Refereeing is a job completed by humans. There always has and always will be human errors. Even VAR is not 100%. The laws of the game are subject to interpretation and therefore one humans opinion will differ to another.

Refereeing today is no worse than it has been in the past and is probably a lot better give the referees today at the top are full time and fit as butchers dogs. The problem today is that for every decision there are 10 camera angles. The referee does not get those camera angles. He gets one quick look and no replays to make a snapshot decision in front of thousands of biased fans and millions of tv viewers. Just put yourself in their boots for a second.

Now forget the top side of football. There are hundreds of games of football at grassroots that struggle to get a refereee for their game. No referee. No game. Attracting the next referees of this country is already a problem given the number of verbal and sometimes physical assaults they are taking on a weekly basis. Kids of 14 trying the whistle and getting bullied by coaches and players dads. Majority of them quit because of the abuse and lack of support. How are you going to get referees to want promotion to an higher level if they are subject to being charged for making an human error?

Referees do a thankless task in this country with a lack of appropriate support. I would urge anyone who feels like the OP to go try and referee a game yourself and you would get a totally different outlook.

comment by Kebablegs (U17699)
posted 16 minutes ago
Refereeing is a job completed by humans. There always has and always will be human errors. Even VAR is not 100%. The laws of the game are subject to interpretation and therefore one humans opinion will differ to another.

Refereeing today is no worse than it has been in the past and is probably a lot better give the referees today at the top are full time and fit as butchers dogs. The problem today is that for every decision there are 10 camera angles. The referee does not get those camera angles. He gets one quick look and no replays to make a snapshot decision in front of thousands of biased fans and millions of tv viewers. Just put yourself in their boots for a second.

Now forget the top side of football. There are hundreds of games of football at grassroots that struggle to get a refereee for their game. No referee. No game. Attracting the next referees of this country is already a problem given the number of verbal and sometimes physical assaults they are taking on a weekly basis. Kids of 14 trying the whistle and getting bullied by coaches and players dads. Majority of them quit because of the abuse and lack of support. How are you going to get referees to want promotion to an higher level if they are subject to being charged for making an human error?

Referees do a thankless task in this country with a lack of appropriate support. I would urge anyone who feels like the OP to go try and referee a game yourself and you would get a totally different outlook.
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Refereeing is a hard job I agree, im talking about PROFESSIONAL level officiating not the Sunday league so no need for the good samaritan outlook. There's NO excuse for not seeing a 5 yard offside offence from 6 ft away at the top level. Some of the officiating is embarrassing and it needs sorting out. Referees and assistants get it easy at the top level, they make mistake after mistake, pointed out on soccer Saturday last weekend and sod all gets done about it, yet a manager complains about a daft decision, he gets charged for it.

They're too quick to jump onto spygate, the palace keeper doing a n@zi salute on his day off and and a fiery derby clash, yet the FA continue to allow incompetent officials to nearly spoil games.

VAR is 100%, it is the interpretation that is subjective fella.

So at what point does an amateur referee turn into a robot to referee at professional level?

Human error. We all make errors in our jobs only they are not videoed and scrutinised.

You can’t prevent human errors with all the training in the world. VAR merely produces a two tier referee service that only the top clubs will get. Why should it be more important that a Liverpool game is monitored better than a Rochdale game.

VAR should be used at all games imo, they need the help, the game is so quick and its bloody tough to spot some incidents. I just cant get over how poor the Origi v West Ham incident was and the Milner one which I saw on IG earlier.

Alioski v Derby is another one, the ref spotted the penalty but the lino well and truly messed up by flagging that he was offside. I'm all for helping officials but they don't help themselves sometimes tbh.

comment by Shaun M - They wouldn't dare win it would they Leeds? They wouldn't dare win it (U9955)
posted 19 minutes ago
VAR should be used at all games imo, they need the help, the game is so quick and its bloody tough to spot some incidents. I just cant get over how poor the Origi v West Ham incident was and the Milner one which I saw on IG earlier.

Alioski v Derby is another one, the ref spotted the penalty but the lino well and truly messed up by flagging that he was offside. I'm all for helping officials but they don't help themselves sometimes tbh.
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Think most people would like it in now but at which tier of football do they say - theyre not important enough to warrant it?

Just don’t get it ...an American Football game has EIGHT refs....they cover ALL angles and seldom miss a push, pull, shove, trip or shirt pull. Costs would be minuscule versus the money we have in football...

...the real problem ? Totally inept governance from the FIFA the FA and EFL.

The FA cup VAR issue was shocking. How Everton got fobbed off by a handball as they were playing at the den, had it been at Goodison park they'd have had VAR.

Two more excellent officiating performances tonight in the championship :/

thats certainly true about the NFL and yet they missed a massive pass interference call in the semi final which cost the Saints victory at the depth.

Another shocker last night

The Gayle penalty.

Who is to blame here? 50% Dwight Gayle 50% The Law makers.

For years and years diving was not dealt with by the authorities and it was allowed to become common place in the game. This is the exact type of support for referees that is missing. The job is hard enough without players trying to cheat you. Look at the position of the referee when Gayle dives. He’s leaning forwards trying to see through 3 players to make a decision. The two forest players are very close to Gayle who goes over. Professional or amateur at the speed of the game is these days many referees are going to get conned and keep conned by diving. The retrospective bans have been inconsistently dealt with and the punishment is not enough for the blatant ones.

