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| referees stepping on the pitch |
Many Super Leagues in the world are in middle of their
2017/18 football season; EPL, Bundesliga, Laliga, League 1, Serie A, ABSA
premiere; just notable. In Malawi Tnm super league has entered finishing-line
with very few weeks to windup the season. Meanwhile, a more disheartening disease
has surfaced to a full brown in the game this season, triggering my hands’
central fingers to type what appears like ‘voice
of a baby’ in the middle of lake-of stars festive sounds.
The news earlier in the year that Paris St- Germain’s (PSG)
Football Club president had written UEFA detailing what the French champions
believed were mistakes by the referee in charge of their 6-1 second leg humiliating
defeat by Barcelona in the Champions league did not strike my brain with
surprise at all. According to MARCA
report dated 14/03/2017 07:12 CET titled El
PSG Eleva su protesta a la UEFA, the PSG president even attached supporting
visuals to validate the argument leveled against the officiating men. This
typically testifies how club administrators and soccer fans are fed up with
obvious or indeed questionable decisions of officiating squad which have proven
to be costly to the game but also clubs’ endeavors. The dubious and hair
raising referees’ decisions in the ULC quarterfinals involving Leicester vs
Atletico Madrid (first leg), Bayern Muchen vs Real Madrid (second leg), and
Barcelona vs PSG (second leg) provided even a more big room for criticisms
against these whistle men.
SPANISH
LEAGUE SLIPUPS
Media reports in Spain indicate that the Spanish League
is a host of poor officiating standards. Not because that all the UEFA league officiating
mistakes cited above were committed in Spain, but even in that country’s local
league there has been accumulation of complaints on devastative
refereeing.
‘At one point,
Barcelona Fc dressing room was said to have been hit with a tsunami following a
ghost goal according to reports in Catalonia. A 1-1 draw at Real Betis earlier
in the year was said to be responsible for sliming chances of third straight
Laliga title and the result was made worst by the fact that the referee waved
play-on after Neymar’s deflected shot was cleared from behind the line. It was the latest in a long line of what
Barcelona claimed to be poor decisions by the officials which had cost the
Catalans points in that season, reported Anderson Richardson on; The Sun, 31st January 2017.
There have been numerous questionable decisions made
in that league in the previous season alone with the last coming on the final
day of the La liga. A prolific social media (Whatsapp) Sports News and Live Commentary
provider, DUTA, questioned the
penalty which was awarded to Barcelona in the last game against Eibar. From the
commentary, it was apparent that the referee had goofed.
‘Barcelona Vs
Eibar (Yoel saves Messi penalty 70’) + penalty call’. What was that? Alba trips
over his own feet and goes down with no Eibar players anywhere near him. The
referee awards a penalty though. Messi’s effort is then saved. Justice served!
Click to watch the video http://goo.gl/jqFZAZ ‘reported
Duta which publishes using +917550041391 whatsapp line.
Nobody knows, too, if the referee just wanted to give
Barca advantage of pressuring their old rival Real Madrid for the title until the
final whistle. It was too late to save, anyway, because by that minute mark Madrid
had already done itself a favour for the glory having led Malaga 2-0.
But if what Pique claimed in an interview is something
to go by, then it is potentially clean to think the referees have had a hand in
deciding results of some La liga games. Gerard Pique claimed that the referees in
Spain influenced the outcome of the La Liga title race as the Barcelona
defender reiterated a call for Video Technology to be introduced (https://goo.gl/aMKcZW
). The Spain international has been criticizing officials on several occasions
both in person and through social media and was at once fined £3, 000 in March 2017
for some remarks.
“The referees have been able to influence things; I’m
not going to draw up a list of when we have been favoured or when it’s happened
to our opponents,” Pique told a news conference ahead of 27th May
2017 Copa del Rey final against Alaves. “It is still clear that we should
implement VAR, which would have been decisive” said Pique.
MLS
LEAGUE SLIPS
The America’ MLS is neither spared. A disappointed fan
wrote two years ago on VICE Sports RSS
Feed about “incompetent referees
wrecking MLS”.
