Nothing is certain in football. Nothing, that is, except refereeing blunders. They’re an ingrained part of the game, and the constant bane of a football fan.
The subjective make-up of human nature means that mistakes will always be made on the football field, but surely there’s a way to reduce the errors currently seen weekly in Australia.
While the standard of football has never been higher in the A-League, and the attendance and television viewership numbers are impressively increasing, one area is still found wanting.
Referees are still dragging the chain, and the standard and consistency of their work has to improve.
They aren’t performing to a standard indicative of the rest of the competition, and haven’t been for 10 years. But we can’t just immediately point the finger at the men in the middle, we should be asking what we can do to help them.
Currently, refereeing in the A-League is just a side story for our officials. In their real lives, they hold down regular jobs ranging from teaching to working in finance and sales.
How often have you been able to give your part-time job the time and effort it deserves? How often have you held a part-time job while working Monday to Friday? Referees who manage their private lives with the pressures and anxieties associated with whistleblowing deserve full credit, but you can’t expect them to perform to professional standards.
The latest A-League refereeing shit-storm surrounds perennial villain to fans and players alike, Ben Williams, who sent Nikola Petkovic off the pitch in Sydney FC’s FFA Cup clash against Adelaide United midweek.
Williams has been stood down, FFA boss Damien de Bohun has admitted it was a mistake, and yet the Match Review Panel has not rescinded the red card. Disregarding that bizarre chain of events, the incident brings up the question as to why our referees aren’t full-time professionals.
If you want quality, you have to pay for it, and FFA should be scraping around their coffers to acquire that professionalism that is missing from the men and women in yellow.
“Like everyone in the game, referees are accountable for their performances and decisions,” De Bohun said.
“The referees come under enormous scrutiny by the public and media, as well as the official reviews of assessors.
“Accountability is part of improving the standard of refereeing in the A-League.”
Yes, referees are indeed under enormous scrutiny, similar to that of players and managers. Therefore, they should be treated in the same light, with a nice hefty pay packet and with it financial security.
With an improved wage, they can pack in their current full-time jobs and concentrate on immersing themselves completely in the game. Increased training sessions and a greater level of preparation for matches, as well as more regular meetings with fellow officials.
At the moment, referees attend two sessions a week, one on tactics and the other on fitness. Blunders are inevitable with such limited exposure to football from Monday to Friday.
And the blunders are nothing new, not this season or in past seasons. The Sydney Derby was full of contentious decisions, while Jarred Gillett also failed to control Victory’s demolition of Western Sydney in Round 1. A number of early challenges went unpunished and Matthieu Delpierre’s push on Brendan Santalab in the box was ignored.
Last year there were accusations – rightly or wrongly – that Alessandro Del Piero received preferential treatment during a Melbourne Victory versus Sydney FC game. That was in the middle of a horror two months for FFA, as bloopers became more common than correct calls in October and November.
The A-League director of referees Ben Wilson, responding to the criticism at the time, said he was satisfied with his employees’ performances.
“I’m happy with the standard of refereeing, on the understanding that we can still get better,” Wilson said last year.
“Those people that perform get more matches than those people who don’t perform.”
Of course Ben Wilson is going to defend his referees, he was one himself once upon a time. And he also made mistakes, including an absolute clanger in a Sydney FC versus Newcastle Jets game in November 2010 where as an assistant he flagged a ball out, only to backtrack. It resulted in a Bruno Cazarine goal.
The mistakes from Williams are also nothing new. He’s a trigger-happy merchant who has been getting away with his egotistical antics for too long.
He’s an experienced ref, but he gets it wrong too often, and has now sent off two players already in just two weeks. Last year he handed out seven red cards. At least he’s consistent.
But consistency is the key. That’s all that fans, players and managers want. And the best way to do that is to have referees training together as much as possible. Logistics won’t allow weekly meetings, but making referees full-time certainly would improve their ability to work together more often.
