The quality of officials - or lack of it - has taken up a lot of space in Town discussions in the last two weeks or so. Personally, I have been appalled at the penalty decisions which have cost us four points - assuming we had scored the spot-kicks we should have had. And you could extend that to six, if you include the Preston game.

Added to the Leif Davis suspension fiasco and we have genuine reasons to complain. We haven't played well in some of those games but that doesn't affect our right to criticise very poor decisions and indeed apparent lies from the Leicester ref who "didn't see" the foul on Cedric Kipre.

It is rubbish being a fan in these situations as it is easy to be incensed but there is nothing we can do about it. If we write to the EFL or FA, almost certainly no-one would reply.

Has it been ever thus? I feel that a lot of people of my age (68) probably think "No, it was better in 'those days'".

I think referees in 'those days' had more personality and character - anyone who remembers Roger Kirkpatrick of Leicester will recall a very rotund person who sprinted to catch up with the rest of the players when he had lectured one for a foul or dissent. His sprint always brought applause from the crowd - yes the crowd would clap the referee. And he was good with his decision-making as well.

Alf Buksh of Wembley was another character. He was the first Asian ref that I can remember and in my opinion was very good. Jack Taylor, who refereed a World Cup final, was a commanding figure whom players respected.

There was undoubtedly more character but that has largely been squeezed out of the job because of the scrutiny that refs are now under?

But even in 'those days', there were disasters. In September 1970 Ipswich lost 2-1 at Stamford Bridge. I'd heard on the TV that one of Chelsea's goals - awarded by Mr Roy Capey of Crewe, a name I'll never forget - was controversial. But it wasn't until I saw photos in the papers on my Sunday paper round that I realised how controversial. The 'goal' never entered the net but hit the side netting, as the photos clearly showed. Clearly neither linesman nor Mr Capey had seen this - and obviously the Chelsea players didn't own up. I've never forgiven the man from Crewe and I don't suppose I will after 55 years!

The same applies, of course, to the infamous Clive Thomas of Treorchy. Clive disallowed two perfectly good Ipswich goals which would have seen us beat West Ham in the FA Cup semi-final replay in 1975 at Stamford Bridge. Cameras showed clearly that both goals should have stood. So we lost a semi-final 2-1*. We'd then never been to a cup final and the bus back to Colchester through the East End and celebrating West Ham fans made contempt for Mr Thomas almost unbearable. We were certainly robbed.

So referees have always made terrible decisions which change results, with and without VAR, I don't think that will ever change. It's just that these days there is so much scrutiny and dissection of their decisions that things probably seem worse.

Sadly I fear that the today's standard is unlikely to improve. I have been involved with junior football for several years when not at Portman Road. The number of matches which have neutral linesmen has reduced dramatically over the last 10 years. In lower divisions managers or bystanders have to referee themselves. This always causes problems with accusations of bias - real and imaginary.

This shortage of officials at grassroots level must feed up the chain, so there are fewer good referees graduating to the EFL and Premier League as there are fewer to chose from. You can hardly blame them given the way referees are seen to be spoken to by players and then criticised by the media.

So I'll sign off with the rather sad conclusion that refereeing is what it is, but it is unlikely to get better.

*A bit of useless information from that semi-final replay n 1975: Alan Taylor scored two for West Ham v Arsenal in the sixth round, then two against us and then two against Fulham in the final. He now works for an undertakers firm in Norfolk! Can't see any players from the Premier League ever doing that.

December1963 added 17:25 - Mar 18 I now feel very old (71 actually)I well remember Rodger Kirkpatrick and the incident at Chelsea where the ball went past the outside of the post ( a shot from John O,Rourke if I remember correctly) also another disallowed goal because the town goalkeeper landed one boot outside the penalty area as he kicked the ball from his hands downfield and the ball ended up in the opposition goal. I was at Stamford Bridge the night of the Clive Thomas Semi final. We missed the first 20 minutes of the game stuck on a bus in traffic on the embankment and then had to put up with the worst referring performance I’ve seen to this day. All this brings back memories from following town for over 63 years at least the last few years have made a lot more happy memories.

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armchaircritic59 added 19:31 - Mar 18 Oh my, never expected to see a mention of Roger Kirkpatrick in here! Possibly my favourite referee of all time. His body shape belied an ability to sprint up and down seemingly at will and keep up with play. Some referees today would do well to take that lesson on board. Difficult to say whether refereeing has improved or otherwise over the years, My feeling is it hasn't. There will always be mistakes, they are only human, but just like the players themselves, the best make fewer of them.

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ITFC_History added 21:10 - Mar 18 The players have to take a massive apportion of the blame. The constant cheating by the players, the scream of a player going down by the merest touch & then rolls around on the floor like he has been hit by a baseball bat, the appeals for absolute everything, the time wasting, etc. The cheating does not help the ref one bit. For me we should focus more on the cheating than blaming the referee who is being conned throughout the game by players who are being taught & trained to cheat the officials. But that's just my opioion which many will not agree with. But personally I am falling out of the game because of it. Frankly it embarrassing.

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armchaircritic59 added 23:52 - Mar 19 ITFC, I can sympathise with where you're coming from. I think it's a mixture of the two things. Obviously players cheating, and what you've described above is just that, doesn't help. I wonder if referees have their " card marked " before every game, or just approach them all with absolutely no pre set ideas?
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