Chesham today

Hearing game has been abandoned after McKenzie hit the ref after conceding a penalty?

Confirmed.

I've just looked on twitter and sadly, this does appear to be the case.

No doubt the club will be in for a hefty punishment when an individual should be held personally responsible. It's also going to involve the police. I shouldn't say too much at the moment, as we don't exactly know what happened.

Most importantly, I hope the referee is o.k.

First post on the Chesham Forum.

http://forums.cheshamunited.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=6749

Del,

I hope they lock up McKenzie for that. THere is no place for violence no matter how bad the ref was. He will be banned for life so that has fooked up his future football career!

Following an incident on the pitch at today’s Chesham United match where Josh McKenzie hit the referee and as a result the match was abandoned, Redditch United Football Club took immediate action to deal with this isolated incident. Within minutes of the incident the Club has canceled the players registration has stated that he will never play for the Club again.

“We pride ourselves on fair play and will not tolerate this kind of behaviour. The team has worked very hard over the past few weeks and we will not let this one individual tarnish the reputation of our much loved Club.”



Josh has played for a few of my teams over the years and Ive always found him to be a lovely lad, this behaviour though CANNOT be tolerated in football at any level.
1st thoughts go to the ref, but I also have a degree of sympathy for the Josh I know as this is going to come down hard on him from an FA point of view.

Sad all round really...

ROWLY1971 wrote:Following an incident on the pitch at today’s Chesham United match where Josh McKenzie hit the referee and as a result the match was abandoned, Redditch United Football Club took immediate action to deal with this isolated incident. Within minutes of the incident the Club has canceled the players registration has stated that he will never play for the Club again.

“We pride ourselves on fair play and will not tolerate this kind of behaviour. The team has worked very hard over the past few weeks and we will not let this one individual tarnish the reputation of our much loved Club.”



Josh has played for a few of my teams over the years and Ive always found him to be a lovely lad, this behaviour though CANNOT be tolerated in football at any level.
1st thoughts go to the ref, but I also have a degree of sympathy for the Josh I know as this is going to come down hard on him from an FA point of view.

Sad all round really...

Rowly, totally agree. He will be banned for life I fear but he can have no complaints. He doesn't seem to be that type to lose it like he obviously has done. Respect for the officials is near on non existent, seen the Willenhall lot at the end of the game against Studley giving the ref loads when he refeered the game superbly.

Totally Lee! Josh had a swagger about him and an attitude, but he's always been a reasonable thinking and talking gent to myself in our dealings and working relationship. I do feel sorry for him yes because 1 moments madness that Im sure he is regretting somewhere right now, will cost him his football that he loves.

Ive never seen an official be struck by a player and nor do I ever wish to. Respect is at a worrying level in many levels of football towards the officials, but I firmly believe the million pound morons on our tellys a couple of times a week need to shoulder a large portion of blame with the example they set, as do the FA need to with the lack of backbone they show to such pampered spoilt brats.

All in all, Redditch, Chesham, whoever.... its a sad footballing day today

At least 1 of our strikers was on target !!

ROWLY1971 wrote:

Ive never seen an official be struck by a player and nor do I ever wish to. Respect is at a worrying level in many levels of football towards the officials, but I firmly believe the million pound morons on our tellys a couple of times a week need to shoulder a large portion of blame with the example they set, as do the FA need to with the lack of backbone they show to such pampered spoilt brats.

Respect is at a worrying level in society as a whole, not just in football.

People often moan about the quality of refereeing, but would anyone on here want to do it? As a ref, you start off in the local Sunday leagues. By and large, all they get is grief, abuse and intimidation….not to mention the threat of assault. And for what….£20 a game or whatever it is now.

If referees where treated with respect, then more people would be willing to do it. The more people that do it, would mean that leagues will be spoilt for choice when choosing the best candidates for promotion. As it is, they can’t afford to be fussy. That’s something to think about the next time anyone thinks about shouting abuse at a referee.

I agree that the F.A. are largely to blame. They start off new seasons with these so called ‘Respect’ initiatives and are too spineless to enforce it.

When referees start consistently red carding players who answer back, insult or abuse them, only then will players finally get the message.

p.s. just read another post on the Chesham forum who commented that the referee was punched in the face and went down. Thankfully, it seems as though he was back on his feet fairly quickly so he shouldn’t be too badly hurt. None the less…..truly shocking.

What a sad day. When you see Josh around the ground and after training he's a lovely guy who'll talk to anyone but this today is simply the end of the road for him. Very very sad.

Feel sorry for the kid, we all demand passion from our players, and who hasnt been wound up by poor refereeing. Still there is no excuse for this behaviour, glad the club has acted swiftly in this matter,lets hope that as with other incidents, Workington, Southport, and the betting scandals that the club works through it and we move on, todays news, tomorrows fish and chip wrapper.

