Question Number: 15231

Character, Attitude and Control 4/21/2007

RE: Adult

Ian Pearl of London, UK asks...

They say that Refereeing is a very difficult job. As someone who watches hundereds of matches each year both on TV and as a season-ticket holder at a premiership club, one thing is apparent - the job is much too difficult for most of the people who are currently doing it.

I have watched 2 matches today, and the referees have both made mistake after mistake after mistake. Frankly, in my experience they are ruining and spoiling match after match.

Something needs to be done about it, because the standard is getting worse. The only way forward is for the authorities who manage the referees to stop being so intraspective and protective, acting as if admission of any mistake by a referee is a demonstration of weakness. They must start watching every match on replay, and when referees make mistakes, then punish them by denying them future assignments. If they cannot achieve the standard, which they are currently miles away from, then kick them out, don't protect them!

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

Well, you've had your rant Ian and well written sir.

I watched some matches today as well. I heard a commentator from the UK speak of space between the attacker and a defender as a requirement for offside position, reading Law 11 International FA Board Decision 1 must have been too difficult for him. I heard commentators speaking of something called handball when every referee has read the foul play is deliberately handles the ball [except the goalkeeper within his own penalty area]. I heard a commentator talk about a "back pass" as if it was mentioned in the Laws of the Game. I listened to a commentator from the USA talk about it being OK to use arms and hands in a fight for the ball. I've seen footballers take shots from inside the goal area and give up a throw-in. Today I watched watched the biggest club in the UK be unable to score more than one goal against a side from the end of the table where the silverware is plastic and the napkins are paper. And guess what, I saw some referees make mistakes as well. So what, the planet is still spinning at the same rate...

Now it's time for you to contact your county FA and volunteer your services as referee. And, good Sir, this is a make or break moment in your life, become a referee and understand what it is you rant about or have the common courtesy to not speak about what you cannot understand and only have a strong misconception of.

Regards,

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Well I assume that goes for players and coaches as well? How about spectators?
When a mistake is made as in a law incorrectly applied the referee is harshly dealt with and will face trouble finding new opportunities to advance especially at the elite level.

What we are talking about is if a referee makes a JUDGEMENT call as an opinion and replay shows that opinion does not fit the facts the camera shows. This too, is fraught with complication just ask our friend Esse (Esfandiar Baharmast) who was vilified and death threatened for a supposedly weak call on a PK in favor of Norway on June 23, 1998in the 88th minute of a 1 to 1 contest in the Stade V?lodrome, Marseille between Norway and Brazil.

This game saw Norway advance over Morocco into the final 16 on that disputed penalty kick goal. As much as it was classified in the French press as "penalty imaginer" the same medium which condemned him was in fact his salvation thanks to a CRYSTAL clear picture courtesy of Scandinavian TV from behind the goal. Fifa was no where to be found in support UNTIL 2 days later when the picture that SHOWED what really occurred finally made it to the light of day. IF that camera had not been there, Esse to this day would be considered as a referee who had failed the big test when in fact he was successful beyond any expectations one could have!

A referee with integrity calls what he sees.

A camera only sees if it is turned on and in the right place at the right time. A camera can slow frame by frame and isolate a specific 100th of a second where we cannot even blink close to that fast

What is at issue is referees are micro managed by the league and the political bodies. I could in no way referee teams at the elite level because we would be down to 7 versus 7 in a big hurry if the players pulled the kind of crap I see on the TV. The vile intimidation, ranting, dissent and abuse is intolerable! The pressure for a result taints the atmosphere of the game because an elite referee is instructed to let certain things pass and follow the TV lead for commercial, money and politics.

The game is faster and the results mean MILLIONS of dollars not a few bucks or a beer after a match. National identity is tied in to a team's well being and the fall out of failing to win or advance results in DEATHS not just disappointment!
If it WAS just left as a game then the results would just be a match condition not a heart failure life and death struggle to survive.

