The Voice - Match preview #35: Bradford City vs Leyton Orient Saturday 7th March 2026 3:00pm

What a surprise NOT . If this clown of a ref had climbed up to head an equaliser in stoppage time the useless football authorities would have still ruled it was a legitimate thing for him to do
His officiating is an utter joke
Is it not a red and seventeen yellows in the last two matches he has overseen for us
The idiots in charge of the game will back their man 99% of the time
Surely it’s time for referees to be independent of the FA and thus more accountability

 

Very harsh I think. I would think many of us who have played ( whatever the level) would recognise that kind of clash - where BOTH players lunge - off their feet - and yes arguably with force and some absence of control - but both are on the floor - so how could one be deemed the “aggressor” and commit the infringement when they both go in at the same time and in the exact same way. Those who have played the game see that - this ref has clearly never played the game

 

The appeals panel has 3 people on it, 2 of which as a minimum are ex-professional players.
I think it's a really poor comment to say referees haven't played the game as they have, you don't just get into refereeing, referees take it up as they are football fans. The difference is they are applying the laws of the game as they are and in the laws a challenge like that is very likely to get a red card.
Mark Bower on radio leeds after the match also said he thought it was a red card and disagreed with Alexander's comment on it.

Baldwin has both feet off the ground so he is deemed of control, the Leyton Orient player has a leg on the ground.

 

I'm not sure where you think this independent group is coming from and who's funding them.

 

Yes Mark did say he thought it was the correct decision in "the modern game" followed by "you'd see those type of tackles every week years ago" I'm not sure there were more broken legs or serious career ending injuries back in those days

 

I agree that years ago it wouldn't be a red card but we all know the laws have changed as there is much more awareness around dangerous challenges and wanting to discourage challenges that are high risk. That being said it is surprising there isn't more legs broken with the amount of players wearing these matchbox shin pads, I'll never understand how clubs haven't banned players from wearing them.

 

Yes I never had any hope that it was going to be overturned. 2 players lunged for a 50-50 but Baldwin gets the red purely because he gets there first and connects with their lad in his follow through. Nowadays it probably is a red in the eyes of many referees but thats a sad indictment on the modern game imo.

 

They'll be banning heading the ball soon, I believe its banned in kids football, imagine coaches getting these 8/9/10 year olds who have been coached by the school sports teacher they come into a professional club and wonder what's happening when a ball come flying in from the wing .

 

The key difference is that Baldwin is off the floor with both feet, the Orient player isn't. Once you do that you are in big trouble as them type of challenges have been cracked down on

 

That's not how I saw it although not looked at it closely since the weekend. I thought his left foot was low which is why he won the ball. His trailing leg in follow through was admittedly off the ground and caught the lad in his stomach. That's how I saw it anyway

 

They can still do heading training with soft balls to learn the technique and they can do limited heading with a normal ball. There is a very good reason for the ban as there's growing evidence of how heading damages the brain.
If headers are banned at a young age then it forces them to play the ball on the ground and you never know in years to come it might reduce the amount of Stevenage's.

 

The beyond the whistle has a good angle from the kop, I've taken a screenshot but when I try to post it I get a notification saying the file is too big - not sure it's to do with the recent outages on here.
No idea if this will work but this should be the link of the point where I've paused it

 

Ha ha, thanks for that but Im still seeing it the same way. Left foot on the ground winning the ball. Decision been and gone now and we somehow will need to find a way of coping without him for the next 3 games. A shame as hes been outstanding recently.

 

I've watched it a few times in slow-mo. It was not a two-footed challenge and Baldwin was as much in control as their man was. Baldwin's right foot was initially planted but his own momentum as he stretched out his left flicked it back up, sort of knee-first. His knee avoided the man but the top of his right boot - not studs - hit their man in the stomach with no weight behind it. Their man was fractionally late and hit Baldwin's left ankle with studs, though not very hard, then rolled around grabbing his knee afterwards. He was either play-acting or possibly twisted his knee a bit. I think he was play-acting to try avoid a possible sending off for a late studs up challenge.

I would say it was a 50-50 ball with both being rather enthusiastic, or just possibly accept their man was late with studs up and trying to deflect the referee's attention from that. I'd say he succeeded pretty well. I thought it was a 50-50 collision and no card in real time and still stick to that in slow-mo. If pressed to give anyone anyone a card, I'd have given their man a yellow for being the late one, though not recklessly endangering. I suspect the video evidence would have been quite strong grounds for appeal, and presume that's why the club did. I presume the appeals panel got to watch it in slow motion, in which case I think it is a disappointing decision.

 

Add those players who follow like sheep, don't wear shin pads at all and even have their socks rolled down! Clubs should crack down on that too!

 

We've had a new directive from the county FA saying they're now banned in junior football but I believe it's a decision for each separate committee.

 

Our manager disagrees with you

 

Screen shots..

 

Hir right leg making body contact is what had him sent off

 

the referees are already there, paid by the FA with money they raise from the clubs
Just take control of them away from the authority
As I said they will usually back their man in public and then if he has made a hash, drop him from the list the next week
This referee is a complete joke, have they rebuked him for not sending off Karoma, thus allowing Orient the opportunity to sub him less than a minute later. Another decision that had a major effect on the game