Recently there have been a number of referees who have come under fire for decisions which may have changed a game and have later been proved to be incorrect. I think there are some simple steps which would improve how referees are perceived and also how football clubs react to referees.
Firstly, being a referee is a difficult job, a fast-paced game with huge stakes means players will try to gain any advantage they can, including influencing the referee.
Clubs Should Choose the Referees
Not directly, but a system should be implemented whereby referees are rated after each game by a number of people from a club (not just the manager). The ref could be scored from zero to ten. These scores should be public and then referees can be ranked. They can be promoted and relegated by the strength of their performances over a number of games. Clearly, a referee who gives all decisions to one team may get a ten from them, but they would get a zero from the other team. A ref who has managed a game may get seven or eight from each side, and therefore score higher than the biased ref. When two teams meet, the referee they have both scored the highest should be prioritised for that match.
Referees Should Work With the Same Assistants
Just like a team who know how each other play, surely a referee working with the same assistants will perform better. I don't quite understand why fourth official is usually a top referee. Surely the role of managing substitutes and adding-on time is easy, so should be the most junior position. A team of five should go to each top-flight match and they should work together and be scored together.
The Top Officials Should Get the Most Rewards
The top refereeing teams should be able to work at this full time. Football has the resources to enable this, and it would encourage more people to go into refereeing, with knowledge that good performances, consistently voted for by clubs, would lead to success.
No comments:
Post a Comment