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"Extra Referees???"

Thought that I’d pose this question here after arguing loudly about the topic in the pub Saturday night, the question being ‘If introducing an extra official/s into Football is the way to go, in an attempt to remove some of the more scandalous decisions made by Referees and Referees Assistants’ (how PC).

It seems that not a week can go by during the footballing calendar without some sort of controversy sparking endless debate by the media pundits. Whether it’s a goal that shouldn’t have been or one that should, the managerial gripes about ‘unfair decisions’ are taking over as the talking points of the beautiful game. These refereeing faux pas can be quite damaging to a team in certain positions, take Man City for example. I’m not saying that they wouldn’t still have been relegated, but it could be argued that things would have worked out differently if the right decision had of been made in certain situations by the man in charge. They did have some outstandingly bad decisions go against them and when your fighting for a Premiership place, it’s easy to see how they might feel hard done by. (I’m not a City fan btw)

The third eye option has been more or less quashed due to the time it would take to go upstairs to a replay ref., though it could be used in certain situations with good effect. It would only take a few seconds to get an answer, how much time is wasted during a game by players surrounding the ref after a contentious decision?

A more feasible option could be the addition of extra officials to a game, either on the field or on the touchline. Ice Hockey in the US for example recently introduced two referees for a game, which has worked really well for this sport at least. The NHL also uses the replay official for debatable goals; it only takes a minute to come to the right decision that is after all, what we all want (I think). Would this approach work for our beloved association football?

Extra referee’s assistants may help as well, perhaps not having to leg it up and down the side of a field for ninety odd minutes will help them to stay in the right place to spot key incidents in a game, as well as the off the ball action that goes on behind the referees back. These are picked up on video usually and players may still be disciplined by the F.A., but if they should be off the field at the time of the foul, not one month down the line when the ban takes effect. Looking at another yank sport, American Football uses a host of striped overseers to guarantee fair play, yes I know it’s a completely different game, but if a player commits an infraction in this sport then it is almost always spotted and punished accordingly.

So what do people think then? From said inebriated discussion two camps emerged. The ‘That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard’ faculty, against the ‘Well, the powers that be in Football have to do something’ clan. I fall into the latter of these two groups. Football has seen changes tried and implemented before, how about one that rids us of the post game banter about how the ‘Referee’s a w**ker’

The referee`s mistakes today are no worse than the ones made in the 60`s, 70`s or 80`s .It`s just that there is more pressure on refs from the media and Tv pundits who are always having a go at refs. If these guys like Mark Lawrenson, Andy Townsend, John Barnes and Barry Venison want to give something back to football they should become referees and see how difficult it is. I remember when Dundee utd played Motherwell around ten years ago. The Motherwell goalpoast had its netting loose at one side and when Utd player Paddy Connoly scored, the ball went through the net and into the crowd. The ref gave a goal-kick ,but the player, the opposition and all the fans behind the goal knew that it was a goal. They had tv evidence as well but Dundee utd have never been awarded the goal .Another ref(John Rowbotham) saw Rangers player Paul Gascgoine head-butt Aberdeen player John Inglis but didn`t even book him. Duncan Ferguson ended up in Jail for a similar incident.

That might work in the Colombian leagues for example, where most of the players are ‘Bandito’s’ anyway. Not quite the answer for most footballing nations though.... possibly the Germans.

I feel that giving guns to the players would settle any arguments concerning which team kicked it better than the other team.

That problem can be overcome without too much trouble, by assigning distinct responsibilities to the officials during the game. If you had two referees for example, one referee would have overall responsibility for the game, with a second ref. That looks for specific incidents. This ref. would be very much in the background, perhaps concentrating on the off the ball action away from the main play, which the head ref. If you like is solely responsible for. I just think these things, or something needs to be tried, if they don’t work then fine don’t implement them.

If so many fans/pundits are happy with the way the game if officiated then why do so many complain about it. If you break the rules the offending player should be suitably punished, just saying ‘That’s Football’ accepts that players in some cases cheat and cost teams anything up to World Cup elimination.

If they introduced extra refs or whatever who would have over all say? surely the final decision has to come down to one person or all hell would break out if the officials disagreed!

It was silly enough on Friday when the linesman did not make a decision as to who the ball came off on the side line he just looked at the ref! he is supposed to be the decision maker and refs eyes in that part of the field but obviously had his eyes shut (as he was right next to them!) so just wimped out!! Good job it was only a so called "friendly!".

I think the split second decision should be made and adhered to by all.. players, managers and fans - lets see any of them do the same job as well as most Refs..especially trying to be unbiased - although all refs must have their favourites and clubs they want to see beaten!

What can you expect from the Americans though. Their Ideas during the World Cup were generally way over the top, in an attempt to make goals more common place. Defending might not be the most interesting aspect of football, but it’s equally valid. Removing the offside rule would be an absolute disaster, the game is fine the way it is. I just want to see the rules as they stand properly enforced and if one ref. and two linesman can’t do that then something has to change.

Yeah seriously in years to come there might not be an off-side law. Back in 1994 when America had the world cup there were a lot of stupid things being touted around. Stories of Time-outs in Major league soccer and having no goalkeepers was another.There was rumours of the away team getting two points for a draw while the home team only gets one - putting the onus on the home side to attack, But the onus would be on the away team to play for a draw. Fifa introduce any new rules into the game worldwide and in the mid 90s I had heard a possibility of the off-side rule being no more. Some pundits agreed it would make for more open and exciting football but the debate has died down since. Everyone thought the no pass-back rule would be difficult to adjust to for the veteran keepers , but it is now accepted and young keepers at schools are taught to kick the ball more than ever. Rule changes soon become accepted and you could be seeing penalty areas packed with eight or nine players from the losing team when time is running out because they wont be penalised for off-side. The game is fine as it is now, so if the rules stay the same for ever more that would be fine by me.

Yes and the fact that it's bright outside at like 3am! And I have just seen the most incredible thing - the milk float! wow! very quiet, very fast and he reversed all the way down the street. It's amazing how few people have milk delivered nowadays. Shame really!

Insomnia eh, I have extra innings Baseball on C5 to blame for my presence at this godforsaken hour...

belly wrote:
> They could banish the off-side law because when someone
like Kanoute or Henry is playing it can be a long afternoon for one Referee.

Ban the offside rule; I hope your joking about that!!! I suppose if you wanted the game to degenerate into playground ‘scrum football’, with a knot of players running around like maniacs, then dropping offside is the way to go. Sounds a bit Jimmy Hill if you ask me.

But yes, try these things out in the less prestigious divisions somewhere first to see how it goes for a season, then weigh up the merits and decide.