Why are football fans likelier to call conspiracy after referreing errors than calling the referee incompetent?

This is a general question related to the sport as a world-phenomenon rather than a specific match.

When there is a refereeing error, football fans are likelier to comment "oh they paid the ref off" or "fifa wanted them to win" than "that is a very bad mistake" or "this referee is not good and shouldn't referee again".

Why do you think that is?

One working hypothesis is that this kind of comment is made more by people from countries that do not have strong institutions. Thus they're likely to suspect corruption because corruption is more common where they're from. I'm not sure if this description is accurate everywhere, but it was for Italy. But I don't find this very convincing, as Americans, Scandinavians, British and Germans all make these kinds of comments, in spite of having less corruption than the rest of the world.

Well, in Germany we did have quite some corruption involving referees, so it is not that far-fetched. Check Robert Hoyzer for example: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoyzer

More info on the Bundesliga scandal of 2005: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bundesliga_scandal_%282005%29

Who knows jiopsi called it conspiracy last year...
And I'm calling it this year lol


But in all honestly the whole " conspiracy" thing creates more buzz

Because these comments are usually instigated by rival fans trying to discredit that team, and then pack mentality/trolling ensues.

Simply in a direct/indirect competition between A and B, it feels better to blame A or B than C.

because it further pushes the responsibility off of the losing team.

incompetent ref- well the incompetence should fall on both sides, so no excuse to not still win

conspiracy- completely biased towards one side, no one would fault a team who had a supposed conspiracy against them but incompetence.. well probably still should have won.

thats the reality of the matter but most of the time i think it comes down to oversensitive fans who think their team can do no wrong. ever.

GoalLegacy users are inclined to do so because of the precedent set by Jiopsi.

Because it's easier for someone to talk out of his arse , isn't it obvious.

In any case , it's a great question to ask , i rarely hear anyone doubt a ref this way , most people's minds are preset on conspiracy theories whenever refs suck or when they just make an honest mistake.

It gets funny when the ref favours your team though.. then nothing about conspiracy theories with refs and the likes .. lol

It's like some people said, it's easier for people to believe that because they don't want to believe they lost to a better team especially on the CL because they know they may not see that team again for a very long time not being in the same league and all.

I think people really underestimate the refs job. They have one ref on the field chasing around world class athletes and he constantly makes calls with bad angles and no slow motion replays. For instance a Basketball court is probably a 1/10th of the size of a football pitch and they have 3 refs chasing the action and they make bad calls too.

The three biggest things that contribute to it IMO is slow motion replays from every angle that the ref doesn't get to see and viewers do so the calls look so simple and there not.

The second is selective memory. Most people point to the Chelsea vs Barca game as a ref "cheating" for one team yet they never bring up that Barca played most of the match a man down. Sure there were some bad calls in the end but if he was cheating there is no way he would send a Barca player off for over 45 minutes of the game on a bad call too.

The last reason is inadequate number of referee's ON THE PITCH. There are 20 outfield players on a pitch that's pretty much the biggest in sports and one ref trying to chase down the action. There should be at a minimum 3 out there. There is plenty of room and an odd number would let them get together and make a majority call, oh and if there is a conspiracy you would have to buy off more ref's.

Because teams have history, rivalries, past incidents etc etc.

If 2 teams played for the first ever vs each other, than I'm sure most people say it's just a referee making a mistake.

Dnmac4 wrote:things that contribute to it IMO is slow motion replays from every angle that the ref doesn't get to see and viewers do so the calls look so simple and there not. .

When seeing matches live i can see without replays bad calls from about 100 yards away.

Dnmac4 wrote:The second is selective memory. Most people point to the Chelsea vs Barca game as a ref "cheating" for one team yet they never bring up that Barca played most of the match a man down. Sure there were some bad calls in the end but if he was cheating there is no way he would send a Barca player off for over 45 minutes of the game on a bad call too. .

sure that was near the end of the game

Dnmac4 wrote:The last reason is inadequate number of referee's ON THE PITCH. There are 20 outfield players on a pitch that's pretty much the biggest in sports and one ref trying to chase down the action. There should be at a minimum 3 out there. There is plenty of room and an odd number would let them get together and make a majority call, oh and if there is a conspiracy you would have to buy off more ref's.

