Jack on the Moan
R is for Referees It’s high time football refs got a little help from technology. In the English Premier League not a game goes by without an erroneous refereeing decision altering the complexion, and often the outcome, of the match. Just yesterday I saw a team denied a clear-cut penalty that would have given them the opportunity to draw level. In another game I saw a penalty awarded for handball, when the replay clearly showed the defender had used his collarbone to control the ball. The decision cost the side two valuable points and, understandably, a lot of frayed tempers. No one’s saying being a ref is an easy job. I certainly wouldn’t want to be doing what they do. Any blunder a ref makes is pounced on by players, managers, fans, commentators, you name it. Similar to the unfortunate position goalkeepers often find themselves in, referees are usually best remembered for the mistakes they make. However, unlike goalies, refs rarely receive any credit for having a good game. They’re damned if they do and they’re damned if they don’t. That said, referees are meant to be professionals and are reasonably well paid for doing what they do, earning anything between £33,000 and £60,000 a year. In any other profession you expect a certain standard of excellence. If you go to hospital for routine surgery you expect the surgeon to make the incision in the right place, take the right stuff out, put the right stuff in and sew you back up again so you’re in one piece again. Similarly, if you pay an architect to design your house you expect the damn thing to hold together once it’s built. However, it’s now come to be expected that the referee will make at least one game-changing mistake every game. If the roof of your new house collapses, or you wake up from a routine eye operation blind, you’d be forgiven for throwing your head to the sky and screaming “Why me, God, why?!” On the other hand, a ref makes a shocking decision that costs your side the match and you’re more just annoyed that this time you were on the wrong end of the stick and not your opponent. A slip-up by a surgeon may be a one in a million occurence; a bad refereeing decision feels like a dead cert. I’m sick of seeing games being decided by referees’ incompetency. I’m sick of tired of hearing aggrieved managers, especially that French whinger Arsene Wenger, complain after the match how the referee has treated his side unfairly. Most of all, I’m sick of hearing the same argument over whether video referees should be introduced. The answer is, unequivocally, ‘YES’. It’s worked for tennis, it’s worked for rugby, and it’ll work for football.

R is for Referees

It’s high time football refs got a little help from technology. In the English Premier League not a game goes by without an erroneous refereeing decision altering the complexion, and often the outcome, of the match. Just yesterday I saw a team denied a clear-cut penalty that would have given them the opportunity to draw level. In another game I saw a penalty awarded for handball, when the replay clearly showed the defender had used his collarbone to control the ball. The decision cost the side two valuable points and, understandably, a lot of frayed tempers.

No one’s saying being a ref is an easy job. I certainly wouldn’t want to be doing what they do. Any blunder a ref makes is pounced on by players, managers, fans, commentators, you name it. Similar to the unfortunate position goalkeepers often find themselves in, referees are usually best remembered for the mistakes they make. However, unlike goalies, refs rarely receive any credit for having a good game. They’re damned if they do and they’re damned if they don’t.

That said, referees are meant to be professionals and are reasonably well paid for doing what they do, earning anything between £33,000 and £60,000 a year. In any other profession you expect a certain standard of excellence. If you go to hospital for routine surgery you expect the surgeon to make the incision in the right place, take the right stuff out, put the right stuff in and sew you back up again so you’re in one piece again. Similarly, if you pay an architect to design your house you expect the damn thing to hold together once it’s built. However, it’s now come to be expected that the referee will make at least one game-changing mistake every game. If the roof of your new house collapses, or you wake up from a routine eye operation blind, you’d be forgiven for throwing your head to the sky and screaming “Why me, God, why?!” On the other hand, a ref makes a shocking decision that costs your side the match and you’re more just annoyed that this time you were on the wrong end of the stick and not your opponent. A slip-up by a surgeon may be a one in a million occurence; a bad refereeing decision feels like a dead cert.

I’m sick of seeing games being decided by referees’ incompetency. I’m sick of tired of hearing aggrieved managers, especially that French whinger Arsene Wenger, complain after the match how the referee has treated his side unfairly. Most of all, I’m sick of hearing the same argument over whether video referees should be introduced. The answer is, unequivocally, ‘YES’. It’s worked for tennis, it’s worked for rugby, and it’ll work for football.

Posted 3 years ago