Men in Black (or White, or Pink or Red)

Photo : Massimo Bussaca. I 'ope you bloody choke on that whistle one day!

I suppose after last night’s shenanigans today isn’t the best day for this post, but it is something that I have been brewing for a while. The standards seem to be dropping, there is no set criteria, the crap way and English ref does things is different to the crap way a Spanish ref does things, each as confusing as the other. There is no common sense these days.

Let’s reflect for a moment on the latest developments to combat the refereeing crisis that UEFA/FIFA have brought out:

1. The fourth official. What purpose does he serve? Yes, he can replace the referee or a linesman in case of injury. Yes he can hold a board up advising of substitutions and however many extra minutes less or more the ref has decided to help their favorites with . In no game have I seen this official intervene, even when the action was under his nose and the ref has made a poor decision. In reality the position is a punishment, as he is only there to take shit from either or both benches. The purpose seems to be to explain how the ref can make such shite calls, and why should he have to if it make not one jot of difference.

2. The stoopid rule about linesman not lifting the flag for offside until the player touches the ball. Oh fer fecks sake…..just lift the flag….why bloody confuse things! How many times do you look up, see the lineo hasn’t flagged, think you are in and them…..5 seconds after the event up goes the arm.

3. The worthless inclusion of more referees behind each goal in European games. What is the point when all they do is back the principal referee’s decision? I have not seen any instance where they have intervened to rectify the ref’s bad call. Not one. So what’s the point? A couple of weeks ago (Think it was Lyon against Madrid), a free kick smacked into the raised hand of a defender, right under the nose of this official….but as the ref gave nothing, he didn’t either. All this does is show us that the object is to have the ref make decisions (good or bad) but have the backing of more officials. Evidently they have no power other than so that the ref can say “see….I was right….the ref behind the goal saw the same as me”.

Makes me wonder what on earth the refereeing assessors do at each game. I’ve seen premier league refs make terrible rickets, awful, ridiculous decisions……and just 3 days later are taking charge of a top of the table clash or a cup final. I suspect they (the assessors) just make sure that there is no discussion between the 4 or 6 officials; that they just agree with the ref or are overruled by him. Time after time you see in all leagues, when a lineo is unsure he just dithers until the ref decides and then gets all as if he was absolutely sure from the start.

Then there is the refusal to use any type of technology for games with plenty enough images from every angle. Why not? Not for every decision…..heaven forbid, but I have seen it work so well in rugby, cricket, what the Americans call football, even snooker, so why are the bods at FIFA and UEFA so against it? Is it down to control? If the decision is out of corruptible, influenced human hands, does this take away their power to influence results? For example…..had the ref of the England – Germany game at the world cup been given “guidance” from FIFA? Did this effect his decision when the famous shot that was a long way in the goal wasn’t given? Goal-line technology takes away this power of influence, and that is why I think they don’t want it.

What’s the issue with admitting officials can be wrong? They are human after all. If it helps to get the right decision….what’s the problem? Why can’t managers have 2 red hankies to throw when the want something reviewed because they think it’s wrong? Surely we all want the right decision? But again, this would take away the power to influence proceedings.

We have seen a lot of betting scandals in other sports (especially cricket). There is a lot of money involved now at world-cup or Champions league level. Are the FIFA officials who just strangely awarded Russia and Qatar (yes, Qatar) world cups (one can only imagine the number of Russian whores and Swiss bank accounts used to make this happen....allegedly....jeje) going to be above influencing a result? Methinks not……

There I go talking a load of bollocks again. Or am I?????




Photo : Blatter. Would you buy a second hand car from this man? No, thought not.