Until every player can make every shot or the keeper can make every save to expect a referee to get EVERY call correct are simply the delusions of perfection! The fact is we get almost all calls correct those we miss or award in error are part of the match conditions and part of the beautiful game in all its glorious imperfections!
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

Ian, let it never be said that any soccer FAN has any objectivity nor any knowledge of the Laws Of The Game. It is people like YOU that are ruining soccer not the countless numbers of referees that toil to keep the pitch a safe and fair place to compete. Your attitude is all too prevalent and leads to the commonplace thuggery we in the States get to witness throughout Europe and that includes the UK. It's interesting that you fail to mention exactly WHAT mistakes the referee made. Would love to hear back on that. I'm constantly amazed that slow motion replay makes idiots out of announcers and usually shows the referee to be correct. Yet we still have ignoranmouses like you announcing and watching games. You have no idea what the referee sees and hears and he is the only person that kknows what's going on on the field. The AR if in position is the only person that can accurately judge offside. Referees at World Cup came under fire for daring to call fouls! TV shot after TV shot showed thereferees to be correct. What authorities need to do is curtail fan violence and the appaling practice of taking the professional dive. Before you slam referees again, I challenge you to become certified and referee a match or two. AFter that, your blowhard comments and utter disrespect may be taken seriously. It is true that referees do make mistakes but I suppose in your warped world coaches and players never do. For every mistake a referee might make the players make 15 or 20. Referees get blamed for loses but not one of you want to admit the 5 shots on open goal that were missed had ANYTHING to do with the loss. End of my rant

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

I've always said that if you don't like your inexperienced youth referee, yell at her a lot so she'll quit. Then next season you'll get a new inexperienced referee who will make new mistakes for you to not like.

The problem with banning referees for mistakes, at any level of the game, is that the replacements are not going to be any better. The only way to eliminate inexperience is to gain experience.

Once in a while we have a referee who has been promoted beyond his ability level, or a referee who should have retired but is hanging on. But that's a very minor problem compared to the casual fan who thinks multiple mistakes are being made when in actuality the ref is doing just as he should.

Answer provided by Referee Steve Montanino

From what you're suggesting there won't be any referees left that are eligable for assignments. Oh well... I guess the player's will have an easy time settling their own disputes.

Damn, and I liked being a referee - but I've made a mistake before. I guess I'm off the list.

But do you really think that the standard has gotten weaker, or just that there are now 36 cameras from 36 angles which can pick up things the referee will never be able to see? It would be easy to referee with 36 angles, instant replay showing events over and over, and not having to run hard as you make decisions.

Answer provided by Referee MrRef

This was received from Mr. Pearl, obviously he doesn't agree with our opinions:

I thank the referee panel for explaining exactly why we have the problems that we witness each week.

Despite the fact that I attend hundreds of premiership and European matches at the very highest level, I have never heard of a single one of these referees - one assumes that they are operating either in pub football or a country where the football is not of a quality which would be attractive to us connoisseurs and experts. I apologise, because I had previously thought that I was dealing with mainstream people at the top of their professions (in my country the referees are full-time professionals). I would expect amateurs to make mistakes.

Frankly I thought that the responses were rubbish. We sent troops into Iraq and the world is still spinning - it doesn't follow that Iraq is trivial so please don't trivialise my points. The reason that I don't become a referee is because I am old - that doesn't mean that my opinion is worthless or that I cannot see a player dive when he clearly wasn't touched. I am an educated professional, so suggesting that I am not capable of comprehending the rules of football is risible.

As I pointed out in the original question, the reason that we have a problem with referees is that we pretend that it's OK to make mistakes or even, as one of your referee's responses suggested, that referees don't make mistakes, rather than finding ways of stopping the mistakes. The defensive and aggressive nature of your referee's responses served to demonstrate my point admirably.

Just an amusing aside, many years ago I played football alongside John Moules, who was then a top class premiership referee and is now one of the leading administrators of the referees in the premiership. He was completely uncoordinated and had no idea whatsoever how to play the game. In my opinion it a shame and a missed opportunity that that rules are such that ex-players cannot become referees when they retire. Believe me, it would make a huge difference to the standard, because the standard IS horribly low.

Finally, it might help if the professional premiership referees shed a few pounds. There are definitely too many bars of chocolate going around with those fatties!

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