Why is there sympathy being shown towards him on this thread? We all have bad days; but for most of us, it doesn't mean that we'll punch somebody else to the ground.

sympathy DEl Boy is due to it being out of character
you will notice nobody has backed him, just sympathised due to it being a flash point out of character moment that he now has to live with.

he is a real nice guy, but who unfortunately today has let a lot of people down, himself included

Shocking. Apparently being discussed on 606 on 5 live....

i was at the game today and josh wasnt having the best of games,didnt think it was a penalty and i think that is what upset josh but when he got booked ti think that was too much for him as he had been booked in first half.when the ref booked him he apppeard to push the ref in the face with the palm of his hand and the ref went down about 30 seconds later.

What stage was the game at when it was abandoned? What was the score?

early 2nd half i believe and 1 nil down

some people have asked why the ref abandoned it!!!!

Id of done the same if I were him for sure

A few calls on Radio 5 live 606 programme.The last caller, a Chesham fan praised all Redditch officials and fans and especially Chris who apologised to all Chesham fans individually in the bar, and also informed them there and then Josh would never play for the club again.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/15322635.stm

Also on The Guardian and ESPN websites too

ROWLY1971 wrote:early 2nd half i believe and 1 nil down

some people have asked why the ref abandoned it!!!!

Id of done the same if I were him for sure

Yes, me too. I don't see any way that the game could have continued. I think that we're going to find ourselves in a similar situation to the Workington abandonment, and the league will decide what should happen regarding the result - and I suspect that they will either allow the 1-0 scoreline to be recorded as the official result or they will award a 3-0 (or some other score) win to Chesham. I don't think that the game should be replayed.

And although I don't think that Redditch United had any real alternative, the club should be praised for taking the action they did so swiftly. We can only hope that it doesn't lead to more severe sanctions.

A very interesting post by “alottmentender” who posts from the point of view of an eye witness and clearly states that it was a push and not a punch or a strike as posted by people who were not even at the game.

There is also an interesting post on the MFC forum where a Manager from another local club claims that when Josh was re-introduced for pre-season by Sockett & Smith members of the board including Fenemore & Hyde were less than pleased, he claims there were misdemeanors outstanding from the previous season under Hyde. However the post implies that the club were so desperate for players under Hyde & Fenemore the Chairman was willing to turn a blind eye.

http://www.mfctalk.co.uk/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=54390

I find the Chairman’s behaviour astounding to say the least, if it had been a punch then surely Josh would have been charged, the fact that the Chairman reports Josh only received a caution implies that just as “alottmentender” suggests it was nothing more than a push.

If it was a push and I were Josh I would be looking at the Redditch United Official site with a keen eye because the clearly alleges that Josh “hit” the referee.

There seems to be an awful lot of so called supporters ready to happily see Josh hung drawn and quartered based on hearsay and gossip. I tend to agree with those people who have posted and clearly stated this is totally out of character for the lad.

If he is guilty then he will face the full force of the law and the football authorities but for Redditch to post such a poorly worded statement before the full time results were even in is in my mind stupid because if the Police are involved and charges are forthcoming the person who authorized the statement could have drawn the club into some pretty expensive legal expenses not to say raised eyebrows especially when one of your clubs own eyewitnesses suggests it was nothing more than a push.

Lets wait for the facts and give the lad the benefit of the doubt until all of the evidence is in, if the Police have only issued a caution I would consider editing the official club statement.

Mrs Moor wrote:A very interesting post by “alottmentender” who posts from the point of view of an eye witness and clearly states that it was a push and not a punch or a strike as posted by people who were not even at the game.

There is also an interesting post on the MFC forum where a Manager from another local club claims that when Josh was re-introduced for pre-season by Sockett & Smith members of the board including Fenemore & Hyde were less than pleased, he claims there were misdemeanors outstanding from the previous season under Hyde. However the post implies that the club were so desperate for players under Hyde & Fenemore the Chairman was willing to turn a blind eye.

http://www.mfctalk.co.uk/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=54390

I find the Chairman’s behaviour astounding to say the least, if it had been a punch then surely Josh would have been charged, the fact that the Chairman reports Josh only received a caution implies that just as “alottmentender” suggests it was nothing more than a push.

If it was a push and I were Josh I would be looking at the Redditch United Official site with a keen eye because the clearly alleges that Josh “hit” the referee.

There seems to be an awful lot of so called supporters ready to happily see Josh hung drawn and quartered based on hearsay and gossip. I tend to agree with those people who have posted and clearly stated this is totally out of character for the lad.

If he is guilty then he will face the full force of the law and the football authorities but for Redditch to post such a poorly worded statement before the full time results were even in is in my mind stupid because if the Police are involved and charges are forthcoming the person who authorized the statement could have drawn the club into some pretty expensive legal expenses not to say raised eyebrows especially when one of your clubs own eyewitnesses suggests it was nothing more than a push.

