Recent incidents in EPL have served to illustrate and magnify the deficiencies in officiating and instruction of the referees in Major League Soccer. It was pointed out previously in these pages that MLS instructions to referees suggested that added time need not be given in a game with a lop-sided score. This is clearly not the instruction given in the EPL. Consider Middlesborough at home to Portsmouth.
After 90 minutes the score was 3-0 to Portsmouth. Using MLS officiating instructions, this would seem the ideal game for no added time. The home team losing heavily (3-0 is a very unusual score for the home side to lose by in most top leagues), and to avoid further embarrassment and possible injury, it would be nice to blow for time right then.
However, due to stoppages in the game, the referee added 4 minutes. And guess what, during the added time, Portsmouth scored again making the final score 4-0. So if added time had not been applied, this final goal would not have been scored.
The scorer would have one fewer goal to his account, which could be significant in determining his potential future contracts, and the team would have one fewer goal in its record, which makes a change in the all-important goal-difference category. At the end of a season, such a small difference could cost the club literally millions in income if they fail to qualify for future tournaments as a result of it, or even worse, are relegated to a lower division.
When I assessed referees in MLS, I often asked why cautions were not issued near the end of a game for fouls that deserved cautions and which were similar in nature, if not identical to fouls for which the miscreant had been cautioned earlier in the game. The answers were depressingly similar, words to the effect of "what would be the point so late in the game", or "it would get me nothing" or "it would just be a waste of a card." This also happened when 2nd yellow cards were not shown when clearly deserved, with answers such as "the game did not need a red card at that time" and so on. However, I knew that I was talking to good referees, and suspected that they were simply acting on instructions given to them. (In fact this was subsequently confirmed by one of them.)
By way of contrast, in the match described above, the referee cautioned a Middlesbrough player at 90 m, and also cautioned another Middlesbrough player 2 minutes into stoppage time, as clearly these two players were frustrated with the situation. Obviously this referee did not think such late cards would be pointless.
And as to the issue of a second yellow card, look what happened in last week's game when Tottenham hosted Everton. Kevin Kilbane, an Everton defender was cautioned at 15 m for a clumsy tackle and then committed a late tackle at 33 m, for which he received the second yellow card and was sent off. (I should add in case this sounds like the referee was a bit quick with cards, that Kilbane had committed two other fouls in the meantime, making this second caution the player’s third foul since the original yellow)
Did the game need a red card at this time? Probably not, but that did not enter into the decision, nor should it. The interesting point here is that Everton had not won at White Hart Lane since 1986. So this decision might indicate that their chances of winning were now drastically reduced, thus perhaps spoiling the enjoyment of the spectators. But no such thing, for in what turned out to be a very exciting game, even for Spurs supporters, Everton won 2-0. Incidentally there was only one other caution issued; the message had been sent! The Everton players were very careful, not wanting another of their players sent off, and so were the Spurs players, for in the minds of players in these situations, they think that the referee will try to look for an opportunity to send one of them off so as to even things up. We know that's not true, (unless "balance" is also being emphasized to referees) but we can let the players keep thinking like that.
So contrary to what is seemingly believed in some quarters, a game is not necessarily spoiled by a player having been sent off, and discipline, so essential in professional soccer, was maintained.
Ed Bellion
When referees fail to give cautions late the players learn they get brutal freebies at the end of the game. Why whack an opponent you hate now and get tossed when you can do it at the end of the game and be let off?
Posted by: Joe | September 03, 2006 at 10:25 AM