“I’m tired of MLS referees being afraid to make
penalty shot calls. I just watched a game where 2 blatant penalties in the box
were not called. One a bear hug and pull down and the other the goalie taking
out the legs of a striker without ever getting a touch on the ball. Both were
obvious penalties, with blatant disregard by the referee. The offending team
won their home game by 1 goal.
It is becoming increasingly frustrating to see these
kind of outcomes due to poor officiating. It also irritates me that players and
coaches are not allowed to voice complaints about the poor officiating without
being fined/sanctioned by MLS. They are required to keep their mouths shut;
this allows poor officiating to flourish. I want to support MLS but it is
getting increasingly difficult to watch MLS referees who don’t have the
integrity to make the necessary penalty shot call when blatant fouls are made
in the penalty area.”
ENGLISH
PREMIER LEAGUE GOOFS
England is another sporting nation heavily hit by the
questionable referees’ decisions. In a rare interviews given by Mark
Cletternburg, the celebrated referee conceded that he does make mistakes
sometimes. In the hours and even days after blowing the final whistle, he said
that he normally endures hidden anguish as the decisions made during 90minutes
of refereeing whirl through his mind.
“If I make a mistake, it beats me up” he admitted
during a rare interview with Rob Harris. I suppose that is something I
struggled with in the early part of my career where I couldn’t park it and soon
I’d make another mistake.”
“You have many video clips sent to you on your phone,
you have comments on your phone after the match. Said the 41 old referee. “You
will know if you have done ok or not. Then you start reflecting on what you
could have done differently. Nearly every game you want to do something
differently.” He said he consults psychologists. “The mental strength of
refereeing now is probably one of the biggest things.
Ref Cletternburg mentioned his memorable mistake in
the recent career history. “FA cup finals Manchester United against Crystal
palace. I remember coming off the FA cup final disappointed. I felt I could
have done better. I’d been criticized in all shapes and sizes from different parts
of social media on one decision in particular where I could have played
advantage, I should have done better.” The decisions went against palace. Wrote Rob
Harris on IRISH EXAMINER; 02 January 2017.
On 21st March 2015, West Bromwich Albion
Manager Tony Pulis called for referee
reviews on the day of controversy for official-having felt that referee
decisions changed the game in which his team went down 3-0 to Manchester City. Pulis
complaint came after referee Neil Swarbrick sent off Gareth McAuley instead of
Craig Dawson during the game. Swarbrick then apologized for the error.
In the same season, BBC Sport reported that Leicester City Manager Nigel Pearson called
Mike Dean “arrogant” after his performance in the foxes’ 4-3 defeat against
Tottenham. The Foxes’ were then fighting for survival in the Premier League
when they were graced with the bad luck of referee decisions. In another fixture, Manager Aitor Karanka
claimed assistant referee laughed after disallowing a goal for his
Middleborough side in their 3-0 defeat by Bournemouth. And these incidents came
three weeks after Sunderland defender Wes Brown was mistakenly sent off by
Roger East during the Black Cats’ 2-0 defeat by Manchester United.
On 3rd October 2015, the then Chelsea
Manager Jose Mourinho got punished for criticizing referee Robert Madley
following a 3-1 loss to Southamption. Mourinho said referees were “afraid” to
give penalties and told officials to “be honest with us”, implying bias,
according to an independent panel. Yet the then Everton Manager, Roberto
Mertinez went free in the England streets despite calling a referee’
performance “diabolic”.
‘The Mirror Football’ reported that the Current
Manchester United Boss; Mourinho, racked up £141, 000 in fines since his return
to Chelsea. While the Portuguese might have his own innate disciplinary
concerns but analysis of the cases has shown that he was not always the
offender. Only that he lacked power to stand behind him to claim his justice.
How could he be punished for kicking his own bottle in the technical square?
Who does not have emotions? I thought yellow and red cards were produced to
control emotions and behaviours when somebody has breached rules…where were the
cards?
