Referees – A case for the defence
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Foy lucky to escape further punishment.jpeg "Chris Foy: Blackburn v Swansea")
Chris Foy: Blackburn v Swansea
Goal-line technology could be used in 2012-2013“Referees – A case for the defence”
01 Feb 2012
Football managers often criticise the performance of referees, suggesting the fact that most of them have never played professionally makes them somehow unable to empathise with the players, or by some bizarre means incapable of taking charge of 22 professional footballers.
Those studying mobile casinos might agree that this is a load of nonsense to start with. Jose Mourinho is proving, perhaps I should say has proved, in the field of management that former playing experience is not essential to make it to the top, so there is absolutely no reason why the same cannot apply to referees.
Of the current crop of Premier League referees, none have played the game professionally at the highest level, but in many ways that could be deemed a good thing, as they can step back and take an unbiased view of proceedings.
One ref, however, has a different story to tell. Michael Oliver, at 26 years of age, is one of the youngest referees in the game at the moment, having been fast-tracked by the Football Association thanks to his calm and assured presence when overseeing games.
Indeed, he started out with ambitions to make it onto a football field a long time ago – but not with a whistle; with a ball.
Born in Ashington, Northumberland, Oliver was introduced to football by his referee father, Clive, but harboured ambitions to be a player. He had good reason to believe he could make it, too, becoming a member of the Newcastle United academy.
However, he did not quite make it, but was soon looking for other ways to get involved in the game he loved. That brought him to refereeing.
Since the age of 14, Oliver has been involved in football refereeing, and now Uefa and Fifa are guiding him higher and higher.
He has already trained among Uefa's chosen ones at the Centre Of Refereeing Excellence (CORE) at Nyon, being nurtured as one of the Pierluigi Collinas of the future.
Earlier this month, Oliver attracted criticism from Arsenal manager, Arsene Wenger when he awarded a penalty to Swansea against his side at the Liberty Stadium.
Replays showed the decision was probably the wrong one, but when watched in real time, it was easy to see why Oliver gave the penalty.
David Elleray, chairman of the FA's Referees' Committee and President of the Referees Association, said of Wenger's comments: “It was interesting listening to Sky, where the experts said in 'real time' it looked like a clear penalty.”
“That's what really we should judge referees on. Real time.”
“The quality of English refereeing is very good given the speed of the game. Last season, 98 per cent of offside decisions were correct in the Premier League.
“Referees still make fewer mistakes than players, but if they make a mistake it is always the turning point of the game.
“If a player misses a penalty, an open goal, or gives a silly back-pass, they don't get the same level of criticism as the referee. Twas ever thus.”
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03 Apr 2012 - 12:53 BSTtufc
As a referee myself, he hasn't been 'fast-tracked'. Everyone in the British system of refereeing and referees' promotion receives exactly the same treatment, and the simple fact is that his performances have been outstanding. He's only been on the Select Group a season, and he's already doing Sunday afternoon games, live on Sky. They're usually preserved for the absolute creme-de-la-creme (Webb, Dean, Marriner, Atkinson, Dowd, sometines Clattenburg.) He hasn't received any special treatment: he's just an outstanding referee.
09 Apr 2012 - 12:30 BSTdaxvondrac
Question regarding Lee Mason yesterday. Lee Mason is from Bolton. He is a lifetime Bolton Wanderers fan. His brother played for Bolton. How on earth is he allowed to referee a game that involves the team one point below Bolton in the league. It does not absolve him of being a matchfixing cheat but someone at the FA needs to answer that question.