It’s time to get behind the Referees
As I reflect on another season, there are
some things I feel very strongly about. Refereeing is one of them. To be honest
I am getting a bit fed up of people complaining about the standard of
refereeing in Hong Kong. It is unnecessary and ultimately counter-productive.
I would say, 90% of the complaints are
unjustified. By that I mean that the decisions taken on the pitch are actually
correct under the laws of the game. I know this is true because every time
someone complains about a specific event, I go back and review the incident on
DVD (we record all of our matches). So why do people feel the need to complain?
Well actually there are a number of reasons;
·
They genuinely believe decision
was incorrect
·
The complainant doesn’t know
the laws (it’s surprising how often this is the case even among players,
coaches and team officials)
·
It’s an emotional over-reaction
when decisions have not gone their way
·
The result was poor, so they
must find someone else to blame
·
They’re jumping on a popular
band wagon, ‘Fergie, Wenger, Mourinho etc complain about referees, so I should
too’
·
In extreme cases it can even be
pure vindictiveness
Some people may have other reasons that I
don’t know about but I think they should take a leaf out of Claudio Ranieri’s
book. When decisions didn’t go his way recently he refused to criticize the
referee saying that the result would not change anyway and that bad decisions
even out over the course of the season, so what is the point of complaining?
Everyone and I mean everyone makes mistakes from time to time and as
fallible human beings, it is inevitable that referees will do so too. During
the course of a match, officials make hundreds of decisions, the vast majority
of which go unnoticed simply because they are correct and play continues. These
decisions are made in a split second without the advantage of an elevated
viewing position or instant replay. And like I say, even when complaints are
made, the decision turns out to be correct nine times out of ten.
Believe me I would have a big problem if I
thought the few mistakes that happen were made deliberately e.g. to favour a
particular team or to influence the outcome of a match. But that’s not the case,
I’m sure of that. Genuine mistakes I can accept and so should everyone else.
The most important thing is that we learn from our mistakes. The performance of
every HKFA referee is scrutinized by a qualified assessor. If corrective action
is deemed necessary by our Referee Manager and the Referee Committee, it is
taken. This can mean suspension, a period of re-education or other sanctions.
Our Referee Department is trying hard to recruit, train, evaluate and improve
referees.
I’m not saying there isn’t room for
improvement because there always is and I think the referees themselves would
be the first to admit that. In the same way as there is room for improvement in
all aspects of football in Hong Kong including the quality of players, coaches,
team officials, infrastructure etc. We are on a journey and we all need to work
together, rather than be divisive.
The reason why I say complaining is
counter-productive is because football needs referees. Without them there is no
match, full stop! The more we complain, the less likely it is that we get
people wanting to be referees.
So in my opinion people should accept that
mistakes will occur and let the HKFA get on with selecting, training and (where
necessary) re-training referees.
Where these people are associated with football
clubs they also have a responsibility to educate their players and coaches to
respect the referee’s decision and get on with the game. Far too often this
season we have seen players surrounding referees shouting and swearing and far
too often we have seen coaches screaming and gesticulating wildly, sometimes
even coming onto the pitch (for which they should be disciplined). This sort of
behaviour is unacceptable, sets a bad example and is far worse in my opinion
than a referee making an occasional honest mistake.
It’s time to support our referees not
disrespect them and if people can’t do that then perhaps they should put on a
black jersey themselves and see if they can do a better job.
Mark Sutcliffe, CEO
