For a couple of hours this afternoon, I was absorbed by the broadcast of the England v. Mexico friendly international match at Wembley stadium in London. I sat down to watch two teams in their final preparations for the World Cup, but very quickly became occupied (fascinated?) by refereeing of incredible naivete. I mean the kind of naivete where the individual is not even aware of problems in front of him. From a referee (Masaaki Toma of Japan) who has been on the elite list for Asia for the last several years, it was astonishing and disturbing, not only to me, but to Wayne Rooney:
I can start by describing three or four examples of match-changing incidents that referees have to get right: a goal given, yet with the scorer clearly rewarded for being offside (Crouch for England; see a photograph from behind the net)
a blatant shirt-pull by a defender in his own penalty-area early in the game; and another shirt-pulling by a defender in his own penalty-area late in the game. [Perhaps in this last incident I may be being over-zealous, because the match was about to end, and the defender may have been merely asking for an exchange of shirts . . .] This is the latter incident:
This was on the left wing and the referee may have been behind the defender and had not been able to see the extent of the tug. I'm being charitable to the referee, but on the touchline the England coach, Capello, was not so generous and gave a perfect pantomime of the foul! He saw the infraction clearly. Why didn't the referee?
Those three incidents would be enough to fail a referee being assessed at the state level, never mind in an "A" class international. But that wasn't the extent of the referee's artlessness. He didn't seem to understand what professional players are all about. They toyed with him at free kicks, delaying here, delaying there. One in the 23rd minute of the second half after Gerrard was brought down in the "D", took a couple of minutes of preparation. The defensive wall would not move back, and while the referee wheedled and cajoled them, he paid no attention to another player standing at the ball. As the official finally gave him some attention, the wall of defenders crept up again. Then a card came out for one of the creeping bricks! What a display of innocence!
For Mexico, Blanco (well known to MLS fans) came on at about the about seventy-minute mark and immediately began his nonsense and tricks-to-deceive. The poor referee didn't see any of it, lost as he was in the fog of his innocence. Finally at 44 minutes of the second half, England's Lennon went haring through the center of Mexico's defense, was brought down from behind in a foul that under more competitive circumstances would have justified a flash of red. The defenders got away with only a yellow, and more generosity as they crept towards the ball, unnoticed by Masaaki Toma, of course.
To be fair, we're not so brilliant ourselves at dealing with free kicks in this country, and I'll address that in my next post, where I will suggest that the federation's advice in the Week-in-Review #3 about the handling of these set-pieces may need another review. At the same time, I will try to explain why inexperienced officials get appointed to these big matches and tournaments.
Another blog post...another game that makes me think that I'll never make it in reffing. I don't make these kinds of mistakes, coaches are almost always happy with my performances as are other referees. I will still never make it to FIFA because I'm not incompetent; I apparently have to be.
Dustin: I sense your frustration, but you are shooting at the wrong target. The referee in the England/Mexico game was not incompetent. He was inexperienced in the ways of professional players, as were the people who allowed him to advance as far as he has. What you have to do to advance is as follows:
1. Find knowledgeable, experienced referees as guides or mentors. 2. Make sure they have had professional experience. 3. See if you can find the highest level games to referee. 4. Don't assume that a youth coach can evaluate your potential as a referee. 5. Maintain a very high level of physical fitness. 6. Those five points are a start, and don't imagine that you don't make these kind of mistakes. (Look back at my posts on hubris!)
Best wishes,
Bob.
Posted by: Dustin | May 25, 2010 at 12:13 AM
I commented in the "foolish assessor" blog about positioning and how errors would be made by always staying out at free kicks and corners. I did not expect that so soon after there would be a game that again so well illustrates the point. In the England Mexico match, there were several problems with Crouch's goal, all of which could have spotted from a close-in position by the referee.
[A photograph of the goal, taken from behind the net, is now posted on the original post in the blog. I haven't been able to figure out how to put it here in the comments section - RE}
First Crouch was clearly offside; I have no idea why the AR did not observe this, this is very poor work on his behalf at the least and sheer incompetence at this level at the worst. However a referee who was closer to the goal line (remember this play started from left-wing corner) could have easily seen the offside for himself.
