Blowing the whistle on refs

While Australia may have criticised the performance of referees at last year’s Asian Cup, the problem of standards at home may be of greater concern.

Peter Green’s performance in yesterday’s A-League Preliminary Final took the gloss off a fine game, and forced Newcastle to play an extra 30 minutes ahead of the coming Grand Final.

The three penalty decisions were all questionable, and the offside decision against Joel Griffiths potentially robbed the Jets of a second goal prior to extra time.

That’s not to mention a series of poor judgement calls including a soft booking on Sasa Ognenovski that would have seen him miss the Grand Final.

By embracing the Australian love of the finals system, the FFA has also placed more pressure on the nation’s top officials to perform on the big stage.

Rather than a decision being accepted as part of the swings and roundabouts of a regular season, a dodgy penalty or red-card could see a team’s season disappear.

The fact is the standard of refereeing has not been good enough, with even the nation’s premier officials, Mark Shield and Matthew Breeze often getting basic calls wrong.

And one has to question the logic in not allowing players or managers to comment on their performance.

I have always thought referees should be treated the same as players. We should expect them to make mistakes, sometimes they even have a shocker.
There’s nothing wrong with that, it’s part of the game. And the same as we might question a player’s inclusion in a team, or whether they are up to the standard referees should face the same scrutiny.

It is not about denigrating the role of the official, it is about making sure every part of the game is at the highest standard.