Matchday Two brought plenty more talking points as always and a global sporting icon as Tom Brady headed to what looked like a half-built St Andrews to see Birmingham City beat Leeds United, whose early season woes continue. Chris Holt is joined on Everything but the Prem this week by Stuart Raynor from Yorkshire Post and Charlie Haffenden from Birmingham World to discuss all that and more on the EFL.
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00:00 No, I do think that players should be stopping this whole wave in the fake yellow card and
00:10 things because they shouldn't be pushing the referee, just as they shouldn't be surrounding
00:15 the referee. It's his decision at the end of the day and they shouldn't have too much
00:18 of an impact on it. It depends on what they've seen. It shouldn't be swayed by actions of
00:23 the players after a challenge has been made or whatever. The yellow for going into the
00:28 crowd, as you say, people are basically pushing him into there. You can't do much about that.
00:32 I think in those circumstances, I know it says to the referee, they have to book if
00:37 a player removes their shirt or if they go into the crowd like that, but he couldn't
00:41 really help it, as you say. So that feels very harsh. And then literally moments later
00:46 for that to happen, I think maybe if it's a first yellow of the game for that player,
00:52 that makes sense. But to get him sent off for it, I mean, that's cost Rotherham the
00:56 game. They were what, 2-0 up weren't they? And then in the second half, Blackburn come
00:59 back into it properly and get two back and it's a draw. That would have been a huge three
01:04 points for Rotherham, being right in at the bottom of the table against a team like Blackburn
01:07 that's going to be challenging in the top half. Yeah, I think it's foolish if it's a
01:12 second yellow. I just don't think it makes sense. But then again, if that's in the rulebook,
01:16 that's what the referee has to do. So you can't blame the referee on the day. It's just
01:20 that something needs to be adjusted after seeing these examples.
01:24 I mean, we all knew about it because I can remember reading the email that came in from
01:28 the AFL. So we were all told about it. The players themselves will have had very specific
01:33 meetings about it from the referee and authorities, whom they believe have something of a bit
01:40 of a roadshow around all the clubs in the summer just to kind of make sure that they
01:44 do know the rules. So there's no excuse in that respect. I think, Stuart, it's just whenever
01:51 you actually see it happening before you, where you think, well, actually, is that going
01:57 to make a big difference? I will point out as well, actually, but I've only seen the
02:00 highlights and I've seen what happened. And I should have looked into this a little bit
02:03 more. If a player feels that he's been kicked around from pillar to post all game and he's
02:08 complaining to the referee, are you going to book him? Are you going to book anyone
02:12 here because I'm being booted? I think that's very fair. Now, if he hadn't been and he just
02:17 booked a wave of imaginary yellow cards, then that's quite different. But I'm not entirely
02:23 sure the full context of this one, but still, I do think it's a bit harsh.
02:27 Well, I think my issue is more with the player than the referee or the rules, to be honest
02:31 with you. I mean, I agree with both of you. I don't think the first one was a yellow card.
02:35 You know, when we're booking people for just being happy at scoring a goal, it's a bit
02:40 bonkers. But, you know, you did mention sometime later, it was only about two minutes later.
02:45 And if stupidity was a, you know, a considerable offence, that would be a straight red card
02:50 in itself. You know, there's a countdown on, you know, refs are looking out for everything.
02:57 You know, you're on a yellow card. Just don't do it. I mean, I'm actually quite pleased
03:03 to see somebody sent off ultimately for doing that. It's just a pity from my point of view
03:08 that it's a Rotherham United player. But I do think this really needs cutting out. Too
03:12 many managers do it all the time. Too many players do it.
03:16 Does it really matter though?
03:19 Because it says to kids and grown up Sunday League players, you can dissent to a referee
03:28 as much as you like and we're not going to do anything about it. It's a blatant act of
03:32 dissent. There's far too much of it going on. What's wrong with the game at the moment?
03:36 Well, lots of things. But one of the things is we don't have enough good referees. Why
03:40 don't we have enough good referees? Because actually, there's not that many people who
03:43 enjoy getting, turning up every week and getting abused by footballers because they don't agree
03:48 with their decision, you know, at grassroots level, first and foremost. So we do really
03:52 need to clamp down on this dissent. And frankly, you know, Onyemedia should have just had more
03:58 common sense about him to just bite his tongue when he's on a yellow card. As Charlie said,
04:04 it cost his team. And if I was Matt Taylor, I'd be furious with him. You know, I know
04:10 sometimes it looks a bit soft in that context, but it's got to be done because it's just
04:17 getting out of hand, you know, and they're clearly trying to protect referees this season.
04:22 It needs doing. And if it means the odd red card that's a bit soft to get there, then
04:27 frankly, I think it's a price worth paying. And I can guarantee you that pretty much every
04:33 training ground in the country this morning, that clip will be shown to hundreds and hundreds
04:39 of Football League players with managers saying, do not be the person who does that for my
04:44 team. We will have serious words if that happens. I say it's a shame, from a Yorkshire perspective,
04:50 it's a shame it had to be a Rotherham player it happened to first, but it did have to happen,
04:54 I think.
04:55 Well, as long as it's happened, I guess the fact that it's happened early on, hopefully
04:59 it serves as a warning to everyone and we don't see any of that again.
05:03 [Music]