Rate The Ref - Rate Referee’s Performance in the Premier League, Champions League, World Cup, and local campaigns

“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.”