No wonder James Gray of the “EXPRESS” reported in October 2015 that an Ex-referee blasted FA
inconsistency and spoke in support of Jose Mourinho. He quoted former elite
referee Mark Halsey who slammed the FA for what he described as double
standards. “You look at Arsene Wenger, he came out and criticized Mike dean md
nothing was said: he wrote in a column for Goal.com.
“We’ve seen it in the past, Wenger pushed Mourinho
last season and the FA didn’t take any action. “You get Nigel Pearson holding a
Crystal Palace player down on the floor, threatening to knock his block off,
and yet the FA don’t take action.
“I’m just as miffed as Chelsea and Mourihno because
the punishment, for me, is far excessive for the crime and as for what he
(Mourihno) said about him only being punished by the FA, I think he’s right, as
the proof is there in the pudding” said Halsey.
In which otherwise, he meant that the officials
including the referees had been inconsistent as many of those FA cases against
Mourihno were originating from referee’ judgments on the pitch.
The fixture between Tottenham and Liverpool in the
same 2014/2015 season presented a good home for refereeing scrutiny. Mark
Hasley who is a prominent refereeing expert since he got retired believed that
it should have been the Tottenham manager, Mauricho Pochettino, not the
Liverpool midfielder, who should have been given his marching orders.
“James Milners’ clash with Danny Rose was all about
managing the game and you have to ask whether it was careless, reckless,
reckless with excessive force, or an incident collision?” said Halsey.
IN
AFRICA
BBC SPORT reported on 22 November 2016 that
Confederation of African Football had suspended two referees and one assistant
referee after poor performances in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers in November.
Ghanaian Joseph Lamptey incorrectly awarded South
Africa a penalty in their 2-1 win over Senegal and FIFA has just ordered replay
of the match later in November 2017. Kenyan referee Davies Omweno denied Libya
what was a valid goal in their 1-0 defeat by Tunisia as Assistant referee Brhe
O’michael of Eritrea, had wrongly flagged offside.
The same Lamptey is reported to have previously served
a six-month ban for wrongly awarding a goal during a CAF Champions league
semi-final in 2010. Equally, Omweno was also criticized for ‘poor performance’
which CAF said included “wrong positioning and movement, incorrect
identification of fouls and failure to administer some disciplinary sanctions.
In South Africa a Moroka Swallows player was yellow
carded for crawling his legs over the ball. The incident brought nothing but
deep laughter to SuperSport Analysts
who felt the player did not commit any offense by using his legs (not any part of restricted organ such as the
arm) to craw on over the ball.
IN MALAWI
Inconsistent decisions by Chiziwiso Simbi, referee of
the day during 2017/18 FAM Charity Shield game between Nyasa Big Bullets and
Kamuzu Barracks on 15th April 2017, was the starting point of what
people have so far experienced from the referees in the season. A penalty
awarded to KB which many analysts believed was a mere infringement between
goalkeeper and a KB player was just one of the many attracting points of debate
for the day. As the game grew old, the
referee was seen delaying to award what was meant to be instantly whistled
against. In the end, a player sustained a preventable injury while hoping for
the ref to caution the tackle. This was a ribbon-cutting to ref’ poor
performances in 2017/18 campaign. It is just weeks into the final game of the
season and cartons are as well full of questions about referee decisions.
In recent history, 2016 to be precise, Elijah Phimbi of Nyasa Times reported
that Mafco FC had agreed to pay a fine of K700,000 orchestrated by poor referee’s decision on the pitch. Alfred Aziz’s
decision led the Mzuzu Military team to walk out of the pitch in the 75th
minute attracting this penalty as verdict.
“We accept the fine and we will pay just for the
interest of football. Referees are the major problem leading to clubs being
fined because of the way they are handling themselves. They are not
professional and this is witnessed by the strange decision they make when
officiating and at the end of it all, it is clubs that are suffering through paying
fines after we react” Lt Col. Richard
Chagonapansi of Mafco FC told Nyasa Times.
