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RefWatch – West Bromwich Albion v Arsenal (19/03/2011 15:00)

By DogFace

• Referee:             Stuart Attwell
• Assistant 1:        Peter Kirkup     
• Assistant 2:        Martin Yerby
• 4th Official:        Stuart Attwell

Good morning stat-fans and welcome to RefWatch! 

It’s been a busy week for me this week – pressures at work, working with a stats man (Zach Slaton from The Beautiful Numbers Game blog – more to come in future articles) and totally re-wiring my football statistics database – after 3 solid days and 8000+ lines of number crunching SQL code -  my noodle is baked!

I’m sure it’ll all be worth it in the end though… you know – when I bring you good people the data with the statistical probabilities (verging on certainties) as to which referees are bent and exactly how bent they are… if at all – it could be, for instance, that I discover that it all jolly well evens out at the end of the day, but I would be pleasantly surprised, to say the least, if that were the case.

Before we go any further I regret to inform you that this week the PGMOL have done me again… it seems, of late, that we are getting referees and fourth officials that we don’t have much in the way of a history with – if this were not a coincidence then I would be hugely flattered; as the idea of Mike Riley reading my work over his cornflakes fills me with a rosy glow and a constructive outlet for my tourette’s… WANKER *cough*.

Never mind eh – I’m sure Walter will do a sterling job in dissecting his competence on Saturday evening… I’ll look forward to that.

 Let’s have a look at the Referee:

• Full name:                          Stuart Steven Attwell
• Date of birth:                    6 October 1982 (1982-10-06) (age 28)
• Place of birth:                   Nuneaton, England
• EPL Referee Since:         2008/2009
• EPL Games to date:       30

Oi, Atters – I just got word from the boss; the fix is in!

Now, we’ve got no charts for Stewie as we’ve got no real data for either Arsenal or West Brom – we’ve both had 1 game apiece under him in which we both won – although, in our match, we did more than well out of him. 

For me though, the first thing I think of when I hear the name Stewart Attwell is ‘fuckup’. Stewart ‘the fuckup’ Attwell is another referee who, it seems, has been marked for promotion at every turn – he represents the future of the PGMOL, I predict this because it is obvious.  It is not obvious, however, as to why Stewie has reached the ranks of the Select Group with such rapidity, unless of course incompetence is rewarded?

The briefest of google’s (forgive my lazy journalism) reveals many articles in a major newspapers documenting as to why Stewart Attwell should not be a referee at the highest level – here’s a rundown on a few you might remember:

Liverpool Vs Sunderland – 26/09/2010

Stewart Attwell prevents Sunderland from taking a free kick from what he deemed was a position too far forward from the original incident.  As the ball was passed back to the Sunderland goal keeper (so he could re-take the free kick as instructed), Attwell turned his back on play and Torres pounced on the dead ball (which somehow then became a live ball) before playing on Kuyt to race through on goal through a bemused Sunderland defence and score.  Attwell turns around, notices the ball is in the net and duly gives it.

Arsenal Vs Bolton Wanderers – 11/09/2010

Stewart Attwell destroys Bolton’s chance of snatching an equaliser against Arsenal by issuing a straight red Gary Cahill for foul from behind on Marouane Chamakh.  The red card was soft (especially if you consider that Chamakh is not only and Arsenal player but also a Frenchie foreign Moroccaner); Arsenal went on to win 4-1.  Nice one Stewie!

Wolverhampton Wanderers Vs Newcastle United – 28/08/2010

Stewart Attwell well and truly lost control of this right shit-kicker of a match – not only were 12 yellow cards issued but also Stewie failed to award Wolves a nailed on penalty for clear foul on Matt Jarvis.

Liverpool Vs Portsmouth – 15/03/2010

Stewart Attwell does a ‘Clattenburg’ and fails to book Steven Gerrard for lamping Michael Brown upside the head… nothing new there then.

Derby County Vs Nottingham Forest – 02/11/2008

Stewart Atwell left Paul Jewell apoplectic after he disallows two legitimate Derby goals… the match ended in a 1-1 draw.

Watford v Reading – 20/08/2008

Words defy me – check it out for yourselves: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0YiuSbBdaQ

But where are the stats [you cry]… ah yes – the stats, we I can’t let you go hungry can I?  Well, I’ve knocked up something of a referee crib sheet for you gooners – I mean, we all bitch about the ref, but who is the worst for us and who, indeed, has been the best?

Please find below two spreadsheets – they have been sorted by: [Avg. PPG], [Total Points], and [AH Swing] (descending and in that order i.e. best at the top and worst at the bottom).  The first chart is for this season only and the second is for the last 6 seasons (including this one).  These charts are for EPL games and Referee’s with less than 2 matches have been removed – I used Points as the number 1 factor for determining what is ‘good’ – as, at the end of the day, points mean prizes.  AH Swing is another important consideration that you should bear in mind too, but this becomes more revealing in the mid/low table teams.  Enjoy, print out and discuss down the pub:

Arsenal Ref League 2010/2011:

Arsenal Ref League 2005/2006 – 2010/2011:

There were many other columns (generated from my new dataset) that I had to remove so these would fit on the page… about 50 in all – so lots of data for me to get my teeth into and model!

So – after all that, what should we expect from Stewart Attwell tomorrow?

Well… nothing less than a good 3 pointer will do!