As a lifelong York City fan I was utterly stunned by the antics of the Referee at this Saturday’s match against Woking, who shocked the crowd by sending off 3 York players, no Woking players (should have been two by my interpretation of his rules), and forgot he was in control (I use the word jokingly) of public entertainment.

Perhaps it is time to explore the use of the “sin bin” as used in many other team sports, instead of the sledgehammer approach of red and yellow cards. So many referees seem to be unable to gain the respect of players by controlling the game sensibly. They interpret the rules in a variety of ways and teams have to try to guess whether they are allowed to challenge each other or whether this is a no-contact referee who will blow up for anything.

I’m also beginning to wonder if York should ditch their traditional red shirts and switch to the yellow shirts and blue shorts of the away strip. I begin to wonder if the colour red has something to do with the often very puzzling decisions of many referees. Maybe the red shirt sends a subliminal message about the wearer being aggressive and that affects the referees response to clashes in the games. Possibly this gets worse as the game and the referee heat up, as many odd decisions seem to happen later in the game.

So, does the colour of what we and other people wear affects how they react to each other? My Father commented years ago that he was pleased to see I was feeling more cheerful when I switched from dark colours to clothing that was lighter and more vivid. I wasn’t aware of any mood change on my part but that was the effect on him. Sometimes we see individuals who are dressed in loud clothing and we make assumptions about what they are like and how they will react. Logic suggests that something like this is going on in these football matches and we should at least check it out. Minds greater than mine will no doubt have already explored this colour concept and can advise YCFC what to do.

Only thing is, I’ll have to buy a new YCFC shirt and scarf!