1 ref has enough trouble getting himself out of the way, goodness knows what havoc 3 refs on a pitch would cause

It's pretty easy to see the conspiracy in Spanish league, when the same group of refs are always trying to *bleep* Barca up. And they are always planted in the spots like after the national games etc. With this ref, before this match, Barca had played 3 away games, lost all. And then he puts up shambles like this. In the end Messi was asking the match ball but he didn't give it (Messi got it anyway).

Think about that.

jiopsi wrote:It's pretty easy to see the conspiracy in Spanish league, when the same group of refs are always trying to *bleep* Barca up. And they are always planted in the spots like after the national games etc. With this ref, before this match, Barca had played 3 away games, lost all. And then he puts up shambles like this. In the end Messi was asking the match ball but he didn't give it (Messi got it anyway).

Think about that.

do you really believe the ideas that come out of your brain?

vanDEEZ wrote:

jiopsi wrote:It's pretty easy to see the conspiracy in Spanish league, when the same group of refs are always trying to *bleep* Barca up. And they are always planted in the spots like after the national games etc. With this ref, before this match, Barca had played 3 away games, lost all. And then he puts up shambles like this. In the end Messi was asking the match ball but he didn't give it (Messi got it anyway).

Think about that.

do you really believe the ideas that come out of your brain?

What's not to believe, his post is all facts like him or not how can you disagree xD

This thread is not about individual teams, but about fan reactions. If you wish to discuss them do so at another thread that is meant for that.

BarrileteCosmico wrote:This thread is not about individual teams, but about fan reactions. If you wish to discuss them do so at another thread that is meant for that.

So how can one argue for conspiracy if he can't even use examples?

More reasons, instead of just:
Referee was bad vs. Referee, as well as others were against us
Embraces the whole 'me against the world' phenomenon

Donuts wrote:

vanDEEZ wrote:

jiopsi wrote:It's pretty easy to see the conspiracy in Spanish league, when the same group of refs are always trying to *bleep* Barca up. And they are always planted in the spots like after the national games etc. With this ref, before this match, Barca had played 3 away games, lost all. And then he puts up shambles like this. In the end Messi was asking the match ball but he didn't give it (Messi got it anyway).

Think about that.

do you really believe the ideas that come out of your brain?

What's not to believe, his post is all facts like him or not how can you disagree xD

cant tell if you are joking or not because you have said some pretty ridiculous stuff in the past as well, so if you are joking then fair is fair but if not..

the highlighted part in red is a fact? get real man, thats just more conspiracy nonsense that dumbs down the forum.

vanDEEZ wrote:

Donuts wrote:

vanDEEZ wrote:

jiopsi wrote:It's pretty easy to see the conspiracy in Spanish league, when the same group of refs are always trying to *bleep* Barca up. And they are always planted in the spots like after the national games etc. With this ref, before this match, Barca had played 3 away games, lost all. And then he puts up shambles like this. In the end Messi was asking the match ball but he didn't give it (Messi got it anyway).

Think about that.

do you really believe the ideas that come out of your brain?

What's not to believe, his post is all facts like him or not how can you disagree xD

cant tell if you are joking or not because you have said some pretty ridiculous stuff in the past as well, so if you are joking then fair is fair but if not..

the highlighted part in red is a fact? get real man, thats just more conspiracy nonsense that dumbs down the forum.

I can list the names and give their records, will you accept the conspiracy if it differs from the average greatly?

Diego Armando Maradona wrote:

Dnmac4 wrote:things that contribute to it IMO is slow motion replays from every angle that the ref doesn't get to see and viewers do so the calls look so simple and there not. .

When seeing matches live i can see without replays bad calls from about 100 yards away.

Dnmac4 wrote:The second is selective memory. Most people point to the Chelsea vs Barca game as a ref "cheating" for one team yet they never bring up that Barca played most of the match a man down. Sure there were some bad calls in the end but if he was cheating there is no way he would send a Barca player off for over 45 minutes of the game on a bad call too. .

sure that was near the end of the game

Dnmac4 wrote:The last reason is inadequate number of referee's ON THE PITCH. There are 20 outfield players on a pitch that's pretty much the biggest in sports and one ref trying to chase down the action. There should be at a minimum 3 out there. There is plenty of room and an odd number would let them get together and make a majority call, oh and if there is a conspiracy you would have to buy off more ref's.

