We have got used by now to television commentators, after viewing several replays, declaring that referees or their assistants have make a mistake. A different camera angle will show a view that the referees didn't have when he made his decision.
A new phenomenon however occurred on BBC Match of the Day2 with the Fulham v Chelsea Premiership match. The referee and his assistant were slated because the television replays showed their decision
was correct.
Let me recap what happened. Chelsea were losing by the odd goal and heading towards a rare defeat. The ball was played forward to Didier Drogba, who turned past the Fulham defender and ran through to put the ball in the goal. However the Fulham players protested that Drogba had handled the ball to control it. The referee consulted his assistant and then awarded a free kick to Fulham, indicating by sign language that it was for handball.
When they showed the replay on BBC Match of the Day 2 that night, everybody agreed that it was the right decision. So what else was there to say?
Another camera angle showed that, although the referee's was close to the action, Drogba had turned his back when the handball occurred so he couldn't have seen it. After the game, the referee explained that he had received a buzz from his assistant. Readers of this column last week will know that in the Football League and the Premiership, assistant referees have a buzzer on their flag handle, which activates a receiver on the referee's arm, alerting him that something has happened that he may have not seen.
However, the explanation was not good enough for the BBC Match of the Day team. Despite the fact that they hadn't got a camera angle of the assistant referee's view, they claimed he couldn't have seen it either. Alan Hanson, sat back with a superior air as if to say what am I doing here on a Sunday. 'The referee,' he said, 'made a decision earlier not to award a penalty to Fulham for a tackle by John Terry, so he evened things up: That's what referees do!'
How does Hanson know what referees do? Has he ever been a referee so he can speak from experience? The answer of course is no.That's not what referees do.
In all my years of refereeing I have never attempted to balance decisions in a match. Referees do not play the compensation game. Referees do make mistakes. Not as many as people think and they try and make as few as possible but they do happen. Mostly a referee will not realise he has made a mistake so will carry on regardless. Occasionally a referee may have doubts about a decision, but what he should do is forget about it?
What the referee mustn't do is to worry about it.
Dr Bob Rotela, who is a sports psychologist to some of the world's leading golfers, related how when Nick Price made a bad putt on the first hole, it would affect the rest of his game. He had to teach him to put it out of his mind. Exactly the same with referees, they can't dwell on any disputed incident otherwise it will influence the rest of their game. Not in the way that Alan Hanson suggests but it can affect their concentration. Referees at the top level are too experienced to allow that to happen.
After the game, any referee worth his salt will review the situation to see if they could have done better. But trying to make amends only happens in the prejudiced eyes of footballers and television commentators.
Dick
Sawdon Smith