Question Number: 26031

Law 5 - The Referee 3/5/2012

RE: Adult

kevin of sligo, eire asks...

Hi, i was just wondering if a referee from a city can take charge of a match with a team from that city. is there a law in the game wich states how far the ref must live from a team?

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Kevin
Unless a referee has a clear conflict of interest such as some close connection with a relatives playing, workmates / employees playing, associated with the club for many years, there is nothing wrong with a referee from a city taking charge of a game. In small towns it is rare for a official to take charge of a game involving that town's team as there is always some connection. However in areas of large populations the referee will not have the same connections.
Referee appointment officers take account of these factors when appointing officials. He/she will also take into account other factors such as the available grade of referees, experience at the particular level etc. Another factor is the cost of bringing qualified officials from a distance to officiate at games with many clubs complaining when forced to pay a hefty travel bill.
What does happen is that even if the 'local' official is impeccable in decision making, as one would expect, the perception of bias always exist particularly when a team loses a game. Also in very important games there is a match assessor present who will look at the performance of the referee. A referee would certainly not want to dissatify such an official with a poor performance with the accusation of bias.

Answer provided by Referee Michelle Maloney

I have assigned referees for years, and it never fails to amaze me that fans and coaches assume bias on the part of the ref team when they are the away team. Many times a ref from out of state or part of of the state would be accused of being a 'homer' when in fact he or she had no connections at all with either team, city, club etc.

On the other hand, I have assessed many refs who rarely do games out of their own clubs. What can and does happen is such familiarity with local teams can cause a ref to miss things the home team does because they are so focused on this new team they don't know. It is generally not an intentional bias but will be perceived as such.

As Ref McHugh notes, there are many factors considered when assigning an official to the match. While any referee generally beats no referee at all, the aim of of every assignor is to find the best available match of skill and training between the teams and the ref. Impartiality is expected, in fact demanded, as a part of professionalism and referees who cannot or will not meet that standard do not get games from qualified assignors.