I agree with Kebab that refereeing is a difficult and thankless task, especially at lower levels.

The problem isn't so much with referees making (human) mistakes, it's the fact that the FA and FL have these stupid rules in place that protect refs from any and all criticism.

If they are human and can make mistakes, they ought to be able to be criticised by managers and players for those mistakes without any retribution for those pointing out their errors.

There should also be an open system of ranking based on performances for refs to encourage them to get their decisions right and to demote or suspend (with more training) refs who consistently make bad decisions.

Equally, there should be some serious money put into the pot by the Premier League, FA and FL in order to attract more talented refs into the game - ex footballers would make excellent refs, but the salaries don't compare at the top levels.

comment by LeedsFanFor45Years (U6871)
posted 52 minutes ago

The problem isn't so much with referees making (human) mistakes, it's the fact that the FA and FL have these stupid rules in place that protect refs from any and all criticism.

If they are human and can make mistakes, they ought to be able to be criticised by managers and players for those mistakes without any retribution for those pointing out their errors.
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You couldnt be more wrong imo.

The respect given to referees - grassroots to professional is appalling from coaches/players/fans alike. Allowing an open tirade of weekly abuse from managers blaming referees would destroy any chance of attracting any more referees to the game. Why on earth would any teenager look at a referee career when all he hears after every single game every manager blaming the referee for their loss. It would happen.

How would we expect the youth players of today to respect the referee is all they heard after every game was a tirade of abuse at the referee? Pitch abuse would already worse than what it is.

Lets answer this question.......when is the last time you heard a referee criticising a managers substitution or team selection after the game? Never. Why? because a referee isnt qualified to make those judgements and it isnt is place to do so. Vice versa, the mast majority of fans and coaches in this country do not even know the laws of the game. So why would you then allow people who are not qualified to make a judgement on those that are?

Let me give you this example.
I was watching a youth game this weekend gone. The home side played an high line from the first minute and when i say high they were basically on the half way line. They were playing downhill so had a lot of possession in the opposition half. The away side had quick forwards so as soon as they won the ball they hit it into the space by the defence. Initially they were caught offside on the first maybe 7 or 8 attempts but sure enough in quick succession 2 long balls were allowed to be played on and they went 2-0 up. The home coach was straight on the attack at the referee. It was all the referees fault for not blowing for offside. Obviously. Now in that opening 15 minutes of the game i was talking to my dad and suggesting that the back line was playing far too high, were not even in a line and they would be caught out before long. It was so easy to see. Now, the game continued and the end scoreline was 1-5. It was even fought game but id guess the away side had 10 one on ones from balls over the top. Not at any point did the home manager attempt to change his defence. They continued to play on the half way line and they continued to give easy chances away. The very last minute at 1-4, the home side had a corner and every single home player except the keeper went up into the box. The away side left 2 players inside their own half near the half way line unmarked. Ball was cleared to them and they raced away and scored. Again the players and coach wanted offside. They didnt know the laws clearly. Referee had to book one player for foul and abusive language. After the game the referee was openly blamed for the defeat. The coaches said it, the players said it. The referee did not counter this and blame the coach for his non-existent skills in teaching kids how to defend or adapt to the game as required.

There is no punishment for the diving, this the problem. The ref should have got that decision right and if he can't, VAR has to be used.

Couldn't agree more, kebab.

I manage a junior football team (U14), and there's always an abundance of supposed experts on the sidelines who actually know very little.

Think refereeing is the most thankless job going, we should just be thankful people will still do it.

I do feel though that so much is at stake prize wise nowadays more technology is needed to help the ref.

The attitude from the players does annoy me whereas you get man mountains on a Rugby pitch just accepting it.

Always remember Pat Nevin having a bad decision go against him and the post match interviewer trying to stoke things up and he just replied " The ref made a decision in good faith and that's the end of it"

comment by The Very Rev Wilko (U21072)
posted 1 hour, 12 minutes ago

Always remember Pat Nevin having a bad decision go against him and the post match interviewer trying to stoke things up and he just replied " The ref made a decision in good faith and that's the end of it"
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Now there’s a good idea Pat. Let’s respect referees and accept that that it is guaranteed they will make errors. Let’s support them, encourage them and back them. Wait let’s make the job actually a relatively pleasant one so that more and more people want to do it. So many so that the standard has a chance to rise across all levels and we don’t have to rely on 72yr old arthritic knees Fred refereeing from the centre circle because there’s another shortage this weekend.

There is growing underlying opinion that referees nationwide will strike before long. Where will that leave the game.

I wasn't defending the abuse of referees, just that when mistakes have obviously been made by them, they shouldn't be immune from criticism after the match.

Abuse of referees on the pitch by the players or dug-out staff should see automatic yellow/red cards. That would cut it out straight away.

No matter what protections you give refs, they are always going to get flack from people on the sidelines be they fans or precious parents.

For instance, have the current "can't criticise the ref" rules have done much to stamp-out abuse at grass-roots level? I doubt it's had any impact. They haven't addressed the real problems.

Helping referees to make more accurate decisions, paying them on a scale that matches the league they referee in and protecting them from abuse during the game would draw more people into grass roots refereeing as they would see it as a proper career opportunity.

It also needs a ruling that all parents of football-playing youngsters can be tasered if they open their mouths to complain about refereeing.

Gayle has been charged!