Some controversy over the referee's decisions in the play-off semi-final against Torquay led me to wonder how referees arrive at their decisions, most of them split-second judgements. To just about everybody except the referee, it seems, Torquay's penalty was never a penalty.

Yet referees, more than anybody, should be acquainted with the FA guidance and laws of the game and should receive appropriate training and monitoring to improve their refereeing skills. With that in mind I decided to read those laws and guidance myself (always worth a look). They appear to be pretty comprehensive and detailed. They're all there: offside, handball, free kicks, penalties. But I still can't for the life of me understand how referees arrive at some of the decisions they make, including Torquay's penalty in the semi-final game last Saturday.

Take a look for yourself: file:///C:/Users/Owner/Downloads/laws-of-the-game-2021-22.pdf

I have strong doubts that even the introduction of modern technolgy will solve all these dilemmas; some situations are so finely balanced they could go either way even with a dozen cameras focussed on them.

I should say here that I'm a Torquay supporter, and I thought the Gulls had a much better claim to a penalty in the first half when Wright was brought down in the penalty area and which the referee ignored. But that's football.

Anyway, commiserations to all at Notts County. If there's any justice, I'm sure it won't be too long before you're back in the Football League. If it's any consolation, Torquay United have been stuck in the National League since 2014, including a season in National League South! Fingers crossed for Sunday's play-off final!