Second, Crouch bundled the ball in using, in part, his arm as well as his torso. Now it is certainly debatable whether this should be ruled as a handball and the goal disallowed or not. Some claim that it was unintentional and the ball simply fell onto his arm. Others say he guided it in with his arm, even though the arm was close to the body. Nevertheless, in this case no decision could be given at all not least because the referee was 30 yards away. If he had taken up a more close in position, by the goal line he would have had a much better view of both incidents and made his own decision. At the very least, he could have
got the offside one.
I fully expect that there will be a few more like this in the next few weeks in South Africa!
Posted by: Ed Bellion | May 25, 2010 at 11:04 AM
This response is for Dustin:
Your comments are very immature. You are implying that to get to be a FIFA referee you have to be incompetent. This is both insulting and ignorant. Do you think people like Bob, myself, Collina, Howard Webb, Brian Hall and many others got on the FIFA list because we were incompetent?
Bob is very patient with you in his responses. I will be less so. You need to grow up. It is probably true that you will never make FIFA, very few do, but not because you are not incompetent, it will be because you are too arrogant and too cocky. We have seen many guys like you over the years who are young and think they don't make mistakes. Most get their just desserts one way or the other. There are some very recent examples of this.
Perhaps one day either Bob or myself will get the pleasure of assessing you in a competitive match. Then you will get a realistic view of your abilities.
Posted by: Ed Bellion | May 25, 2010 at 11:16 AM
I've thought about it and you're right Ed. I won't comment anymore.
Posted by: Dustin | May 27, 2010 at 06:17 PM
It takes a man to admit he's wrong, Dustin. You SHOULD read and make comments here, but try to remember who else reads Bob's blog.
In other words, don't bait the bears unless you have a lot of guns.
Richard Marnhout
Posted by: Richard Marnhout | May 28, 2010 at 11:07 AM
Bob, thanks for all your years of service I lived and went to school in Dallas and had the opportunity of working with you a few times. You were helpful then, and you are still a huge help to people now. so thanks.
I note your message to get closer but I note the most recent- instructions refs are getting are to following the quadrant system and basically stay out of the penalty area. Never to go to the end line for balls played in situations free kicks corners and stay inside the edges of the penalty area. the main reason I am told is ref's exposure at transition. My personal belief is (at the most senior levels of the game) that there is no less inappropriate activity going on, on the soccer pitch than when balls are being played into the attacking central area of goal at set play incidents and the level and degree of holding happening prior to whistle being blown is completely out of order. what are your thoughts on these numerous issues please
Posted by: goonareferee | June 07, 2010 at 08:14 AM
Ok maybe I should read before I write having now read Mr. Bellion's points in the previous blog referenced. But I am beginning to perceive a problem. That being we become so mechanical at what we "require" referees to do that those in control miss the point that their job is to fairly and judiciously officiate a game of football wherein the players become extremely aware of referee positions to their advantage. i would argue having a series of positions available to referees, first choice second choice, based upon what they are perceiving in a match is much more important than telling a chap he must go to one particular spot or be marked down for it.
our goal should be to be in position to see the fouls or to prevent them (maybe even more important, by our presence being a deterrent to unlawful activity)
and maybe this is where referee training could learn a bit from the training that is now being given to coaches about player development. that we must not stifle creativity but guide it. what do you chaps think?
Posted by: goonareferee | June 07, 2010 at 08:29 AM
Yes of course. It must be flexible depending on the situation and reading of it. No two set plays are alike, so why should the position be the same each time? We have been hammering away at this point for some time, in the classroom, at the field and in this blog, but it seems to fall on deaf ears. The main concern is being too deep to recover in case of a fast breakaway, but we have negated that idea as not a high probability.
The action now is more important than the action that "may" happen next.
Posted by: Ed Bellion | June 14, 2010 at 02:01 PM