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Red alert Increasing referee problems taking away from the sport
Referees are in the spotlight everywhere. From Argentina to Italy, from England to Kazakhstan, the men in black are under fire from all sides, often for alleged incompetence, sometimes for more sinister machinations. It seems that reactions to this debate are colored by regional attitudes and characteristics. In England, the press becomes indignant and simply attacks players and managers for questioning the ref's integrity. Maybe it comes from having had an Empire for centuries and having an inherent respect for authority. In Italy, they become cynical and mean-spirited, taking it as a given that big clubs will be favored over little clubs, and assuming that referees are just tools of the powerful -- again, probably a reflection of the fact that Italians haven't traditionally had too much respect for authority and often suspect that there are occult X-Files type powers lurking in the shadows. Either way, referees are taking center stage and that should not be the case. And, personally, I've seen some awful refereeing recently, though in my opinion, the standard at Euro 2000 was pretty good. People have come up with all sorts of suggestions, from the introduction of professional officials, to having former players referee the game, to simply adding a second referee. All have their merits to some degree, but perhaps the answer is simpler still. What the game needs is transparency. First of all, the nice thing about soccer is that it is -- or is supposed to be -- the same everywhere in the world. Yet refereeing standards and even interpretations vary from country to country.
Take the rule on tackling from behind. FIFA is pretty clear about it. If you're a defender running behind a player with the ball, you cannot tackle him. Simple. You have to get around him and tackle from the side. And yet you would not believe the number of times you get pundits (usually in England and usually ex-players from the days when anything short of machine gunning your opponent was allowed) who moan and say: "He went for the ball! That should not have been a card!" Still, in England you can pretty much get away with anything in the middle of the park, whereas in Serie A, the slightest contact in midfield often results in a foul. On the other hand, in Italy, you can often butcher a guy in the penalty area and not hear a whistle, whereas in England, referees are much quicker at pointing to the penalty spot. Refereeing standards need to be the same everywhere, just as the laws of the game are (on paper at least) the same everywhere. That's why I propose that FIFA's refereeing committee should work more closely with national referee's associations to make sure they apply the rules properly. Right now, they have workshops and symposiums for officials. That's fine, but FIFA should keep an even closer eye on what goes on. If certain leagues go out of control -- like last season in the Premiership when referees were simply told they were issuing too many cards -- FIFA should step in. They are the guardians of the game and, like it or not, they should be in control. Step two involves the quality of referees. Now, we all know they are human and make mistakes. And let's assume for a minute that they are all in good faith, i.e. no bribes, no pressure, etc. The fact that they will make mistakes does not mean that some referees aren't better than others or that some make more mistakes than others. Some players are better than others and they are the ones who are rewarded. By the same token, the best referees should be rewarded and the worst referees should be punished. I don't mean the best officials should get Lamborghinis and the worst ones should be burned at the stake. Simply, bad referees -- or referees who don't follow FIFA guidelines -- should be demoted. Every league has a referee's association which evaluates a ref's performance in each match, often with the help of video evidence. At the end of the season, officials are generally promoted or demoted based on their performance. The problem is that this often happens behind closed doors. Supporters have no idea which referees are seen to be doing their jobs properly and which ones are incompetent, grandstanding idiots. Why not make the whole system public? Why doesn't the referee's association tell us what rating it assigned each ref for each game and why? That way, good officials would receive some level of protection. They wouldn't have to come out and justify their decisions, because the referee's association would do it for them. And, if a ref makes a bad decision -- and the referee's association agrees that it is a bad decision -- he will be exposed. We all make mistakes, even Pele and Maradona occasionally missed penalties. The point isn't to scare the living daylights out of referees, the idea is to let them take responsibility for their actions in a public forum. They are already being judged by the referee's association, why not do so in the light of day? Last season, in Serie A, referee Massimo De Santis was vilified for disallowing Fabio Cannavaro's late goal for Parma against Juventus. He was later suspended, but all this took place behind closed doors. Would it not have been better if the Italian referee's association had simply told us why De Santis was being suspended and just how he came to make a bad decision? Some may whine and say that refereeing is already very difficult and there is too much pressure on the men in black. Well, maybe so. But the fact remains that nobody is holding a gun to anybody's head, forcing them to referee professional soccer. If they don't like it, they can leave. With this system, there would be a league table for officials, just as there is for clubs. Finish near the bottom, and you're sent back down to the lower divisions. Do well, and you get to referee the big games. It's the best way to weed out incompetence and reward those referees who work hard and run the game properly. It would also cut down tremendously on the abuse, accusations and lingering suspicions that currently surround referees. Who watches the watchers? Who, in turn, makes sure that referee's associations are evaluating officials properly? FIFA, that's who. They already have dozens of committees, all they need to do is ensure that certain leagues aren't trying to manipulate the laws of the game. Do everything in the light of day. Unless you have something to hide, you won't have a problem with it.
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