Camelford v Liverton

[THE BALD ONE]

Watched the above game yesterday afternoon and thought it was an even hard fought match. Camelford wasted many early chances only to go behind by 2 goals. The come back was good to watch and one missed penalty gave the cup to Camelford. I thoroughly enjoyed this game but for one very annoying person ( the Liverton Manager ....Tony Bowker ) who kept swearing and forwarding arm gestures to the opposing team management and the bench(which was toatlly out of context that the game was played in ). I feel the referee / linesman should have put a stop to this much earlier in the game , as after the game this spilt over into handbags. What a sore loser ..............

Well done to both teams for an enjoyable match.

[Dougsmate]

Tony Bowker has always been a bad loser..........he should take a leaf out of the Camelford managers' book, who applauded both teams goals and refrained from making obsene jestures to members of the public/supporters. His language quite frankly made ME blush, and I'm pretty sure the senior citizens and children present, would not have appreciated it either.

Well done to Camelford for sticking to their game plan and overcoming an over zeleous teams and thug of a manager. I sincerly hope the many league representatives that were present witnessed this unsavouy behavior and will take the appropriate action.

Good luck to Camelford for next season, and Liverton....CLEAN UP YOUR ACT !

[karaoke]

I read somewhere the referee walked off the pitch during a friendly against Upton Ath and the manager resigned but then changed his mind.

[The Smiling Assassin]

Was that yesterday's referee? If so, then he should not be refereeing! Part of his job is to manage the teams, whether by trying to get them to conform by diplomacy, or by issuing cards.

[B Manning]

Smiling assassin, why should he not be refereeing and it`s not part of his job to "manage the teams" it`s the manager and or team captain`s to do that, he is there to see the game is played within LOAF and to do that he can speak to players and or take on field disciplinary action, but if everything fails then he has the ultimate sanction which is to abandon the game and walk off and believe you me that is the hardest and bravest decision any referee will have to take.

[hoppit]

Smiling assassin, why should he not be refereeing and it`s not part of his job to "manage the teams" it`s the manager and or team captain`s to do that, he is there to see the game is played within LOAF and to do that he can speak to players and or take on field disciplinary action, but if everything fails then he has the ultimate sanction which is to abandon the game and walk off and believe you me that is the hardest and bravest decision any referee will have to take.

Mr Manning i was an official to contributary league standard for many years, i saw yesterdays match and the Liverton manager called the assistant referee a F#####g p###k in a loud and aggressive manner, no action was taken this is the resposibility of the officials. This was the worst incident of many, he was continuously swearing and making gestures to the away fans,action should have been taken.

[B Manning]

hoppit, I was also a contributary league official and in the scenario that you state yes of course if the referee had heard or was informed by his assistant of those comments he should have taken the action that was needed, I certainly would have done had I been an official at the game. But that scenario was not in the original post that I replied to.

[THE BALD ONE]

The Manager in question was clearly heard by the referees assistant and the referee. The referee did at one stage in the game request the Manager in question to keep it down , to which he knelt on one knee ( completely taking the micky ). The referee then said , keep that up and I will split my sides .... or something very similar. I have been a football fan for many years and do not understand why the referees do not act earlier in the game on such instances as this. A yellow card right away would sort this out. I have also been a football Manager and used to accept that it was my responsibility to act in the correct manner , respecting the officials and not giving my club a bad name.

To sum up, the Manager was completely out of line and should be disciplined for his actions ( there were several League officials that must have heard this also ) and the referee should have acted much sooner to request him to calm down and remember the Respect Campaign.

[bighairydave]

A yellow card right away would sort this out.

A yellow card would not be able to sort this out as any club officials who do not partake in the game as a player or substitute are unable to be carded. But you are correct to say perhaps the referee should have warned the manager and then removed him from the technical area if that behaviour continued.

Out of interest who were the match officials for the two games?

[karaoke]

The Upton Ath v Liverton game was South Devon referee Phil Webb

[Dougsmate]

Perhaps if the referee had dealt with the manager appropriately in the first instance instead of saying, and I quote " I appreciate your enthusiasm but would you please keep it down" this blithering idiot would not have gone down on one knee to tried and be funny. This was a Charity game at which there were numerous young children present, some of which were provided by Okehamton Argyle as Ball Boys, his behaviour should see him forced to resign from his position within the club and attend ALL the relevant courses to re-habilitate and re-educate. The FA have been running the Respect campaign for some time now, it obviously has not reached Liverton yet !!

