Over the Christmas holiday, many people I met remarked that referees have come in for a lot of criticism this season. Of course I have to agree but this was something that was not supposed to happen.
At the beginning of the season the FA expanded the
Respect campaign - respect for referees, taking it into the professional game. But, as was pointed out, there seems to have been more public complaining than ever.
The good news is that a working group of Premier League managers has put forward the idea that managers should refrain from speaking out about referees decisions after matches and all other managers have agreed. The not so good news is that this is not English Premier League managers but those of the Scottish Premier League (SPL). Their spokesman, Walter Smith, former Scotland boss and now manager of Rangers said, ‘It is a step forward and an acceptance that there are too many headlines being grabbed by the fact that we may be a little critical of referees and this has put far too much pressure on referees.’
The age limit in Scotland has lost them experienced referees and the league now has a younger group. Walter Smith says, ‘Those who are coming in are having to gain experience in a hostile environment. This initiative can help them.’ Several Scottish managers have incurred the wrath of the Scottish FA and the League this season with criticism of match officials at post-match interviews and a number have been censured.
Back in 1997 I had a conversation with Tom Sneton, Chairman of Leicester City Football Club, whose manager at the time was the volatile Martin O’Neil. We talked about the rule that managers weren’t allowed to enter the referee’s dressing room until at least half an hour after the game had ended. The idea being that had there been anything controversial in the game the manager might have calmed down sufficiently to act in a reasonable manner.
Mindful that his own manager was one of the worst culprits for blasting referees, I suggested that perhaps this rule could be extended to television interviews. It transpired that he was also on the league committee, which dealt with television issues. He thought it an idea worthy of discussion and agreed to take it up at their next meeting. Sadly within a few weeks he was ousted from his Chairman’s position at Leicester, so my idea never saw the light of day.
In supporting officials, the President of the Scottish FA, George Pleat, made some valuable points. ‘Referees,’ he said, ‘are under more pressure because there are more televised matches and close incidents are examined. Some pundits look at incidents three of four times and still don’t make up their minds, yet they expect the referee to get it right straight away. The criticism they get is over the top.’ One other telling point he made was, ‘managers criticise referees to deflect their own team’s deficiencies.’ Amen to that.
Managers like Steve Bruce of Wigan often wrongly accuse referees of making mistakes to cover up another defeat. Glen Roder of Norwich, after losing at Reading, criticised the referee for missing a blatant push, which he claimed made his player handle, giving away a penalty. Viewing the replay all I saw was two opposing players jumping for the same ball. He made no reference to the missed goal opportunities by his own players.
The other point made by George Peat was that the high-profile criticism could lead to difficulty in recruiting referees. They too have a recruitment drive but he says,’kids thinking of taking up refereeing will look at all the criticism and think it isn’t for them.’
This is of course the whole basis of the
Respect campaign but there is nothing to suggest that English managers will take a lead from their Scottish counterparts.
Dick Sawdon Smith
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© R Sawdon Smith 2009