REPERCUSSIONS
OF THE PLAYER NO23’ MISTAKE.
Consequences of a referee’s decision cannot be
overemphasized. Teams and individuals such as coaches have been fined huge sums
worthy establishing investments. For instance, the Mafco fine was enough to run
expenses of the team for a week or so. Equally, the Mourinho fines were enough
to establish big business or help out needy people elsewhere.
The various teams in the world have been denied
opportunities to win what they deserved; revenues and trophies. Keep in mind
that things in sports are done for current benefit and more importantly record
purposes. For instance, the PSG case meant the team was unjustly denied
opportunity to progress to another round; this meant revenues generated by
teams through participation in a particular round were lost. Similarly it meant
the team had registered some bad records in the UCL; be it against Barcelona,
progression to another round or indeed being badly booted out with six goals in
such reputable competition. In the case of Max Bullets in Malawi, the team
disbanded inside the season and the consequences were enormous; some teams got
free points as Max Bullets was nowhere on the pitch. The technical panel and
players lost their jobs and consequently affecting their future.
Controversies and inconsistencies inside the game have
always disrupted game plans, beauty of the game and awarding of unfair results
in the end. Some individuals have been dented of their portrayal in public. For
instance, many people started seeing Mourinho as a trouble maker. No wonder
attitude of other referees were seen increasingly going against the Portuguese
manager although in several occasions he was not as wrong as he got it. Even in
Malawi, some teams have been portrayed as arrogant, violent or abusive just
because they protested a referee decision.
These decisions have also incited violence in certain
games. But overall my fear and disappointment is that whatever the case and/or
situation maybe, correction of the ref’’ decision after a game has not been
able to change results of a match. In other words, even if governing bodies
reverse red and yellow cards, fines and other penalties but they cannot reverse
defeat of a team. And the more common occurrence has been that the offending
team wins the match. Presently the rare remedy of extreme cases has been a replay
of the match which is even uncommon, costly but also takes long time.
AMBIGUITY
OF REFEREEING LAWS
“The referees’
decisions on matters of facts are not subject to appeal. If he says it was or
was not a foul or a goal, then it was or was not.” (Coach’s manual; soccer
coach-L manual 1998; dealing with officials).
And even if there is an error of law, in many leagues
and tournaments appeals are not permitted for the practical reason that there
is no way to replay games. This gives extreme room for mistakes and deliberate
actions by the center men. We have had crystal clear situations where a goal
has been awarded where it did not mean, or not awarded when it was a goal. We
even have had rumours that some referees are bribed to influence results of a
game by among others; awarding a penalty, ruling out a goal, dismissing a
player and other tricks just to give the other team an advantage.
The same coach manual says that a complaint or appeal
can be made after the game about referees who appeared to have been in over
their head at your teams’ level. However it points out that the referee is
final judge of facts, and nobody can win arguments about factual
interpretations.
This leaves a lot to be desired as regards to what is
meant by factual interpretation. At best, it provides a tight corner for people
not to question a lot on decisions by the referees; and otherwise creates a
mere escape-goat in cases involving poor refereeing.
SOLUTIONS
Poor refereeing, incompetence, human mistake and
influenced refereeing (where the ref has been bribed) are a dangerous disease
in need of serious attention. Experts around the world have tried to provide
solutions to some of these problems. For instance, goal line technology and an
ongoing trial of Video Assistant Refereeing (VAR) have been tested and
gradually getting the node.
THE
GOAL-LINE TECHOLOGY
Goal-line technology is a technical means of instantly
determining whether the whole of the ball has crossed the goal line. The International
Football Association Board requires that goal-line technology does not
interfere with the game, and as such only the match officials receive a signal
on their watches to indicate whether the whole ball has crossed the goal line.
The information is transmitted within one second, which ensures an immediate
response from the referee and that there are no stoppages or other forms of
interference in the game. The match officials are the only ones to receive a
signal. Unless the competition organizers decides to show a replay, this
information is only available to the match officials (according to fifa.com). The
goal-line technology has now been used in a number of FIFA tournaments. However
FIFA warns that implications and impacts of such systems can be complex hence
the need to importantly think carefully before initiating a tender
process.
