(Bob Evans, who runs his own blog in California among many writing enterprises, has written this excellent piece about the fashionable idea of ex-players becoming referees. Read his refereeing blog on http://fortheintegrityofsoccer.blogs.com/ )
THE REFEREEING PROBLEM SOLVED!
On April 11, I posted a blog about an apparent crack in the edifice of the referee program in Chicago. One of the “Powerful Pentad”, Joe Machnik, had suggested a way to solve the problem of ineffective refereeing in Major League Soccer. The “crack” was that at last someone responsible for the state of refereeing in this country would admit that there was something wrong. Joe’s idea was to recruit some retired professional players, fast-track them through referee-training and then employ them in MLS. Well, it has started! The first part of the education was study of the Laws of the Game, and what is acceptable refereeing practice throughout the world. The second was to take them to a game and ask for their observations, so that the instructors could be assured that the players learned something. Here are the comments on a recent World Cup match as one of the retired professional players saw it.
Marcelo Balboa played more than 150 games in MLS, and represented the U.S. as a defender in three consecutive World Cups in the 1990s. When offered the opportunity of refereeing, he couldn’t resist the chance to share his expertise, and tell referees where they have been going wrong. He’s been doing that for some time as an analyst for ESPN. The match was U.S.A. versus Ghana, and the instructors knew that this would be a good test for Balboa, since he would have to put aside his chauvinism, and call it objectively. Could he do it?The referee was Marcus Merck of Germany, and he established his presence in the fifth minute when he cautioned Essien of Ghana for a foul. Balboa disagreed with the decision saying it was “…too early for a card for that kind of foul.” Now that’s a new piece of information from the laws, that there are only certain times in a game that you can issue a caution. But to be fair to Balboa, I haven’t refereed since 1992 and maybe FIFA has changed things recently. But a couple of minutes later, our fledgling referee showed that he has a clear grasp of the purpose of disciplinary action taken by a referee. Eddie Lewis of the U.S. was cautioned for a deliberate handball. Balboa protested the decision because “…that yellow card can change the way you play!” Duh! By eleven minutes into the game, Marcelo was really getting into the swing of things, and he began to refer back to the U.S.A./Italy game, pointing out to anyone who would listen that the red cards in that game were wrong. It had been his opinion that the referee should have been sent home, but by the time of this U.S./Ghana game, FIFA had rewarded those “wrong” decisions by giving the official another game. Fancy that! In the nineteenth minute, Donovan was penalized for being offside and interfering with play, but Balboa saw it differently. Perhaps he hadn’t heard his instructors define when a forward, leaning well past the defender, was considered to be nearer the goal-line than the last-but-one opponent was. Offside can be tricky, Marcelo, but Joe can find a way to teach you to catch up! At 32 minutes into the match, Balboa brought all his years of experience into his decision-making as he commented on a yellow card shown to a Ghanaian whose elbow hit his opponent’s face: “That’s not a yellow card! You are allowed to put your arms out to protect yourself.”
Enough already! You get the picture, and I’m not comfortable using a whole blog on nothing but sarcasm. Suffice it to say that Marcelo Balboa failed this assessment, and would needs lots of work before he was fit to referee. His comments were based upon the laws and the actions of referees from the time when he still played, more than a decade ago. The game is changing, Marcelo, and you have to change with it. In fact, all referees (and commentators) do. FIFA wants to change the way the game is played, and the referees are the agents by which those changes will be wrought. When the idea of using ex-professional players as referees came out years and years ago, it seemed like a good one. But around the world, there are very few such referees, and I am bound to wonder whether the scheme has ever worked or would work here. We’ve not done very well training referees for the top-level as it is, let alone trying to turn pro players into Collinas on a fast track.
2 comments:
Most sports don't have a large number of former players who are referees. It does happen on occasion that former top-level player reaches the "big league" as an official, but rarely so. Personally, as an amateur league referee I never cease to be amazed at what even very good players DON'T know, as typified by the comment here by Balboa. Last week, I was refereeing an adult amateur match, tied up 1-1 with less than 3 minutes to play. The weaker team was hanging on by their fingernails against the league champs, when a defender blatantly held an attacker in the penalty box. The PK I awarded gave the defending champs an oportunity to squash the weaker team's hopes for an upset. Naturally, the defenders felt the call was harsh, but in light of the game circumstances, I expected that. What I didn't expect was one of the defenders insisting that because "the hold wasn't that bad" an indirect kick was more appropriate than a PK. Although he is good player, he obviously had no concept of the rule at all. Forget former players - what I would like to see are TV announcers being required to pass a referee exam. Some of their comments, broadcast to an uneducated public, are shockingly incorrect.
Interesting to know.
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