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Touchline • Issue 18 • 21
Many in the game claim that referees are not only biased,
but they are star-struck, and enjoy being on first name terms
with the big players. The Guardian’s Secret Footballer, who
by definition has the inside story, is scathing about the way
referees treat the players. “Players know only too well that
referees suck up to the big names and call them by their
nicknames. Wayne Rooney is always “Wazza” and Frank
Lampard is always “Lamps.”
He goes on to say that it is well known that when a big team
is playing a smaller one, the big team will get all the decisions.
His logic is that should the ref make a mistake that favours the
smaller team, then it will be news. And a ref is always looking
to stay out of the headlines.
Until recently, referees were dropping out of the sport at an
alarming rate. Until three years ago, in England alone there
was an average of 300 assaults on referees per year. Since
then, the professional referee associations have devoted more
time and money to training, trying to turn the occupation into
something more professional. In recent years, more and more
young people have flocked to the profession. Today, you stand a
one percent chance of graduating to the top level of refereeing.
This means that, despite what managers and fans say, only the
very best become referees. They are surprisingly fit, and though
they might not have Cristiano Ronaldo’s abs, they run about
12km on average per match. They have to be decisive and
ruthless. While they are only human, most referees claim to be
as objective as they can be. But will technology make the hated
ref less despised?
It is instructive to hear from former referee Mark Halsey. “Any
help for a referee to make the correct decision has got to be
good for the game, and I’m a strong believer of technology
coming into the game. The game has become so quick, and we
have technology in cricket, rugby league, rugby union… it will
still add to all the excitement in football, like it does in other
sports. You have relegations, Champions League places, cup
finals and so on being decided on refereeing errors. It’s not fair
when this technology is available.”
Perhaps now the technology will get the headlines, rather than
the refs.
© STEINDY 2011