Manchester United’s Sir Alex Ferguson is very well-known for his outspoken views about referees, especially when he thinks that they have influenced the outcome of a match, and when he goes off, people usually sit up and take notice.
Ferguson’s recent outburst, which could leave him with a touchline ban, has been over the fitness of Saturday’s match referee Alan Wiley, and the Football Association has requested that the fiery Scot explain his rant.
Wiley refereed the 2-2 draw with Sunderland, and Ferguson was seen giving the fourth official, Mike Dean, an earful during the match, and then openly criticized Riley following the match for his inability to keep up with the speed of play.
Another thing that destroyed Wiley’s credibility was that he called Wayne Rooney by his nickname, “Wazza,” when he signaled him over to speak to him about an outburst from the England international. A referee should never, ever referee to a player by their nickname or first name, because it could show favoritism and open a can of disapproval.
Fitting
The English Premier League is played at a frenetic pace that only certain players have the ability to keep up with, but it is often overlooked that the referees need to keep up as well.
The golden rule of being a referee is that you are never bigger than the game itself. Referees are seen as the interpreters that enforce the laws of the game set forth by FIFA, who is the international governing body football.
Unless forced, referees should not make a decision that will influence the outcome of a match. A player’s stupidity or lapse in judgment normally leads to a referee making a call against a team.
Inconsistent
It’s the interpretation of laws is where most people find criticisms in a referee’s judgment.
Consistency is everything when refereeing. If you are consistent with your calls you will not open yourself up for criticism. As soon as you lose that consistency, whether it is being consistently bad or good, you lose your credibility.
To supporters, there is nothing more frustrating than to have a referee that blows for a foul, and two minutes later it’s not a foul.
To be fair to Saturday’s referee, he rightfully sent off Kieran Richardson for two bookable offenses. He just booked Anton Ferdinand for kicking the ball away and delaying a re-start by United, so he was forced to produce a second caution for Richardson.
Unfairness
A referee is rarely given his due praise for getting calls right, and referees get most of their decisions right, but one bad call out 50 will determine whether or not they had a good game or not.
Referees are human, and will make mistakes, but with so much money involved in the sport today they are highly scrutinized. The margin for error in the Premier League is so tight that one bad decision could be the difference in a team playing in the top flight or the second division.
Assistance
There is a very controversial debate about how to help referees to get calls correct. A couple of options that have been proposed are goal-line technology and more assistant referees.
Technology can help the sport to get when a ball crosses a line correct, but that is the only value that it offers. It cannot be used to over turn a penalty, because what about the times that a penalty appeal is waved away. Football is not like any other sport, because there are very few times where there is a stoppage in play.
More assistant referees might just be what is needed, because football is a game of angles. The referee is constantly on the go, and can very easily get turned which could lead to him missing a call.
A foul might not look like a foul from a trail position, but could be a foul from the complete opposite angle.
Hockey has it right. They use an official behind the goal, whose sole job is to watch the puck to see if it crosses the line, he lights the red light to signal a goal, and if he gets it wrong they use goal-line cameras to make sure that it is a goal.
Stop
One rule that should be brought back into the game is the stopping of the clock, because the continuous clock is creating too much controversy.
If you stop the clock every time a substitution is made, a goal is score or when an injury occurs you lost the gray-area about how much time is to be added on at the end of each half.
Football has turned into a cut-throat type of business, and it is the managers who are usually the person that is on the chopping block when calls and outcomes do not go their way, so they have the absolute right to criticize someone who has the influence to affect their career.
Sir Alex Ferguson is no different than any other person - he expects perfection from not only his players, but the referees as well – he thinks that everyone should be. When either of them are off their game and get it wrong, they should be held accountable for their actions.
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