Hartlepool United manager Dave Challinor discusses 'sad state of affairs' regarding referee decisions and player honesty

He hit out at the level of officiating in the National League after a controversial sending off and two denied penalties at Solihull Moors last week.

Now, Challinor has turned his attention inward and looked at the conduct of his players, who he feels are being ‘too honest’ during matches.

Both Rhys Oates and Mason Bloomfield have been denied penalties in recent matches after staying on their feet despite being on the receiving end of a challenge.

"It shows the sad state of affairs we’re in with football where I’m talking about being too honest as if it’s a bad thing,” the Pools manager told The Mail.

“There will be arguments from pundits and the media about how we need to stop diving and going to ground too easily but we’ve had two occasions in the past recent games where we should have had a penalty but our players have been too honest.

"We conceded a penalty against Altrincham with an incident and there was a similar case at Barnet with Oatesy where he was too honest after their lad kicks him.

"The lad didn’t mean to kick him in the box but he does and if Oatesy goes down then it gives the referee a decision to make.

"Mason last Tuesday does great and gets fouled but doesn’t go down and we don’t get a penalty so there’s a case for players forcing the referee to make a decision, absolutely.”

Challinor insisted he wasn’t advocating diving or any form of gamesmanship but he feels something has to change at the lower levels of the game where VAR does not come into play.

“I don’t want to say to my players to become dishonest and cheat but there needs to be a change somewhere and a process where referees are brave enough to make a decision based on players not hitting the floor,” he added.

“On the flip side of it, we should be rewarding people’s honesty if they are fouled but try to stay on their feet.

"Referees are refereeing at National League level because they have frailties. I still think there needs to be accountability and that’s the one thing I think there isn’t enough of.

"During the course of the game, referees won’t make as many mistakes as the players make so I get it and my son is a referee so I’m not going to start lambasting people because I know it’s a difficult job.

"The sending off event last Tuesday, I sent to Football League and Premier League referees that I know and they’ve all said the same thing where maybe it’s not a sending off but the referee has been conned a little bit by an experienced player who’s got in front of Timi [Odusina] and then hit the deck which forces the referee to make a decision which ultimately favours them.

"Do we need to be better at that? Maybe we do but it is one that will cause consternation over how the gamesmanship element of football comes into play.”

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