The move won’t eliminate the mistakes, but it will surely lessen them, and would also lead to referees handing out uniform rulings for incidents such as diving.
That all said, referees often get the harsh calls right. The penalty awarded to Besart Berisha in the 2012 grand final was widely criticised, but in the end the decision was shown to be correct. There was contact, and it was a penalty.
Strebre Delovski is one of the A-League’s best referees and has managed to maintain a high standard during his time in the middle. He may make howlers, which is inevitable, but at least he has a history of admitting his mistakes.
Delovski described his first game in charge, Newcastle versus Queensland Roar, as a “shocker”, while he also conceded he should have awarded a penalty to Melbourne Victory in their 1-0 semi-final loss to Brisbane last season.
Mistakes will never be banished completely, that much is clear. But they can be reduced, and full-time status would assist the cause.
As well as rehauling the referees’ wage system, there also needs to be a review of the Match Review Panel. How is it possible that De Bohun can come out and label Williams’ Petkovic call “not warranted” and yet the red card and suspension remains?
It’s yet another inconsistency that needs to be rectified.
Former A-League, NSL and state league players should also be sounded out. Part of the answer is to have qualified, full-time professionals, but another aspect is surely to get people who have first-hand knowledge of the game involved.
We can still have those with no working knowledge of football officiating, but having former players involved in the training process can only be a good thing.
They know the game inside-out, and they’ll likely hold more respect from players, coaches and fans alike.
The A-League needs to at least start by installing five full-time officials for the 2015-16 season. That should be a minimum requirement. I don’t know if FFA are in a position to produce the funds, but it would be money well spent.
Perhaps clubs could even be sounded out about contributing to making officials professional, though that could likely result in unwanted repercussions when inevitable mistakes occur.
At the moment A-League referees can earn about $36,000 a season, that’s not enough for us to demand high quality officiating.
Some may argue that it’s a waste of money to pay more for a job that will always produce mistakes, but if handled properly turning referees professional could definitely improve the standard of officiating in the A-League.
Sleemo
Guest
Agreed. Look at the NRL for example. Going back 20 years there were complaints about referees, and they were part-time then. One referee, two touch judges and two in-goal judges - all part-timers. Now we have a sizeable match official squad all on good full-time wages, and each match has two referees, two touch judges and two video referees. Has it reduced the amount of complaints made? Nope. Similarly, you could bring in AARs (as has been the case in the FFA Cup), a fifth official, and pay them all a hell of a lot more - but it's unavoidable that mistakes will be made, attention will be drawn to them and people/the media will still complain about the referees being worse than ever. Not saying we shouldn't try to help the blokes out but throwing money at them and/or increasing the number of game day officials (not mentioned in this article or comments but what I've brought up) is not the way to do it. We need the right people managing them, smarter management and better training.
Professor Rosseforp
Guest
"How often have you been able to give your part-time job the time and effort it deserves?" -- Every time I do it! "How often have you held a part-time job while working Monday to Friday?" -- Frequently, and often several. I have never been paid $36,000 for it. I don't slack off, but like everybody, I make mistakes -- luckily, mine aren't visible like referees or umpires, and they are probably not as important to as many people. All I'm saying here is that refereeing as an extra job is a lifestyle choice, and it offers no reason for an argument to make the referees full-time professionals. To be realistic, the average male full-time wage is currently about $70,000. Assuming the referees earn this amount (and I think many would earn more, as they are highly-motivated individuals), you would need to pay referees $70,000 AND the $36,000 before you could convince them to give up their real jobs -- assuming they were willing to forego career paths and benefits. The more likely outcome would be referees taking $106,000 AND still working full-time in their current real jobs -- after all, if they can referee part-time now, surely they can referee part-time for 3 times the wage? This happens in many jobs where a worker can work clustered shifts, e.g. ambos, firies, nurses, police -- get the 36 hours done in 3-4 days and you have the rest of the week to run your real estate/loans/gardening/trucking/importing/security business.
