Ref Support UK blasts West Brom players. Credit: ITV Sport

Ref Support UK blasts 'shameless' West Brom players after penalty controversy v Rotherham

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Published on:

11 Apr 2024, 4:12 am

Ref Support UK has blasted the West Brom players for not telling referee Geoff Eltringham that they shouldn't have been awarded a penalty against Rotherham.

On the stroke of half-time, Eltringham pointed to the spot after believing that ex-Albion defender Lee Peltier handled the ball in the box following a shot by Brandon Thomas-Asante.

However, no other soul in The Hawthorns thought it was in the penalty with Peltier clearly well outside of the area. Replays then went on to show that the ball actually struck the Rotherham man in the face, therefore it should have been a corner for the Baggies.

Eltringham has understandably come in for a lot of criticism but referees' charity Ref Support UK has taken an alternative view on the incident, slamming the Albion players for not telling the ref that it was outside of the box.

"It is shameless that the players didn’t say, 'nah ref, that’s outside the box, it’s a [free-kick] to us not a penalty'," said the refereeing charity via X on Thursday morning (11 April).

"That’s way too much to ask I suppose."

West Brom v Rotherham penalty incident ridiculous as video clips emerge

It's crazy for a charity to point the finger at West Brom players for that incident on Wednesday night.

How can a referee see that and think it was in the penalty area?

You could see from every seat in the stand that Peltier was at least a few yards outside of the penalty area and while it did look as though it hit the Rotherham player's arm initially, it obviously didn't based on replays.

But why should Albion players now be made to referee the game? Why should the referee and his linesman need that?

It is shameless that the players didn’t say “ nah ref, that’s outside the box, it’s a ref kick to us not a pen”…. That’s way too much to ask I suppose. https://t.co/KsubW2Zsz0
— Refsupportuk (@refsupportuk) April 11, 2024

And where does it stop, too?

How can a refereeing charity try to pass the buck so badly because the onus isn't on the players to referee the game. Why should they tell Eltringham he was wrong - why couldn't the linesman or the fourth official as they were bound to have seen the incident too?

In other West Brom news, Shilen Patel has reacted on X after seeing Albion win for the first time in person.

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