For the Integrity of Soccer

Basic training & education: An example of need

    I have advocated an overhaul of our training program to make sure that step-by-step, we build into our training all the techniques referees need, to deal with all the methods players use to subvert the laws of the game.  The game in Dallas exemplified the need:  A referee was assigned to a match he was not capable of refereeing, he had never been taught basic techniques of control and management, and no assessors and instructors had helped him rise to the level required before he took the match.

    That referee was near the top of the training-pyramid; what of someone near the bottom?  Read on and weep...

A fair question: What would I have done in Dallas?

    Very soon after I used the example of a rather sad event in Dallas to highlight a deficiency in the education of an inexperienced referee being given his first crack at a pro game, I received several requests for an explanation.  They deserve answers, and so here they are. 

Offside subtleties... by Ed Bellion

    Incidents in two recent games have highlighted the difficult question for referees and their assistants of correctly judging "interfering with play" or "interfering with an opponent" or "gains an advantage" in cases where a player is in an offside position, but does not get the ball himself.  In one case the decision was correctly reached, in the other case perhaps not....

Solutions, Part II: Relevant training for everyone . . .

    You can't help but like (and enjoy!) the new weekly observations of MLS coming out of the referee department.  Accurate, sensible, timely, the comments ought to reach as many referees as possible, and I hope someone is recording the hits every week.  Only by gauging the outreach of the message can we decide whether we need to improve the distribution of it.
    In this second part of explaining what I would do to improve the referee program, I must give credit where it belongs--to the ancient Egyptians, for they discovered something fundamental that applies to any educational system: You can't build a pyramid from the top down.  Let me explain...

A perfect DOGSO, by Ed Bellion

    During the recent EPL match between Manchester City and Portsmouth, fans saw a perfect example of the correct application of the "denies an obvious goalscoring opportunity" clause of Law 12, commonly referred to as DOGSO.   But, the incident should cause all referees to re-evaluate how we judge these offences…

Comments problem

    I'm having trouble with the controls for comments.  The site seems to want an "all or none" decision, and that is not what I want to do.  Moderate, yes; eliminate, no.  I'll get it figured out tonight.

    In the meantime, here is a comment I received this morning and have pasted in rather clumsily.

The clean, fresh winds of change . . .

   . . . do make the most intractable curmudgeon smile (as in the image to the left), and he feels good!

A simple request...

    One of the most prolific poets in English literature is someone named "Anon".  He or she seems prolific because for reasons unknown, the writer of those hundreds of poems chose to remain hidden.  Why?  We may never know.

    Here on this site, I ask that if you are going to get ad hominen, as has happened this morning, have enough respect for the audience to identify yourself, or use an email address that allows me or anyone else to have a conversation about whatever controversy excites you.  I'm not averse to documenting or discussing what I write, but I will not trade insults with anyone.

    So, "dev", drop me a note at cymro@mcn.org and let's have a civilized exchange.  I did reply to your post, but I suspect it will remain undelivered, so this appeal here is all I can do to promote a discussion.  However, I have now chosen to moderate comments that are sent to this site, and will not allow ad hominem attacks to appear.  So do it privately or not at all.  Thankyou.

Solutions, Part I: Knowledge without integrity . . .

   All refereeing activity depends upon integrity—absolute integrity—of the officials.  An honest result in any sporting contest is nurtured by knowing that you can trust the unbiased judgments and interpretations of impartial men and women.  Nothing less will do.

    How do you train such people?  How do you convince them of the virtue of honest competition, and the need for them to be virtuous?  Expert in the laws they may become, but their expertise is useless if it is not applied even-handedly.  "Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful." (Samuel Johnson, 1709-84).

    To my mind, from the first day of their training, you have to set them an example of incorruptibility, probity and—to borrow the word Herb Silva has used so well these recent weeks--honor.  Now if you like that notion and if you are still with me, let’s take a look back at the last few years of national testing to see how we are doing in setting such an example.

What would I do?

    On February 11 of this year I received a note from “GPB” suggesting that I write positive stuff as well as “rampant criticisms”.  Fair comment, I suppose, except that I did set up this site to describe, comment on, and hope for changes in our referee program.  Inevitably, the prose is critical, occasionally sarcastic, but is devoted to “the integrity of soccer”, which I believe can be preserved only by good refereeing. 

    But the reader’s comment forced me to think about what I would do if I were a force in the administration of the national program.  I would do three things, all of which fall under the purview of the national referee committee and the staff who administer the program…