Do referees deserve all the negative publicly directed at them. I suppose there are two sides to this argument.
Referring today in soccer has become a lot more difficult. In the last couple of years diving and playacting has really being a common occurrence in the professional game. Nowadays players are actually playing for frees and penalty kicks. Refs have been very weary of this and try to let common sense prevail in making decisions. Some players are prone to diving and these players have grown a bad reputation amongst all refs. When refs see these players falling over easily in the penalty box, its very hard for them not to think that the player is diving. However what really annoys me is when a player goes down in the penalty box, looks for a penalty and the ref just waves on play. Surely it’s either a penalty or the player should be booked for diving. This non consistency from refs is what really invigorates both players and managers.
Another thing that refs and their assistants are criticised for is whether the ball has crossed the goal line or not. It probably happens 3 or 4 times a season. However this decision could be in a major game and may decide the outcome of the game. It’s almost impossible for these refs to be 100% sure that the ball has crossed the line in close cases. Goal line technology should be brought into the game. I don’t know why Sepp Blater is so slow to introduce the technology into the game. It can be only bring a bit of fairness to game. It’s not like technology is going to take over the whole game. We can learn a lot from rugby counterparts. They use a Television Match Official (TMO). A rugby ref will go to a TMO if he is not 100% certain about a big decision. The TMO will then look at the play from a number of different camera angles and give his recommendation. I’m not saying that soccer should follow this procedure but maybe they could use it for the awarding of goals.
The one thing that really annoys me about refs is their inability to admit publicly that they made a mistake in a match. We see managers give interviews after games critcising the performance of a ref. I think managers and players alike would have a lot more respect for refs if they acknowledged that they made a particular error in a match.
In my opinion the referees have the toughest job in soccer and the abuse they get is totally unfair as they are only trying there best and making genuine mistakes. Ref's should definitely be treated with more respect in soccer, for example the rule in rugby where only the captain can talk to the ref is a great idea and maybe could be introduced.
ReplyDeleteThe only thing I would add is that sometimes ref's don't make it easy for themselves by being to by the book and not using more common sense!
From a young age I was subjected to standing on sidelines and watching my father ref IRFU Games. It had its perks like free tickets to munster match and the odd international.
ReplyDeleteMy dad was known to be a tyrant on the pitch! if you didnt like what he decided he would tell you leave or shut up.
Now retired and still to this day. If there is a rugby match on tele he will scream and shout at the ref for a bad call. We just tell he had his day and to shut up!
At the end of the day they are doing there job and if they make a bad call they will get hounded for it. Its the same as any professional sportsman if they make a mistake in a big game, people will be on their backs for weeks afterwards but usually another villain will come along to take the onus off them..
ReplyDeleteBeing a ref is a tough job, but like there is no consistency and they seem to get fooled by the worst dives ever and yet some legitimate tackles go unpunished
ReplyDeleteYa I agree with the rugby rule whereby the ref discuss's decisions with the team captain. I agree with the consistency of refs in relation to dives, I thinks players should be punished more severely in order to get rid it from the game!!
ReplyDeleteRefs have such a hard job, just look at what happened last weekend in Paris calling off the match 2mins before hand brave decision with a full stadium!!!
ReplyDeleteYa that was tough on the ref but I don't think he had no other choice. In this instance I blame the French rugby authorities, they surely knew a day or two beforehand that the match was never gonna go ahead especially with kick off at 9pm.
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