[Dave Deacon]

If as per programme, they were:-

Camelford v Liverton United

Referee : Steve Foster (Plymouth), Assistants : Simon Robbins and Keith Houghton (both Callington)

Buckland Athletic v Plymouth Parkway

Referee : David Goard (Plymouth), Assistants : Ioan Ignat (Exeter), Aaron Reed (Plymouth)

[Team Rep]

Watched the above game yesterday afternoon and thought it was an even hard fought match. Camelford wasted many early chances only to go behind by 2 goals. The come back was good to watch and one missed penalty gave the cup to Camelford. I thoroughly enjoyed this game but for one very annoying person ( the Liverton Manager ....Tony Bowker ) who kept swearing and forwarding arm gestures to the opposing team management and the bench(which was toatlly out of context that the game was played in ). I feel the referee / linesman should have put a stop to this much earlier in the game , as after the game this spilt over into handbags. What a sore loser ..............

Well done to both teams for an enjoyable match.

[The Pocket Pitbull]

Just taken this off the Liverton website what a joke...

The approach of the new season in a new league has of necessity brought about new thinking (surely TB doesn’t think) by team managers at the club. Tony Bowker & Alan Hext have all recognised that to sustain the club’s position, a strong squad of proven ability is essential, with team spirit of paramount importance.(by displaying gestures to his opposition’s bench everytime Liverton score) Nick Threadgold pointed out “whilst we already have good matchday ability, (To insult people) there will be a need for changes(A manager would be a good place to start) in the way players are expected to react and work with each other as a team”(obviously it states players - TB can react how he likes). Tony Bowker made the point “there is a good standard of football played in the South Devon League, and the reserves, have demonstrated that. However the peninsula League is a greater, and we need players who want to test themselves at a higher level. The only way to progress a club is to have an environment where team spirit is high, where results on the pitch demonstrate the capabilities of players as individuals, (Yes TB did demonstrate his capability to ignore the FA RESPECT Campaign) and as a team. In this way we will attract good players (surely not if he speaks to players the way he speaks to oppositions and spectators) who want to belong to a successful team and supporters who want to urge their side on to win by playing good football.” After achieving the Double in 2010/11 of the League Title & Devon Cup the club is looking forward to build on it's success. its hard to win a title but its harder to retain it " Tony Bowker "

I was also at the game and was disgusted by his outrageous disrespectful behaviour. Well done to the Camelford management team not lowering themselves to his very low standards.

I have seen Premiership manager's get sent from the dugout and fined for far less, than what I witnessed.

What sort of impression is this so called manager giving to the kids watching - they are our future footballers. Absolutely appalled nothing was done about him.

It was a charity game without any charitable attitude by Mr Bowker.

The FA RESPECT CAMPAIGN I don't think the guy knows what respect is, let alone spell it ...

[Ian Pethick]

Totally agree with many of the sentiments raised here .

The touchline behaviour of the managerial teams in several of the matches I watched left much to be desired ( and that is putting it very kindly !! ) .

One matche that I watched towards the end of the season immediately springs to mind , this was at Elburton where the home manager consistently turned the air blue with extremley offensive language .

In fact , if he had expressed himself like this at 3pm on a Saturday afternoon on a busy high street then he would have been arrested for a public order offence .

There was an elderly couple stood next to me watching this game , there discomfort was very apparent .

I don't want to appear to be picking on Elburton exclusively though , many teams in the league were of a comparable standard . Myself and the guys who I watch games with most weeks were often left scratchibng our heads as to why the referees were not acting on this ( the best one I saw was the referee the bench to "calm down , or I woill be coming over" . They didn't and he didn't .)

I would have to say though that the team I follow , Parkway, even allowing for our less than impressive on the field disciplinary record ( no getting away from that I'm afraid) , does appear to have one of the more restrained benches (mitigating circumstances on Bank Holiday excepted).