Graham Poll, Britain's leading referee, has been in the news again. At the World Cup he made the headlines for mistakenly showing a player three yellow cards before he sent him off. Again he has attracted criticism for showing too many yellow cards but in an entirely different set of circumstances. In the game at White Hart Lane he handed out six yellow cards against Chelsea players including two to their skipper John Terry, meaning his dismissal from the game.
The basis of Chelsea's complaint was that Poll allegedly told their players during the game, that their discipline was out of order and they needed to be taught a lesson. I doubt that anyone except ardent Chelsea fans would disagree that Chelsea are in need of some discipline. Royals supporters will recall all too readily their bullying tactics at the Madejski Stadium when they tried to intimidate the referee.
In the Laws of the Game it says 'Each match is controlled by a referee who has full authority to enforce the laws of the game'. Does this mean that referees have the right to instill discipline? Sometimes they have no choice.
For a number of years I officiated at a tournament run by Reading Borough Council which ran throughout the summer holidays for their community centres. The laudable objective was to give the youngsters something to do and keep them off the streets. As I stood on the sidelines one year I could hear and see the behaviour of one of the teams waiting to go on. Their language and attitude was unbelievable. I appreciate that it is difficult for community centre leaders to impose discipline but nothing was done, nothing was
said.
The game was refereed by one of our young referees, just 16 old and within 5 minutes of the start he stopped the game and called the players together. He told them that he was not going to tolerate their language and behaviour. They behaved themselves for the rest of the game.
You can't compare Chelsea Football Club with a team put together from a Community Centre of course, but if there is a perceived lack of discipline, which the club seems reluctant to do anything about, should not the referee take control.
The Chelsea players claimed that Poll's attitude was determined by their ill-tempered mid-week match against Barcelona at the Nou Camp. According to the statisticians there were 47 offences at that game with only 14 committed by Chelsea's opponents. Faced with such evidence, is it wrong for a referee to make up his mind before the game starts, that he is going to take a tough stance? Vinney Jones I believe still holds the record in English professional football for the quickest caution - 3 seconds from kick-off. Some other players might have got the benefit of the doubt but Jones's reputation preceded him and the referee was aware that his style was to intimidate opponents, so out came the yellow card.
The Sunday of the Chelsea game I shared a local dressing room with a fellow referee who talked about his coming game. 'I'm told they are a nasty side,' he said, 'well they have met their match in me, They'll find I'm not a nice person.' Is that any different from the top referees, who all do their homework on the teams they are going to referee?
If you read the autobiography of Pierluigi Collina, who was considered by many to be the world's finest before he retired, you will see the extraordinary measures he took, to learn everything about the clubs and the players he was going to referee, including watching videos of their matches.
Perhaps Poll, having done the same of Chelsea's previous match, was determined to show that he wasn't going to be intimidated, like the relatively inexperienced Italian referee in Barcelona. Is that pre-judging or preparation?
Dick Sawdon Smith
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© R Sawdon Smith 2006