Such

https://www.caughtoffside.com/2020/02/04/video-gelson-martins-pushes-referee-twice-during-monacos-loss-to-nimes/

watch that video. thats crazy that he got such a long ban for such a light push - I know you never touch the ref but ronaldo got a way smaller ban for a way harder push. and this push was like a "no way ref, you cant be real" that bullshit led to a legitimate push.. what a mess

seriously i'm so pissed about the protection from referees, you touch him and you get a ban. however their incompetence and absolute disgraceful performances are never punished, how is that possible?

I'm going to go against the public mood on this one and say he deserves the punishment or should've gotten a harsher one. By the letter of the law in the game, you aren't even supposed to speak to the referee, let alone crowd them, and certainly not touch them.

You can talk about the protection of referees all you like, but in this situation (aided by VAR) the referee made the correct red card on Monaco, and Martins following push had zero justification whatsoever. He's a complete melon and deserves every second of his ban. Sadly it's a ban that spans the offseason so he'll barely miss more than 5 games as a result of it.

What

The first "push" was eh, but fact is, he touched the Ref. The second push sealed it for me. In fact, I would have liked to of seen Reds or Yellows on any player that crowded the Ref. Outside the Capt, no one should get up in their face, but it is never enforced.

That is a tough job. You are NEVER right, you are BLIND, Stupid, never in the right position, always unfair, don't know the rules....

I try to have all my players go be a Ref somewhere. It helps with perspective!

It should be a ban, might be a bit harsh but it's a ban.

Although, they should have been consistent with other simliar faults too. Lile the one with Ronaldo... How can you have any respect if one is a lot heavier than another because of popularity

I'm going to go against the public mood on this one and say he deserves the punishment or should've gotten a harsher one.

pushing referee deserves 6months ban?

pushing referee deserves 6months ban?

Probably more tbh.

If you make the punishment so strong that it deters that behavior, that's what's done. It's not out of line with other sports, in American football you get one game for so much as touching a referee, I cannot imagine a push would be anything less than a season-long suspension. Baseball is a bit different because arguing with the umpire is part of the game, but contact is still a no-no. Basketball has more player power than any other sport so they get away with more, but a several month long ban wouldn't be a surprise. In hockey I'm not even sure it's even been done, but hockey coddles their refs like no one else, so a year would be my guess.

The core point for me is this: no one likes referees in soccer. They are necessary for the game, but players, managers, and fans hate them with a passion. If leagues allow even a SHRED of physical contact towards them, that's opening a whole can of worms that could prove significantly dangerous for the overall health of the sport. I don't think that's an understatement.

@quikzyyy The thing is, in France, the tolerance for that kind of behaviour is even lower than in other country. Personally, I think the lenght of the ban is more a question of making an example to make sure this kind of behaviour doesn't spread to other player.

Like sun said, the ref in football already need to support a lot of abuse than they shouldn't support or at least, wouldn't support in other sports so the least the different association can do is protect them physically.

correct sunflash, pushing the referee should be banned for a long time and it works exactly as intended : to make a statement. BUT the main point is that the reference point is for a much shorter ban. Ronaldo's ban for example and even look at detestable acts like biting: suarez got 7 games ban for it. that's all. This player has had no previous incidents or anything.

What they should do is a mix of suspension and probation, with the player being suspended for 4 games and on probation where if he gets into anything bad for a period of time he gets his original suspension altered to be longer. precedent for a long ban isn't even set so it's really harsh against this one player.

And the worst part is they are (of course) not addressing the underlying issue, just putting a band-aid on the problem; there is no respect for referees in football. the governing bodies do their little "respect" ads and all but nothing really to change the behaviour of players in all levels. Until they put in place some policies towards that direction they shouldn't be handing out huge bans like that because they themselves are a part of the problem.

6 months is just crazy

I agree with the ban.

The 6 months comes from the old days of players attacking refs so we've moved on from there.