Seven thousand referees a year walk away from football and, to judge from the experience of Mike Jones at The Hawthorns on Saturday, it is not surprising. Jones, in his first season in the Barclays Premier League and in charge of only his third match, made two correct decisions at influential moments, yet was pilloried.

When Ryan Donk, the West Bromwich Albion defender, pulled the shirt of Jason Roberts, the Blackburn Rovers striker, in the penalty area, Jones awarded a spot-kick, which was dispatched by Benni McCarthy. Tony Mowbray, the West Brom manager, did not agree and neither did Paul Ince, his Blackburn counterpart.

The basis of their arguments was that shirt-pulling in the area goes on all the time and that few of Jones’s peers would have made the same award. So, that’s OK then? Because the majority fail to implement a law of the game, Jones was wrong. He was condemned for being efficient. Even Roberts, sadly, toed the party line. “I thought that he [Jones] had given a free kick against me,” Roberts said. “But the guy pulled my shirt. You don’t usually get them and, to be honest, I didn’t expect to get it.”

Honest? Is that not what Jones was being? As when he booked McCarthy for a late lunge on Jonathan Greening and gave him a second yellow card – and subsequent red – for deliberate handball. “Red cards for malicious tackles, studs up, dangerous play, fair enough,” Ince said. “But it’s not a game for women.”

Not a game for referees, either – damned if they are wrong and, in a worrying development, damned if they are right. “I couldn’t see a penalty even if there was a pull,” Mowbray said. “This PC stuff about, ‘Oh, he’s tugged his shirt’, it’s a load of . . . you don’t get penalties for that.”

If there is any sanity left in the game, Jones should not fear repercussions from the refereeing authorities. If any are forthcoming, he may well consider joining the 7,000. And who would blame him?

Mark of Respect - 1/10

Players disputed Mike Jones’s decisions throughout. Blackburn players surrounded him after he sent off Benni McCarthy and protested to Mark Halsey, the fourth official.

West Bromwich Albion (4-4-2): S Carson 5 – G Zuiverloon 6, R Donk 4 (sub: C Hoefkens, 46min 6), J Olsson 5, P Robinson 5 – J Morrison 6 (sub: C Brunt, 69 5), J Greening 6, B Valero 6, R Koren 6 – I Miller 7 (sub: L Moore, 80), R Bednar 6.Substitutes not used: D Kiely, M Cech, Kim Do Heon, P Pelé. Booked: Donk, Zuiverloon.

Blackburn Rovers (4-4-2): P Robinson 7 – D Simpson 4Valero. Next: Liverpool (a). (sub: Tugay Kerimoglu, 46 6), C Samba 6, R Nelsen 7, M Olsson 5 (sub: M G Pedersen, 62 6) – B Emerton 6 (sub: Z Khizanishvili, 77), V Grella 5, K Andrews 6, S Warnock 5 – B McCarthy 4, J Roberts 4. Substitutes not used: J Brown, C Villanueva, R Fowler, M Derbyshire. Booked: McCarthy, Khizanishvili. Sent off: McCarthy. Next: Chelsea (h).

Referee M Jones Attendance 24,976