Video Killed the Altrincham Star

I bemoaned last week that football can't be a level playing field at all levels, but something I've heard about subsequently has made me think again.

Altrincham player James Smith has been banned for three games by the F.A. for using his elbow on Mansfield's Jake Speight in an off-the-ball incident. None of the officials saw the incident so how, I hear you ask, could there be a case for him to answer? The explanation is simple: YouTube!

Yes YouTube, the agent's friend! Until now, it seemed its only use was in helping to flog mediocre footballers on to unsuspecting, rash clubs with more money than sense. A carefully placed, well-edited video can make any mediocre striker look like Pele! Expunge your dodgy keeper's errors with some creative use of Windows Movie Maker and you'll get half a million for your Lev Yashin save-alike!

Smith was caught when video of the incident was posted on the ubiquitious video-hosting site. The incident happens around the thirty second mark, and it's clear he did it. So fair enough, but the fact that Graham Heathcote, Altrincham's manager, has complained that this will lead to mobile toting fans bringing rough justice to players up and down the land. So what if they do? If it helps catch players out when they think, in the apparent safety of the Conference, their misdeeds will be obscured, then good! And anyway, that was the official match video on there, not a fan's video! It all smacks of the sort of sour grapes we usually get from Alex Fergsuon!

There's one question raised which makes me wonder though; if the official videos can be used like this, why doesn't this happen more often? Was it the fact that it was made public that forced the F.A. into action? If so, that isn't a great precedent.

On the other hand, if this leads to more scrutiny on the decisions made at our level, some of those dreadful Conference refs we've had to suffer lately will be having some sleepless nights!

Truly Badly Crawley

I've enjoyed the non league experience this season, which is a good thing as it looks like I'll be getting a second dose next season. Opposing clubs have been an absolute delight, their demeanour on and off the pitch regularly being a pleasant change from what one finds at a lot of our usual Football League opponents.

Until Crawley.

I can honestly say, in thirty-one years of watching Wrexham home and away, from Championship to Conference, with Europe thrown in, that I've never seen a more unpleasant team. It wasn't necessarily their on-pitch demeanour, although wasting time after fifteen minutes and incurring three clear red cards was hardly angelic, but the fact that they were clearly following the example and instructions of their management team.

The Non League Paper constantly carries frustrated complaints on their letters page about the behaviour of Steve Evans and Paul Raynor, and they showed us just why they're held in such low regard by everyone who cares for football. Constant abusive dissent, even when decisions went their way. Kicking the ball away when Wrexham players went to fetch it. Trying to get opponents booked. Very very ugly. I'm just glad my little lad, who has a season ticket but wasn't able to attend the game, didn't see it.

The other grim thing about the game was the officiating. The standard of refereeing, sadly, is the one thing that I wouldn't miss about the non league game, and when a weak official is bullied like this the consequences are inevitable. Apart from the red cards, one of which was a disgraceful studs-in-the-ribs assault on Ryan Flynn, what a concidence that the victim was our best player!) he failed to give two clear penalties, probably because he was petrified of what abuse he'd receive if he did. A strong referee would have decimated Crawley.

Of course, the opposition's antics and the referee's ineptitude partially obscured the fact that it was a woeful performance by Wrexham. Crawley came to do a number on Wrexham and the officials, succeeded. Perhaps the fact that neither were good enough to stop them was the real problem.

Oh great!

There was a post on Red Passion after we played at Peterborough earlier this month which made a very good point. As Darren Ferguson made his rather pathetic attack on us, there was a danger that some of the mud would stick. We weren't a voilent bunch of thugs, Steve Evans certainly didn't taking a running jump and butt their goalkeeper, who of course was able to play just three days later despite the suggestion that he was fatally wounded after the game, and we played much more good football than Peterborough did.

However, the poster suggested that if referees see Ferguson's comments then our card might be marked.

Bearing this in mind you can see why my heart sunk when I saw who our referee is for the rematch on Tuesday.

Mick Thorpe has reffed us four times, and each one was traumatic in one way or other. To be fair, generally the events which hurt us were nothing to do with Thorpe, to be fair, but

The first game he took charge of was at Scunthorpe on the first day of the 2002-3 season; in fact it was his first game as a Football League ref. It was the game which was marred, like the Birmingham-Arsenal match yesterday, by a terrible injury, as Waynne Phillips' career was ended. It wasn't a foul, just an unfortunate accidnet, and Thorpe could do nothing to prevent it, but bad luck seems to have followed him around ever since as far as we're concerned.

When we kicked off against Grimsby we were unbeaten for forty-one days, the longest length of time we'd been without tasting defeat, discounting Summer breaks, since November 2004 when Thorpe took charge of the spectacular collapse of an in-form team as we lost 5-1 at Luton.

Again, I don't recall anything Thorpe did to upset us in that game; our hammering had more to do with Simon Spender being used as a makeshift centre-back in a back three and being exposed in the air by Howard. However, Thorpe played his part in our next encounter, at Notts County in August 2005. In injury time Dennis Lawrence was fouled, but Thorpe didn't give it, didn't stop the game to allow the centre back treatment, and as Wrexham protested County scored the winning goal. Thorpe must have felt some guilt as immediately after the restart Dave Bayliss, giving us a first glimpse of his unreliable temperament, launched into an idiotic assault on a County player which Thorpe failed to punish with a red card despite the victim having stud prints on his kidney!

One more game to throw into the pot, and this one amazes me. Thorpe was ref for our spectacular meltdown at Peterborough in the F.A. Cup last November. Why has he been chosen to officiate the same fixture again so soon? It seems odd, as does a certain geographical matter. Thorpe is from Suffolk; let's hope by the end of the game we don't suspect that he cadged a lift to The Racecourse from his Peterborough neighbours!

So who robs us this week?

Hate to say it, but one of the first things I've done in prearation for tomorrow's game is look at who the referee is. After all, if last week was anything to go by, he'll be the most important man on the pitch.

It's Ray Olivier, who hasn't done much to upset us really-in fact he has been so keen to ingratiate himself that he even sent a Millwall player off against us on my birthday eight years ago!

Mind you, the fact that he hasn't hurt us yet probably means he's been waiting until tomorrow to do us good and proper!

The other pessimistic note is that just because he hasn't made enemies at The Racecourse, doesn't mean we do well when he's in charge-last game he reffed for us was when we lost 5-2 at Stockport!