THE
VIDEO ASSISTANT REFEREE (VAR)
Innovations are changing the everyday life. New ideas
are the driving force of the football industry for improving comfort, safety
and performance aspects for the players and referees on the pitch. After years
of calls for Video technology to be implemented into football to help referees,
the world appreciated the major rollout at the 2017 Confederations Cup in
Russia.
VAR is actually a team of three people who work
together to review certain decisions made by the main referee by watching video
replays of the relevant incidents. The team is comprised of the video assistant
referee himself (who is a current or former referee), an assistant and a replay
operator. They are situated in a video operation room which is essentially a
bank of monitors offering different camera angles. The technology seeks to
review the four decisions which are decisive to the determination of match
results: goals (and violations in the build-up to them), penalties, red cards
and mistaken identity in awarding a card. For a decision to be overturned, it
must be a “clear error”.
The process of reviewing a decision works in two ways;
either the referee request a review after making a decision or the VAR team
recommend one. The referee has three options in the process. They immediately
overturn the call based on the VARs advice, review the incident themselves on
the monitor on the touchline or stick to their initial decision.
Although VAR is not currently written into the laws of
the game, but is being tested in a number of leagues and tournaments around the
world by the International Football Association Board (IFAB) which is
responsible for those laws.
Meanwhile, FIFA has got a closer look at the system at
a number of its international tournaments such as Under-20 World Cup and
Confederations Cup. And more importantly FIFA president Gianni Infantino is
happy with it and confident enough that VAR will prove a positive addition to
the next World Cup tournament despite some criticism against the technology.
MY
VERDICT: SCARP OFF SOME POWERS FROM REFS!
VAR seems a much better intervention than Goal-line
technology as the former tackles multiple issues in the game than the goal
issue only.
Although Oli Platt of Goal.com reported that referees,
players, coaches, administrators and fans have mixed reactions about
performance of VAR but FIFA and its president Infantino insist the system-
while imperfect-has been a success. Certain players and coaches have been less
impressed with VAR at the Confederation Cup with common complaint of time taken
to review decisions and the way that causes confusion and brings halt to the
play. Another challenge was that not every contentious decision would be
selected for review.
Platt observed that there is a simple fact that while
VAR should help referees to make correct decisions, it does not guarantee them;
calls are still made according to the officials’ judgment. This was also
concurred with former premier league referee Mark Hasley who took it to
twitter.
“What on earth is going on with VAR? It’s a shambles.
There are protocols in place but officials are not adhering to it.” Wrote
Hasley.
“VAR will only work with factual decisions, not
subjective ones.” Pundit and ex-player Danny Higginbotham said. “Blatant red
card but when based on a ref’s opinion, VAR pointless.”
As such in addressing the refereeing issues, do not
overlook the need for legal review. Ideally to reduce the powers of making the
final decision to a certain degree that allows intervention within the match. While
VAR is in place, but still whatever the referee considers factual will stand as
final.
Who proposed the idea that the referees’ decisions
should be final? Did they holistically consider factors that affect a referee’
decision in a game? I believe the committee
meeting of that time ignored these facts: Referees are sports fans with a favorite
supporting team. And too these are people who are capable of being swayed with
money or any other gifts or kind. Most importantly the referees are infallible
to human errors in making decisions. Anyway
that was out of their brilliance. But for now, following what has been
experienced so far, I for one think it is high time some powers have to be
revoked and be deposed elsewhere for scrutiny, appeal and repeal.
INTRODUCE
MANUAL ASSISTANT REFEREE (MAR) IN MALAWI
Basically this writing aims at addressing two issues.
Firstly, the irregularities identified in the VAR which to the farthest centers
on superiority of who holds responsibility of the final decision on the pitch.
This anomaly is technically tricky on grounds that the referee still holds the
final and legally undisputable decision even if it means nullifying VAR
decision, but also that the ref has little time to make up that kind of decision.
