Who wants to be a referee? March 26 2008
Andrew Hallett takes a look at the difficulties surrounding refereeing football matches at professional level.
The task of being a Premier League official, or in any league for that matter, is thankless. Taking abuse from supporters, players and managers is something which comes with the job. Whether they are crowded by angry players or the subject of fan banter, the referee has to get on with his job, usually to a standard which meets that of the expectant football world.
But there have been cases this season of major inconsistencies within the profession which have thrown refs under the spotlight and plagued our beautiful game.
A perfect example of such inconsistencies came during the draw between Tottenham and Chelsea on Wednesday night. Ashley Cole's challenge on Alan Hutton was unacceptable on two different levels.
Firstly, his studs were showing and he made no effort to take the ball. The deliberate nature of the tackle, studs aside, deserved a red card. It was not unlike the challenge which caused Eduardo's horror injury a couple of weeks ago. And the rules clearly state that a high challenge with intent, whether there was a connection or not, is a sending-off offence.
Secondly, the way in which Cole acted towards ref Mike Riley was a showing of utter disrespect. A yellow card is shown for any kind of dissent towards referees, and with that being the case, he should have been dismissed on the grounds of a second bookable offence, given that he was cautioned for the original tackle.
Now given that both the 'offences' which Cole committed warranted dismissals, why is it so difficult for officials to keep a sense of uniformity within their profession?
All jobs carry a degree of difficulty, some more than others, and refereeing is no different. Mistakes are part of the job, but they need to learn from those hiccups to ensure that they don't happen again. But sadly, this season has been one of repeated mistakes.
Time and again strange decisions have been made. Whether it be for rash tackles, off-the-ball incidents or violent conduct, referees have been unable to keep to a standard. And it is that inconsistency which is ruining the game from a fan's perspective.
Those who go and watch their heroes every week expect to see the best from their side. Even in defeat the supporters expect their side to show a certain level of performance. So why should it be any different for those running the games?
Referees are supposedly assessed after every game and all those registered with their respective leagues are expected to attend workshops and training courses in order to clamp down on different aspects of the evolving game. But even those don't seem to have a lasting effect on those in charge come matchday.
So once again it comes down to the argument of technology. Lots of talk has been thrown around in recent times of new-age technology being brought into the game, but the response to that has been nothing but negative from the higher authorities. Is it not worth giving something a try if it can only be beneficial to those that use it? A higher standard of refereeing could be set if a video replay was available to them. Decisions wouldn't be made under the influence of players and referees would be able to take their time on potentially season-defining incidents.
But until the day technology is seen as a positive addition to the game, referees are going to have to continue doing what they have been doing for over a 100 years, with human error playing a defining role on the ultimate outcome of football club's seasons.
Andrew Hallett