have done this before. And by others I also mean people who are better equipped to investigate such things than those of us here at Untold Arsenal.
And still Mr. Mike Riley is brainwashing us through the media that there is no such thing like any bias in the EPL.
In total the home teams get only 42% of the yellow cards. This is of course down to the pressure that the home crowd is putting on the refs. A dangerous tackle from the home team will be mostly answered with a kind of silence from the home crowd. And a dangerous tackle from a visitor will be answered with the home crowd shouting for revenge and raising the noise level. 40.000 people shouting for a card is a lot noisier than 4.000 visiting supporters.
It just is harder to resist 40.000 shouting voices than it is to resist 4.000 shouting voices. The difference in atmosphere is gigantic as you can imagine. Most people react to this and so you get the home and away bias started. And refs are human and can be influenced.
If we take a look at the total number of those 5 seasons we can see that Mike Dean comes closest to having no home or away bias. He gives 48% of the yellow cards against the home team and 52% against the visiting teams. Now I would like to give credit to him but then I realised that in those 5 seasons we had Mike Dean a lot. And we had him a lot when Arsenal was away. So maybe, just maybe, his numbers are a bit coloured because of all those away games he has done of Arsenal? But nevertheless his numbers are looking the best of them all. Damned if I didn’t just hurt my fingers typing this.
The ref in the second place is Stuart Atwell and he is closely followed by Howard Webb. The rest hover around the average.
The best ref to have at home, when it comes to avoiding yellow cards is Anthony Taylor. He obviously allows a lot more from the home team than from the away teams. So having him as the away team means you have to be extra careful to avoid yellow cards. If you want to meet Kevin Friend and Phil Dowd make sure you meet them at your home ground.
Finally I would take the opportunity to have a look at the numbers of Mike Riley himself. The man who claims there is no bias and so no home and away bias. If I can believe the numbers in his 12 years in the EPL he has given 1021 yellow cards himself. And 434 were given against the home team and 587 against the away teams.
This comes down to 42,51% of the yellow cards against the home teams and 57,49 % against the away teams. Maybe he is not aware of these numbers. But if you become head of the refs those are the things you should take a look at if you really want to improve the refereeing standard.
But if you find it normal that there is something like home bias then maybe just maybe you find other bias also acceptable and part of the game?
—————————–
The referee series: what is wrong with the Premier League System
The stats that the Ref’s Association quote are simply totally wrong
Giving each ref each team just twice a season would solve the crisis
Mike Riley and the garden of secrecy
How many wrong calls do refs make per game – and in favour of whom?