This means the human and deliberate mistakes will still appear on the scene
consistently despite the VAR intervention.
“From the book; FIFA
Laws of the Game 2011-2012 (rule number 5), the referee can change the
decision only if play has not restarted. Once play restarts, the goal will
stand. “The decisions of the referee regarding facts connected with a play including
whether or not a goal is scored and the result of the match, are final.
The referee may only change a decision on realizing
that it is incorrect or at his discretion on the advice of an assistant referee
or the fourth official. Provided that he has not restarted play or terminated
the match.”
There is a room to utilize the refereeing decision
framework before the play has been restarted. This will probably upholds the
status quo of situations where appeals after play restarts rarely changes
result of the game hence the need for scrutiny of ref powers and institution of
MAR in poor countries like Malawi.
Meanwhile, looking at status and demands of the VAR
and the countries in which the technology has ever been tested, Malawi cannot
either sniff of it anytime soon. Malawi is poor and cannot afford that kind of
technology in the vicinity period. But more painful and surprising, the referees
mistakes are so grave and keep on spoiling the game almost weekly in Malawi.
APPROACH
The approach is that check with the FIFA refereeing
legal frameworks to truck possibilities that can be available to review some of
the archaic laws such as the one cited above. If the undergoing allows the regional
bodies to use or amend the laws to accommodate local conditions, then convene
consultations on how best to reduce powers of central referee especially in
making the final decision. There are so many intelligent people around the
world knowledgeable with sports and refereeing issues. If that has happen, then
fine and good, wait patiently as I click the page down.
Establish a team of three well-trained officials (which
I have named Manual Assistant Refereeing; MAR)
to be presiding over ‘real serious pitch controversies only’. I mean serious
contentions only just because on the pitch sideways there are also assistant
referees who help the central referee with certain decisions. However, watching
the game from afar with purposes of assessment and trucking is very much
effective than pitch assistants.
Advertise the post to interested but preferably the
former footballers or referees so that there is shortened timeframe of training
as the shortlisted will already have experience and knowledge of the game.
Train the successful individuals on analysis of the main serious offenses or
issues that attract controversies in the game.
The training will probably add expertise to making decisions but also
appreciating dynamics in the game time and again.
Allocate some two minutes or so for discussion with
the MAR panel and opinion of the 2/3 participants to win the final decision
about the scene similar to the way Supreme Court judges deliver sentence. The
stopped time can be added on at the end of 45’ or 90’ the way it is done with
stoppages of players’ injury.
OPPORTUNITIES
Manual Assistant Referee has enormous benefits.
Firstly, it will improve quality of the game as the MAR panel will be able to
detect incidents missed by the officials on the pitch. Very many times people
who watch games on Television think referees are idiots when they miss to
detect an incident on the pitch.
But what these people forget is that the ref has only
one opportunity to see a scene and make a ruling. On contrary, the spectators
have a third eye on the incident (the camera) which shows the incident from
various angles with replays as well. As such the incident; be a tackle, hand
ball, penalty call or a goal is clearly shown. Therefore MAR will be acting
like manual cameras of the game.
Secondly, MAR system will provide job opportunity for
the retired footballers and referees who are just languishing in the homes. In
Europe, when footballers retire they have opportunity to become analysts and
pundits while the lucky ones join the coaching.
Unfortunately even in Europe, the coaching cannot
absorb many people as is the case in Malawi. As such former footballers expose
the experience they acquired in football during their career days to rusting
due to lack of opportunities to transfer them. MAR will benefit from these
icons while awarding them the part time opportunity to make money. For
instance, allocate k15, 000 per each MAR official, from the gate collections.
This will save hundreds of thousands kwacha in return from damages or fines
that originate from refereeing mistake.
Well, am afraid I have to end it here for now…
nevertheless the issue has not been fully exhausted. This is just
groundbreaking. More new ideas on how best to improve it are very much welcome!
Happy festive
season and prosperous New Year ahead.