Lets wait for the facts and give the lad the benefit of the doubt until all of the evidence is in, if the Police have only issued a caution I would consider editing the official club statement.

Mrs Moor, you have proven to be a proper tool on more than one occasion and this just about sums how much you know about anything, absolute jack sh*t.

McKenzie played for Redditch last season and did not cause 1 bit of bother, he has also played this season and done likewise. What he did on Saturday was something he should not have done. The club were there to see what happened at 1st hand and have made a statement to the sort. Where were you today? Washing some stained Y Fronts in a bucket? To be quite honest you actually bring fluff all to this forum so best off not bothering posting. You also have no real idea about anything

A very sad day for the official concerned, RUFC, the supporters and Josh.

Being from the referee fraternity, this kind of behaviour has NO place in football and Josh deserves everything coming his way...NO excuses.
We wish the referee a quick recovery from any injury received or the shock of what happened.

I wish the FA would start clamping down on the likes of Rooney, Terry etc who think abusing the officials is 'part of the game'...telling the referee to f#ck off infront of the TV millions, hardly sets the right example.

However, I do have an element of pity for Mr McKenzie....this is TOTALLY out of character as said by most posters.
Having played the game with an element of aggression, the 'red mist' does materialize on occasions...just ask Mr. Zidane on that one...

Josh has let his club, his team mates and especially himself down today...he will know this more than anyone and we should not forget how bad he will be feeling right now.

The club officials have no alternative to cancel his registration and from what I hear, Mr Swan reacted in the professional and respectful manner, that you would expect.

Leethall wrote:

Mrs Moor wrote:A very interesting post by “alottmentender” who posts from the point of view of an eye witness and clearly states that it was a push and not a punch or a strike as posted by people who were not even at the game.

There is also an interesting post on the MFC forum where a Manager from another local club claims that when Josh was re-introduced for pre-season by Sockett & Smith members of the board including Fenemore & Hyde were less than pleased, he claims there were misdemeanors outstanding from the previous season under Hyde. However the post implies that the club were so desperate for players under Hyde & Fenemore the Chairman was willing to turn a blind eye.

http://www.mfctalk.co.uk/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=54390

I find the Chairman’s behaviour astounding to say the least, if it had been a punch then surely Josh would have been charged, the fact that the Chairman reports Josh only received a caution implies that just as “alottmentender” suggests it was nothing more than a push.

If it was a push and I were Josh I would be looking at the Redditch United Official site with a keen eye because the clearly alleges that Josh “hit” the referee.

There seems to be an awful lot of so called supporters ready to happily see Josh hung drawn and quartered based on hearsay and gossip. I tend to agree with those people who have posted and clearly stated this is totally out of character for the lad.

If he is guilty then he will face the full force of the law and the football authorities but for Redditch to post such a poorly worded statement before the full time results were even in is in my mind stupid because if the Police are involved and charges are forthcoming the person who authorized the statement could have drawn the club into some pretty expensive legal expenses not to say raised eyebrows especially when one of your clubs own eyewitnesses suggests it was nothing more than a push.

Lets wait for the facts and give the lad the benefit of the doubt until all of the evidence is in, if the Police have only issued a caution I would consider editing the official club statement.

Mrs Moor, you have proven to be a proper tool on more than one occasion and this just about sums how much you know about anything, absolute jack sh*t.

McKenzie played for Redditch last season and did not cause 1 bit of bother, he has also played this season and done likewise. What he did on Saturday was something he should not have done. The club were there to see what happened at 1st hand and have made a statement to the sort. Where were you today? Washing some stained Y Fronts in a bucket? To be quite honest you actually bring fluff all to this forum so best off not bothering posting. You also have no real idea about anything

Hi Leethall

While I can see you are not the brightest bulb in the chandelier could I ask you to read my post again.

Were you at the game because you seem to be telling me off for asking people to wait and digest the facts rather than a poorly worded club statement which I may add goes against the eye witnesses accounts from both sets of supporters, even the Chesham support are clearly saying the Ref was pushed not hit.

I Offered you no opinion on Josh’s behaviour at Redditch I left that to you, I only provided a link to a comment made by an official from another club on another forum, surely even one as dense as you can see that.

So you were not there, but offer an opinion that the player should be locked up based on the fact the “club” were there and made a risky statement.

Both sets of supporters offer eyewitness accounts that suggest the Ref was pushed not struck, the Police then caution not arrest or charge the player after looking at the FACTS.

You also bring very little to this forum other than your stupidity, he would not be the first player to push a referee and he deserves to be punished but your club has issued a statement saying the player “HIT” the official and this may not be true, eyewitness accounts suggest otherwise and as the media are running from the clubs statement I only suggested they edit it. Perhaps if the conclusion is that the player did not hit the referee but instead only pushed him your club statement would be wrong and perhaps face an action.