Would you like to see referees get more decisions right?
Would you like to see players give referees more respect?
If your answer is yes to one or both of the above questions, then I’ve got news for you – it’s not only possible, it’s quite simple in terms of creating and enforcing specific regulations and introducing technology that works 100% without interfering with play.
The problem is one of mindset – some people are afraid to change anything, and these are usually those who are in charge of the game. Others, perhaps influenced far too much by other sports, advocate changing too much. The spirit of football must be maintained, but at the same time we also need to remove elements that take away from the enjoyment of the game.
Refereeing, as our resident referee (Fifth Column) will confirm, is a thankless job. Players (even goalkeepers) are watched to see how well they play. Match officials are scrutinized to see how many mistakes they make.
To make the comparison, if a player was to come out of a match analysed like a referee, he could have scored three goals and created 2 more, but if had made two critical errors, he would be remembered for the errors and not the hat trick.
The FA is working on a grassroots effort to ‘fix’ football from the bottom up. Graham Poll (much maligned but not alway wrong) says that top players who are role models must be targeted. I think they’re both right, and we can see regluations applied from next season that solve some (if not all) of our problems all across the board.
No point in repeating in detail what we’ve talked about here at Soccerlens in the past; I’ll just list the changes I feel are most critical to improving the game – please add your own thoughts / suggestions in the comments.
- Only captains can talk to referees in terms of contesting decisions. Surrounding the ref, running up to him and shouting / swearing at him are grounds for a booking (applied much more freely than the usual punishment for dissent).
- Goal-line technology must be introduced.
- Post-match review of key incidents to issue bookings / suspensions for violent conduct and simulation. The whole match doesn’t need to be ‘reviewed’ if key incidents are highlighted ahead of time.
- Allow a fifth official to monitor the game during matches and flag incidents for later review (ties in with the previous point).
- Issue touchline bans for managers and team officials who excessively abuse referees during the game.
- Do the same for managers if they go overboard in criticising referees (along with hefty fines).
Referees will not get every decision right – and referees who get decisions wrong must be encourage to improve or let go. However, the game is not helped by players and managers harassing referees.
You know what I would like to see? A referee gives the wrong decision but after confering with the two team captains, reverses it.
Match officials will admit their mistakes more often and make a greater effort to improve themselves if they are given the environment to do so. The current footballing climate just encourages them to be defensive and even more stubborn about their biases against certain players and to never reconsider their decisions.
Once you start clamping down on play-acting, on referee harassment and provide referees with the basic means to get crucial decisions right, then at least we’ll be moving in the right direction.
And for the record, I don’t advocate stopping the game to review each major decision on replays – technology must help football, not interrupt it.
Most of that is already in the rules. If a player swears at you it is an automatic red card (not ‘dissent’ which is a yellow)… but refs ignore it unless it is directly in their face. Refs need to stand up for themselves more.
Also, I know this is being a bit pedantic, but captains should have the right to DISCUSS decisions with the ref. They should never have the right to “contest” decisions.
Finally, refs can change any decision they make before they re-start play already as happened last season when a ref awarded a goal and the disallowed it after consulting with his lino following abuse from players. However, most players are liars (in the context of a match) and even if they know a decision in their favour was given incorrectly, they are hardly likely to own up to it. This sometimes happens in parks football but rarely in the Prem.
PS – The FA implementation of new rules at grass roots football is not practical and won’t work. As usual with the FA, well meaning but useless.
PS – in Collina’s autobiography which I presume was NOT ghost-written cos it was quite dull, he recounts how, during a Serie A game, he allowed a goal and then reversed a decision or vice versa that went against Inter when Roy Hodgson was manager. He explained his reasoning to Hodgson who said “OK” and shook his hand. Imagine Wenger or almost any Prem League manager doing the same. Would never happen.
‘You know what I would like to see? A referee gives the wrong decision but after confering with the two team captains, reverses it.’
Sounds almost like something that would happen in cricket, not football.
Come to think of it, when was the last instance that anyone can remember of REALLY good sporting behaviour by any football player along the lines of the above outlined sentiment?
Spiral
In answer to your question, Di Canio versus Everton when he caught the ball instead of heading for goal when the keeper went down with a head injury. Though that’s not quite the same thing I suppose… in terms of just decisions being made, I don’t ever remember this happening in top flight football.
What I do remember relatively recently (a decade or so) was when players would punch an opposition player, the ref showed a red card and the player would walk off without complaint and without the rest of the team getting involved.
Nowadays a player could use a machine gun to take out the entire opposition back 4 and would still complain and shout at the ref that it was the wrong decision.
I can remember Robbie Fowler asking the referee NOT to send off David Seaman when the Arsenal keeper brought him down (well, he dived a fair bit too) in the box. And the media (for once) applauded Fowler instead of deriding him.
Compare this to the current practice of imaginary card-waving and you can see that even in the last ten years, the problem has intensified.
I’ve been thinking about this for a while and watching Rugby you can definately see the difference when only the captains are allowed to talk to the ref. Also I think that banning the referee if he makes one mistake (Rob Styles) is a bit unfair. Let’s say Cristiano Ronaldo misses an open goal and costs United 3 points, will he be dropped?
But this isn’t a one-way street, a lot of the referees today are stubborn and afraid to admit that they have made a mistake. IMO The solution is to have talks between the players association and the refs association. They then reach a compromise and propose it to the FA. I doubt this would ever happen though.
I definitely agree that some things need to be remedied in regards to officiating and the way players interact with officials. I really like the idea of after action reviews of carded incidents. If a player feigns a heinous assault *cough*Italy and Portugal 2006 WC(minus Zidane affair)*cough* that results in an opposing player being carded, the original card should be removed and, in turn, given to the actor involved. The excessive number of fouls called as a result of acting kills the flow of the game and greatly detracts from the experience for all involved.
On a second issue mentioned, the chances of getting referees to change their decisions are extremely small. As noted there are a few instances where is has happened, but it won’t happen much and I don’t think should. As a former referee for youth matches, I recognize the value of projecting confidence and the players and coaches seeing that. I was once forced to run the middle of a game at my same age class as an 18 year old when I was schedule to run the sideline and the center ref didn’t show. Both coaches were very hesitant to let me run the match until I informed them that I played at the same age level, but in more competitive league and was well aware of what takes place on the field. If a ref changes his mind, it will be seen as a lack of being confidant in your decisions and will invite more decent from players and coaches. Unless the call to be made is truly unclear, the ref should make his decision, stand by it, and make his call projecting confidence.
the respect campaign is not working i’am a referee and i am disgusted in the way park players conduct themselves.yes we get things wrong but these people do not accept mistakes.