1 ref has enough trouble getting himself out of the way, goodness knows what havoc 3 refs on a pitch would cause

Wow, this is one of the worst posts I've seen in a while. Let me take these 1 by 1, and by the way this proves my "Selective Memory" theory 100%.

1) You can see bad calls from 100 yards away. Well there is no pressure on you and refs make about 93% of calls right, it's that 7% on which they are judged and they don't have the luxury to see a slow motion replay like everyone else in the world. They are running around the field and have bad angles lot's of different times, there are probably times when people in the stands have better views then the ref as he can't watch 20 world class athletes all at once where the crowd sometimes has a better point of view and most of the time not.

I mean do you claim to be able to see every call 100 yards away and get it right? Because the ref can have a flawless game get one call wrong and be called a cheater.

2) Abidal was thrown out on the 65th minute. The last time I checked that was not "near the end of the game" again this is one of the worst posts I've ever seen.

There were actually 55 game minutes played a man down and Overbo threw him out when Barca were losing. Now if that is a ref cheating for Barca then you are a simpleton.

3) Since you seem to go to so many football games and are able to see all bad calls from 100 yards away let me share with you my knowledge.

I have season tickets to the NBA and I played basketball in College. There were three refs on the court at all times which is about 1/10th the size of a football pitch and not once did I ever think "OMG there are so many refs on the floor I can't even dribble or shoot what a problem they are." In fact you don't even notice them until they make a bad call.

If you think having more refs on the field would (let me use your words) "goodness knows what HAVOC 3 ref's on the field would cause" then I just don't know what to say. Did you ever think that if there were more refs they wouldn't have to stand or try to stand in the action all the time to have a good angle to see what's going on?

And no 1 ref doesn't get in the way all the time in fact very rarely are they ever in the way. I'm not really sure what games you're watching.

To suggest there just isn't room on the pitch for more refs in total nonsense and I just can't believe someone took the time to think of that and then went through with typing it. Almost EVERY OTHER major sport have more then 1 ref on the field and surprise surprise Football is one of the worst officiated sports in the world.

jiopsi wrote:

vanDEEZ wrote:

Donuts wrote:

vanDEEZ wrote:

jiopsi wrote:It's pretty easy to see the conspiracy in Spanish league, when the same group of refs are always trying to *bleep* Barca up. And they are always planted in the spots like after the national games etc. With this ref, before this match, Barca had played 3 away games, lost all. And then he puts up shambles like this. In the end Messi was asking the match ball but he didn't give it (Messi got it anyway).

Think about that.

do you really believe the ideas that come out of your brain?

What's not to believe, his post is all facts like him or not how can you disagree xD

cant tell if you are joking or not because you have said some pretty ridiculous stuff in the past as well, so if you are joking then fair is fair but if not..

the highlighted part in red is a fact? get real man, thats just more conspiracy nonsense that dumbs down the forum.

I can list the names and give their records, will you accept the conspiracy if it differs from the average greatly?

will they be era adjusted?

besides this isnt the point of the thread which went completely over your head.

but by all means do what ever helps you rationalize poor performances.

lol 65th minute is near the end of the game, how were there 55 minutes left? did he add on 30 mins of stoppage time? lol

game didnt go to extra time if thats what you thought

what makes this hilarious is that you are ranting about selective memory

cant be bothered with the rest

The 65th minute is no where near the end of the game. There is basically 1/3rd of the game left not to mention again, Barca were losing at the time.

And yes it was a while ago it didn't go into extra time but lol at thinking a game is almost over at the 65th minute.

Just for example in the two best games today there were 3 goals scored past the 65th minute in the Chelsea vs Spurs game (I'm sure that didn't effect the outcome) and in the Barca vs Depo game there were 2 goals scored past the all important 65th minute where the game is coming to an end.

Because they are clueless about the sport. Whether you like my answer or not it's true. Consoiracies are never backed up.

white_star wrote:Because they are clueless about the sport. Whether you like my answer or not it's true. Consoiracies are never backed up.

Robert Hoyzer begs to differ