Throughout the season the officials have been under scrutiny after numerous questionable decisions and mistakes. However, this weekend Andre Marriner took things to a whole new level after a bizarre incident at Stamford Bridge- where he made a high profile mistake that will be remembered for years to come. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain made a diving save to get a touch on the ball with his hand inside the box, an obvious penalty. Andre Marriner took an age to point to the spot and there was confusion as to who actually made the decision. Then, he elected to show a red card to the Arsenal player when it should have only been a yellow, as the ball wasn't going in. Finally, he sent off the wrong player- with Kieran Gibbs given his marching orders instead of Oxlade-Chamberlain. Referees will always make mistakes but sending off the wrong player is inexcusable. For starters, they each have different numbers and names on the back of their shirts to ensure that things like this don't happen. Then there's the fact that Oxlade-Chamberlain told the referee it was him and many other players on the field pointed out his error. Referees have become unreliable and you can't trust them to give the correct decisions in a game anymore, which will have consequences on the title race and relegation battle. With millions of pounds at stake, as well as the future of many football clubs, you have to question what the Football Association will do the combat the errors that have plagued the division this season.
Josh has had work featured in the Evening Gazette and on Newcastle United website. He is a Multimedia Journalism student at Teesside University and runs a successful sports blog. He also enjoys films, comics and TV, writing about anything he can. Josh has recently started writing his first of what he hopes will be many books.