Da`
Roar Rookie
Every single argument that you make for professionalism in players applies to referees. Referees continuously have to practice and improve their skills, should be as fit as players, understand all the team structures and set plays that the players use so as to best position themselves, not to mention operating as a team themselves. Referees need to understand players more even than other players do (which would seem to be Ben Williams’ main problem). And referees need to perform as a team with their assistants as players do. Just like when you are a player, as a referee team you need to train well together to referee well together. More training time together is a necessity. Just like as a player, you need to have regular game time. Referees do not get enough games. If anything, as the one who officiates the game, as opposed to “merely” plays in it, as someone who can affect the entire outcome of the game with a single decision, professionalism should be mandatory, even more so than for players. As a personal aside, I’ll share an interesting conversation that I had with Tim Mander once (that there was a lot more to I won’t go into), in the lead up to an association football match Tim refereed the following day (long story). His opinion was that the very best thing that came out of the Super League war and its aftermath was the professionalisation of referees in the NRL. By paying them as professionals, increasing their workload, accountability, he felt that the quality of refereeing substantially improved, including the ability to make those snap decisions, because of the fact that better training (and being able to focus on the training) meant that better decisions were possible. It also gave referees both the motivation and the means to be their best. Amateurs judging professionals is the single biggest problem in the A-League today. As long as the standard and professionalism of referees is consistently less than the standard and professionalism of players, this will be one of the biggest weaknesses in our game. Having full-time better trained referees make a world of difference to this. Some referees (and particularly AR’s) will be part-time. But at this level, if we actually value a professional Australian game, some should be full-time What will they do during the off-season? Officiate NPL and local games? Yes - as many as possible - with the cost covered by their FFA salary, and the side benefits of training AR’s properly around the country. Visit other leagues to learn and officiate, so that they keep their high level skills current, and so we can have their top referees visit here also. Have a proper off-season fitness training regime, so referees can actually be as fit as the players, and be in the right positions to make decisions. And have proper holidays, rather than using their “time off” to be football referees. “What about the assistant referees? They contribute to many of the poor decision making as well”, you are correct. There should be one full-time Assistant Referees boss, who is also a current AR at A-League level to ensure training of ARs and 4th Officials receives the attention it deserves, and these problems You argue that this would be a total waste of time and resources. How ridiculous. Virtually nothing comparatively is spent on referees compared to the overall elite-level football budget. To argue that in a $160 million dollar TV deal there is insufficient money to make referees full-time is patently absurd. The gains of a professional competition will always be held back, as long as the referees are not. If there is any lesson to take away from Barry Southcott’s time in Brisbane, it is that high standards and high degrees of professionalism result in an increase in standards across the board. This is what we need in A-League football.
Kyle Stewart
Roar Pro
It's all well and good for full-time refs but 1) What would their job entail that could justify a full-time position & a decent salary 2) Where does the extra money come from
Ben of Phnom Penh
Roar Guru
I am postulating that you are Edward Norton's "Narrator" to Brad Pitt's "Tyler". That both you and Luis are monozygotic.
Shouts Chen
Guest
What does the deoxyribonucleic acid mean?
Ben of Phnom Penh
Roar Guru
I surmise that Luis & Shouts Chen share the same deoxyribonucleic acids.
Shouts Chen
Guest
Ben Williams is so far the worst referee ever. He doesn't treat fair towards other people.
Luis
Guest
Ben Williams will never be refers in Brasil, one game and Ben will swim ihis way back to Australia
Roarfan
Guest
I havn't seen one good reason yet why referees should go fully professional. They are an entirely different kettle of fish to players who continuously have to practice and improve their skills, understand the team structure, learn set plays, maintain fitness and get to understand their fellow team mates. Let's face it, the players have to perform as a team. The biggest problem with referees, at any pay level, is the lack of consistency during a whole game and across the board with other referees. Being fulltime is not going to make one iota of difference. And what are they going to do during the HAL's off season? Officiate at local games? Which club from NPL level down would be able to afford it and who would get to use them. How many games in the NPL in Australia during any given weekend? And what about the assistant referees? They contribute to many of the poor decision making as well. In my humble opinion this would be a total waste of time and resources. I remember many years ago in Brisbane we had an English referee by the name of Barry Southcott and his standard was so much better than the locals that most accepted the challenge and we enjoyed a significant improvement in the overall standard. Unfortunately it started slipping again when he left.
