Sometimes being right feels very wrong

RIGHT, I have waited long enough, let’s get to the thorny issue of the weekend, a perfectly correct — if morally wrong — decision by a referee.

The sending off of Glentoran’s Darren Murray by Steven Gregg for not leaving the pitch by the shortest possible route when he was being substituted has reverberated across the globe. As I said, by the letter of the law, the ref was correct. It is a yellow card, Murray had been booked earlier, and thus a second yellow means a red, that is the new rule, daft as it is.

But as Glenn Ferguson rightly pointed out on the NIFL Premiership highlights show, the precedent has been set and now every referee must do the same. Now, it looked to me on Friday night across town at Seaview that referee Arnold Hunter had told Paul Heatley, who was ambling off in whatever direction he wanted, that he should have gone another way, but no card was shown. The powers-that-be have created a problem where one didn’t really exist. Murray’s team was drawing with Cliftonville when he was subbed, he wasn’t seeking to waste time and I am sure manager Mick McDermott will be hauled up in front of the disciplinary committee for his remarks.

“We talk about upgrading football, everything is moving ahead and developing, but a performance like that from one person was absolutely pathetic,” he fumed.

“I think it was a ridiculous decision and a ridiculous rule. The referee was only carrying out instruction — he did what he is told to do. But to me, it’s a farcical rule,” said opposite number Paddy McLaughlin.

There are things in football that do need tackling, but this wasn’t one of them. Please let referees show a bit of common sense before all hell breaks loose.