The Men in the Middle by Chua Kee Peow
Now the title of this article says it all, doesn't it? Yes, the parties concerned here are the officials in any forms of sporting events. They are usually known either as umpires, match officials, or referees.
In football, referees have always been taking the rap for many a fault. Locally, the most common words that have been hurled at them are "kayu" (as in blockheads) or "kelong" (meaning having been bought over by the opponent). Sometimes, as football fans, we really have to ask ourselves, are we being fair to them?
Recently, in a bid to improve the refereeing standards of English referees, the English Football Association (FA) has taken some important steps to try to make refereeing more professional. In fact, they even pay the referees in the Select Group an "annual retainer" of £33,000 in addition to their match fees. This is done in the hope that the referees who officiate the matches in the English Premier League will actually conduct the match more professionally. They will also have to take a few days in a month to train in order to keep up with the likes of Michael Owen.
All these measures seem to appease some critics who have been grumbling for years that referees are not paid well enough and may involve in match-fixing or other illegal dealings. I agree, too, that by paying them more to officiate a match, there is less incentive for them to take bribes. However, it is a well-known fact that the bets that were placed on matches around the world, including on those in the English Premier League, can amount to millions. Now one will start to question the effectiveness of a small sum of £33,000 compared to the millions.
However, for any true-blue football fan (like myself), what we want to see from the referees is better professionalism in their match decisions. The FA is right in trying to get the referees to be fitter so that they can be at better spots to catch a foul or observe a goal. This would really improve the game. However, with thousands of screaming fans, mazy runs from the various players and having to keep pace with the action, it is really a wonder that these folks can actually make so many decisions in split seconds and manage to keep the game going for ninety minutes. Now that's a really tough job. I remembered many years ago that I had to officiate a friendly game of basketball (though not football) and when I blew for a foul, the offending team would glare at me as though I have made a mistake. Thus, now I really do not envy their jobs.
Then
there is the human error factor. Sometimes, it is really tough to call whether
a ball has actually crossed the line for a goal, especially when the shot is fast
and the eyes play tricks on the referees. The solution proposed is to adopt high-tech
gadgets to verify these claims or make use of video replays. I do not agree with
the use of video replays during the match as such a move would slow down the game
tremendously and it would be like watching an American Football game where a play
lasts for a few seconds only.
As football has always been a "people's game" where emotions and characters are involved, it would take people to make the game interesting and not machines or gadgets. I would think that the addition of a few more referees (e.g. one behind each of the two goals or two for each half of the field in addition to the existing assistant referees) would do a lot more for the game. This has proven to be quite effective in American Football, rugby and Aussie Rules. Perhaps a microphone for the referees (like those in American Football) to explain their decisions to the fans in the stadium would be good too.
For the time being, it is all the "bad calls" and unpunished fouls that make football such a controversial game. Let's just keep it entertaining like that, shall we?
NB: For more information on the new referee scheme of the English FA, please visit www.thefa.com.
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