Timmy
Guest
The main point that has gotten raised certainly in afl circles, where there are similar split second decisions to be made and rules that leave room for interpretation, is that there really isn't enough for them to do during the week to justify them being full time. Sure you can watch footage but in a league with only 5 games per round there is not 40 hours of work to do. Also if they are full time a league referees what are they supposed to do between May and October? I don't think you can justify a full time salary given the work required. Officials of all sports have a tough job, as do players, it needs to be acknowledged that mistakes are going to be made.
Atawhai Drive
Roar Guru
How many professional football leagues around the world have full-time professional referees? The EPL does, but I believe Scotland doesn't. The MLS in the US does, but what about France, Spain, Italy, Germany and Brazil? I don't know the answer, but I suspect full-time referees are very much in the minority around the world. Football referees, professional or part-time, make mistakes. Of course they do. They're human. It is a matter of belief rather than fact that full-time referees make fewer mistakes. Be careful what you wish for: if it becomes a condition of employment that referees are fully professional, some outstanding referees might be lost to the top levels of the game, preferring to concentrate on their non-football jobs, the jobs that will sustain them past the age of 47 or whatever limit applies. And of course, there is a way of reducing the number of honest mistakes by officials under pressure to make split-second calls. Sooner or later, even football will have to embrace the TMO. We have the benefit of TV replays at home _ that's how we know officials sometimes get it wrong. Why should fans use their privileged status to criticise decisions when referees are denied access to the technology that makes sideline experts of us all? Peter Green's got the Sydney FC-Roar match tonight. He goes OK, usually. As a Sky Blues fan I hope we win but doubt we can. Whatever happens, let's hope the match is decided by the players and not the officials.
madmonk
Guest
How exactly does making an example of someone making a mistake improve things. My tip for you, if you haven't already, don't breed.
madmonk
Guest
Couldn't agree more. There is no crisis to be fixed.
Mark
Guest
Do you want to make the current crop of A-League panel referees full time? If so, which ones do you think will take the pay cut or give up their current real world career progression? Or do you think this full time refereeing career will appeal more to men/women who are not currently on the panel (because they are not good enough); but will be motivated to go full time because it will pay more than their current jobs and because they don't really have career prospects in the real world anyway? Seriously, though, the only way this would work is if you pay these men/women a salary that is so large that they would be prepared to swap it for their current income and give up their career progression.
mattq
Guest
yeah just look a the Pistorius case!
Ginger71
Guest
They watch videos every week of games have have feedback sessions. When the laws of the game say "in the opinion of the referee......" you are always going to get different opinions on how severe a tackle is and whether language was offensive or not. Poor on field play costs more games than referees. To say there is match fixing is stupid.
Josh
Guest
Oh so referees are now suddenly an issue because Self entitled FC fell foul of them ?
Ginger71
Guest
maybe the other referees just dont give out cards when they should. I have seen on plenty of occasions when a card was warranted but not given. These statistics dont prove anything about ego.
Ginger71
Guest
Move on and get over it. Referees are human, just like players and coaches. Making them professional doesnt change anything, like previously said there are professional referees out there and they make mistakes, just like professional players who score own goals or miss an open goal or just generally play poorly, they are the ones that cost games, its just easier to blame the referee, and most fans, players, coaches and commentators dont really know the laws of the game in detail anyway. Bagging out the referee is getting old and the media should be ashamed of themselves for carrying on with it.