Referees

It seems that every losing manager nowadays has a ready made foolproof excuse for his teams defeat. It definitely wasn’t his fault of his players for that matter. Oh no, it was the referee stupid. The referee cost us the game, isn’t it obvious. The manager outlines the referee’s mistakes in the post match interview which are then analysed in minute detail by pundits in the sky or BBC studios. This was brought to a head on Sunday night by th einclusion of former Premier League referee Paul Durcan as a pundit on BBC’s Match of the Day 2. Durkan had nothing of substance to say on the quality or otherwise of the featured games and one even got the impression that this was because he didn’t know what to say. “It was a great game- very exciting” was about the height of his insight. At least it allowed Lee Dixon to stand out like a proper expert for a change.

Instead Durkan and Adrian Chiles analysed different decisions over the weekend to say whether they were good or bad. A viewer doesn’t need to be told the glaringly obvious when viewed in the comfort of a TV studio with the benefit of slow motion replays and different angles. A referees job is difficult, boardering on the impossible. The referee ahs to make a decision on every single action during a game, whether to blow his whistle or not. In making these split seccond decisions a referee has to contend with thousands of partisan fans screaming at him, players unashamedly feigning injury and the sheer speed at which incidents at the top level of sport occur.

It’s a given that referees are going to make mistakes and that they will be many and terrible. Everyone involed in sport at any level is aware of this before they ever take the pitch. They should also be aware that generally referees do not favour one team over another. They sometimes display incompetence but rarely bias. Bad refereeing decisions blance out over the course of a season. They are not responsible for teams being relegated or promoted. They don’t cause strikers to miss sitters nor are they to blame for the howlers of defenders and goalkeepers.

There is no doubt that bad decisions affect teams that are struggling more but this is because their opponents usually have so much of the ball that they will simply be given fewer decisions and they will invariably give away more free kicks, thereby suffering from a higher percentage of the referee’s mistakes.

We don’t need goal line technology or instant replays. It will only slow down the game and cause it to lose some of it’s sponteneity. Bad refereeing decisions are as much a part of the game as profligate strikers and tardy defenders. The difference is that a bad referee makes mistakes for both teams. Bad players are picked and played by the managers who try to lay th eblame for defeat at any door but their own. The ref is the easiest target.

It’s not in the interests of either the BBC or Sky to be too harsh in their criticism of either players or the teams their viewers support. You won’t offend anyone by pinning it on the ref. Goalline technology and instant replays would increase footballs reliance on television making it an integral part of the game as opposed to a mere observer. Of course it would also make more time for advertising but I’m sure this doesn’t form part of anyone’s thinking. Respect for the finality of a referee’s decision goes hand in hand with the integrity of th egame. Teams will do anything to gain an advantage and undermining the referee only encourages gamesmanship and more frivilous appeals. Bad decisions made by referees in good faith and in split second need to be protected and kept because they are part of what makes sport so exciting and immediate.

Referees should be trained to the highest possible standards and it’s their training and experience which should be the benchmark of their competency, not how leniently they treated the England skipper. Once a well trained and experienced referee steps onto the pitch, they need to be given the freedom to make mistakes without it being a hanging offence just as it is with players, managers, pundits and everyone else.