The announcement of Howard Webb as the referee of this weekend's Manchester derby caused many groups of City fans to take to social media and call fix, at times abusing the policeman from the North East. This all comes after a statement last week from former referee Mark Halsey, who has said that without further support for the officials, we will soon see a referee becoming so under pressure they may consider taking their own life. Whilst this claim may appear dramatic on the surface, there is much in the way of evidence to support it. This post will look at recent examples of top class referees being put under intense pressure, before examining the potential fixes to this problem.
In terms of examples, I can recall three in recent years of referees receiving threats against his person, or even his life. The one I will start with is Tom Henning Ovrebo, whose name will be all too familiar with Chelsea fans. In the 2009 UEFA Champions League semi final, the Norwegian had a shocking evening, refusing to grant Chelsea two stonewall penalties, and potentially even a third, and debatably dismissing Eric Abidal. However, the final two penalty claims, which came after Andres Iniesta's dramatic late equaliser, sent many of the Chelsea players into a rage, surrounding the referee in complaint. The Norwegian left the field to a chorus of boos. Had that been the end of the story, it would have been acceptable, as the crowd has every right to voice their displeasure. What they do not have the right to do is send the referee threatening messages, both through the post and over social networking sites. This is what happened to Ovrebo, with threats against his life common in the following fortnight.
Example number two is the referee of the EURO 2004 quarter final between Portugal and England: Urs Meier. The Swiss official generally had a good game, however his performance will be best remembered for a shocking error which cost England their place in the competition. At 2-2, and deep into stoppage time, a Beckham corner was met powerfully by Sol Campbell, thumping the ball into the net. Unbelievably, the referee had blown his whistle for a foul, despite Campbell failing to come into contact with anyone until after he had headed the ball. This effectively denied England a place in the semi-finals, and ultimately eliminated them, as penalties resulted in the inevitable elimination. Meier, like Ovrebo, suffered an influx of death threats, leading to him being given personal security for some time afterwards.
The final example is the one referred to by Mark Halsey last week. Mark Clattenburg was relieved of his refereeing duties mid-way through last season, after it emerged that accusations had been made that the official had racially abused Chelsea's John Obi Mikel. In fact, these accusations had been completely fabricated by the Chelsea players, and passed onto Mikel as if fact. This led, understandably, to a very angry Nigerian. However, less acceptable was his reaction. After the game had concluded the midfielder, by all accounts, barged into the referee's dressing room and threatened to break his legs. It has to be said that these rumours were not started by Mikel himself, so it is slightly different to other examples. However, it does indicate just how high passions run on the football field.
So what can be done to help referees? Having experienced abuse from the sidelines as a referee first-hand, I can certainly vouch for the argument that the Respect campaign has done next to nothing for the game. People can still lip read what Wayne Rooney says to referees, players continue to get in the faces of referees when a decision goes against them, and I am certain that there are many incidents that go completely unpunished. Any referee that feels threatened is unacceptable, and must be stamped out. What crowds don't understand when they abuse referees is that without one, the game could not begin. It is therefore pointless abusing them, and even more pointless complaining about decisions that have already been made. We will not change our minds!
Having said that, recieving abuse from fans during the game is something that a referee has to accept as being part and parcel of the game. When passions run high, sometimes fans will use offensive language towards officials that have made poor decisions. That is not to excuse racist or any other type of discriminatory abuse, as that is certainly the exception to the rule. However, general abuse from the fans is to be expected, and referees have put themselves in the frame for that. The area that football needs to stamp out of the game is the abuse of referees by footballers on the pitch, and the subsequent abuse that referees recieve after the game.
In terms of the off-field abuse, which has often resulted in death threats being sent to referees, there is little more the world of football can do other than to appeal to the common sense of the football fans involved. The police must be trusted to act swiftly and harshly against offenders, and football as a sport must punish any person found guilty with lifetime bans. I think the best way to combat the ever declining treatment of officials on the pitch is to go right back to the very grass roots of the game and make more sending-off worthy offences. Attempting the top-down approach, like the Respect, has been proven to be ineffective, so perhaps it is best to concentrate on the next generation of football players. By giving harsher sanctions for dissent and abuse from a very early age, to both the players and the crowd, referees can wrestle back the control from the sidelines, and gain the sort of status that rugby officials enjoy. Whilst not available at the grass roots, video and audio technology could also be used to retrospectively ban players who have been caught abusing referees on camera or microphone. However, one way in which referees can help themselves is by explaining their decisions, and admitting when they have made mistakes. I am a big supporter of referee press conferences, as it gives the officials the chance to explain their actions, and give the situation from their perspective. This would help to clear up much of the debate of the did they/didn't they see it.
Nevertheless, even without these press conferences, abuse of any referee is unacceptable. And it does not bode well for the future of the game. Speaking from experience, the abuse that I recieved from parents at youth level as a referee at 14 well and truly put me off from continuing it as a career. If more make the same decision, we could find ourselves with a distinct shortage of top quality referees, which will only anger fans more, as more mistakes will be made. Referees are put under exceptional pressure, and they do an excellent job 99% of the time. And 99% of fans respect that. But we still need to act to prevent that 1% of fans in the 1% of cases ruining football in the present, and the future.
No comments:
Post a Comment