…even those of yeez with a brain as sharp as a billiard ball will note the relative physical stature of the man in black versus the football players in the photograph above… at 6 feet 4 inches without his studded boots, Tom Wharton was a refereeing giant… in the customary droll Scots’ affinity for affectionate hyberbole, he was more commonly known as ‘Tiny’ Wharton… for those of us of a certain age who had the pleasure of watching real football in the 50’s and 60’s, referees such as ‘Tiny’ were regarded somewhat differently to the the modern whistler lot… back then, by and large, there was a high degree of respect for the ‘man in the middle’… oh, sure, never a match passed without one set or other of fans variously bringing into question (a) the eyesight (b) the I.Q. (c) the marital status of his mother… but that was an integral part of the crowd banter and humour… how things have changed… having played the game professionally as a young man about a hundred years ago, I speak from some experience on this… very little, if any, of the current behaviour on the field by the modern ballet-dancing prima donna players would have been tolerated… yeez know what I mean… feigning injury when an opposing player smudges yer lipstick… diving quality that would grace the Olympics high-board competition… simulation of a wrestling convention in the penalty area at every corner kick… not retreating ten yards immediately to allow free kicks to proceed… stealing up to twenty yards on throw-ins… and the constant, bordering-on-obscene, bickering at the referee at every decision… the beautiful game has developed some unsightly luggage… whence it comes is irrelevant… the fact is, it’s here… and in my not so ‘umble view, a lot of it is plain cheating… compare the attitude in rugby football, where physical contact is almost mandatory… where men as tough as teak hammer the hell out of each other for 80 minutes, then go share a drink… any quibble with a referee in that sport can result in instant dismissal… respect is what it amounts to… respect for the rules… respect for fair play… respect for the referees… sure, they’re human and can make mistakes… an accepted part of the game for decades, until recent times… even the managers are at it now… after every game, one enormously-overpaid manager or other will lambast the decision-making of the officials… seldom criticising their own decision-making in picking the team in the first place… ah, ‘Tiny’, we real fans, and the game, need a squad of guys like yerself back in charge…
A lot of the prima donnas, the so called ‘geniuses’ of modern day football, are ruining the beautiful game with their incessant cheating and whinging. I’d love to see if they’d have been so quick to complain had they been faced with Tiny Wharton!
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…a genuine case of ‘…wha dare meddle wi’ me!’…
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I somehow think he wouldn’t put up with players running around showing their wee, taught bellies after scoring a goal neither.
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..right, that man 🙂
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And not just in football either. Respect has taken a div out the window everywhere.
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…lamentably so, David…:)
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we need more ‘tinies’ in the game.
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..and the sooner the better .. the entire game needs to be cleaned up …a lot … :”)
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Absoballylutely ….the new shiny lot of players get paid quite a lot of money to be acting like two year olds. If you or I acted that way toward our bosses we’d be escorted out of the building and kicked to the curb. Bring back the Tiny’s!
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… in droves ..:)
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Football seems to be a special case. Why the hell do we not have TV at professional level, why no goal mouth cameras and TV option (when the game is being filmed) the way there are in every other sport.
Cheers
MTM
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…agreed… for the kinda money at stake, the cost is de minimus… and it works well in most other sports… baseball, cricket, tennis, etc… 🙂
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I reckon it’s to do with match fixing and the difficulty of achieving it with a system like that in place… Phnark…. Because I’m a bit cynical like that.
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… all things are possible… when ye look at guys like Blatter who’ve been milking the game for decades.. 🙂
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Mmmmm. 😉
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Reblogged this on Seumas Gallacher and commented:
…here’s a rerun of a blog I wrote 4 and 1/2 years ago… enjoy…
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Reblogged this on Viv Drewa – The Owl Lady.
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I know little of the game, Seumas but I’ll take your word for it. Tom Wharton certainly was a big man. 🙂 — Suzanne
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…he certainly was… in every respect.. and a most respected official … 🙂
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