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Football Referees: They Are The Ones To Watch

April 9, 2008

So, Arsenal was kicked out of the Champions League by Liverpool and in both matches of the quarter final the Reds got a vital referee’s decision in their favour that eventually sealed the result: when playing away, they avoided being given an obvious penalty and when they played at home they were awarded one which wasn’t really a penalty. In fact, in the first match at the Emirates Stadium the ref was about five yards from the spot where Liverpool’s Kuyt (sorry, don’t know his first name) brought Arsenal’s Niklas Bendtner down in the penalty area. He, the ref that is, could see the foul in all its glory. And yet, he didn’t hesitate, even for a moment, and awarded a corner. Now why would that be? Was he blinded by all that flash photography by any chance or was he, perhaps, not wearing his contact lenses that day? I thought it was very strange, especially as after the game Kuyt (sorry, still don’t know his first name) mentioned in passing that he knew the referee well.

The situation surrounding the decision to award the penalty to Liverpool at Anfield was a bit different as the referee there wasn’t in the immediate vicinity, but, of course, the line ref saw the whole thing and should have pointed out to the boss what had happened, i.e. that there was hardly any contact between the players. But no, the ref to the delight of the Liverpool players and fans immediately pointed to the penalty spot.

Call me naive, but in a Champions League quarter-final very serious money is at stake, both for the clubs themselves and for all those punters who like a flutter. So any controversial decisions by the referee should be scrutinised after each match and all sorts of questions should be asked. Furthermore, there should be an interest shown in whether the standards of living of the referee in question had suddenly improved at some point after the match. You know, whether, for example, he bought a luxury car, or moved to a better living accommodation, or whether he went on a long cruise with all his family. There are quite a number of signs that help to establish whether serious money had changed hands as a result of a certain decision made on the pitch.

I personally have never heard of any referees taken to task after they made controversial decisions that sealed the fate of important matches. And that at a time when we hear so match about huge betting syndicates in Asia trying to influence crucial matches all over the world and make hundreds of millions in profits as a result. Now, in the case of Arsenal versus Liverpool the Londoners were the favourites to win. And they didn’t. And all because of two decisions by two referees. Doesn’t exactly sound right, does it? There is a certain bad taste left in the mouth and all sorts of unpleasant questions arise.

I’m not a die-hard football fan. Sure, I watch some of the matches from time to time but my views on the beautiful game usually clash with the established opinion. Take Arsenal, for example. I don’t consider Arsene Wenger to be a great manager that everyone says he is. I think that he has taken the easy route by buying up ready foreign talent. This is not good. A great manager has to develop at least some local talent – if only to cut the rate of youth crime in the area – otherwise he’s simply creaming off the results of hard work done by others. Also, I think that he hasn’t been able to develop his young team in such a way that their attacks have a logical conclusion. Their game is often very impressive, when it comes to passing and gradual advancement to the opponent’s penalty area, but they so often fail to deliver that one important final touch – scoring a goal. I sometimes have a feeling that Arsenal players are afraid to conclude the attack and pass the ball to each other as if saying, ‘You do it today, I’m not really in the mood.’ All that fancy passing is great when it leads to a goal, but passing for the sake of passing – it doesn’t really lead anywhere, does it?

As for Rafael Benitez of Liverpool, well, he has developed his own distinctive player on player game pattern when each team member is basically shadowing some player of the opposite team and preventing him from receiving the ball or advancing with it. Liverpool, of course, plays power football with its long passes and determined dashes to the penalty area of the opposing team. Power football is about storming the goals rather than using tactical cunningness and individual play to advance. Although now that they have young Fernando Torres in their midst the Reds just might be getting some of that individual magic that they lacked in the past.

I also have to point out that both Wenger and Benitez don’t really excite my imagination with their post-match commentaries. Honestly, these guys are getting paid a lot of money, some would even argue that they are paid too much money, and yet every time they’re asked to give their views on a match they produce such pathetic drivel and say things that are so blatantly obvious that it becomes really embarrassing to listen to them. Excuse me, gentlemen, but you are addressing the people who contribute to your huge salaries so, please, stop taking us all for idiots and have the decency to give us some sort of analysis of the game. Or, if you are totally unable to do it, send some bright young club official instead who’d be able to run through the match and give us a good account of all the exciting moments, both on and off the pitch.

But let me return to that problem of bad decisions by referees. It does look ridiculous that in our technological age, when you can have a replay of the incident before it had actually occurred, it seems a big deal for someone to have a quick glance at the monitor and inform the ref on the pitch through his earpiece that he’s got it seriously wrong. That would work, believe me. And then the teams that really deserve to win will win and the betting syndicates will have to be content with their roles of observers rather than king makers.

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