The Good, the Bad, and the Referees

Over the past week, more than ever, has seen controversial issues, refereeing decisions, and press conferences that have made football fans query the sanity of the game. From sending offs to goals, fouls to ignorant managers, the last few days have thrown together such a wide variety of talking points, it’s no wonder that football forums such as these are continually growing in numbers. A few incidents particularly over the recent weeks have intrigued me, and I want to explore a few of them.

The first thing that struck me, was Neil Warnock’s post match press conference after the Arsenal game. Anyone who has any interest in football this year, has not only been impressed, but revelled in watching Van Persie during 2011, as he’s displayed all the qualities that lead many to suggest he is the most in form striker in the world. As many goals as games, and a real rose amongst a plethora of thorns in the Arsenal side, Van Persie has matured into a world class striker, carrying the Gunners back into the top four in the Premier League. One of the most notable qualities Van Persie displays on a regular basis, is his exquisite touch. Any ball, played at any pace, is brought down with such precision, giving him that split second extra to move past a defender before he has realised what has happened. So when Neil Warnock mentioned Van Persie being a ‘clever player’ I was all ready to agree with him. What a clever player indeed, his touch, his pace, his awareness, far better than any of those in the QPR side that day. But Warnock decided that Van Persie was not only clever with his football skills, but also clever as a dirty player!

Now I am aware that Arsenal have had their fair share of aggressive, firm players (Adams and Keown spring to mind) but Robin Van Persie hasn’t even registered with me on a list of some of the Premier League’s more physical players. Skillful yes, great vision yes, but never cynical, rarely diving. In fact, he’s probably up there as one of the closest things we’ll get to an honest player. Now Neil Warnock is hardly known for his reserved personality, but his bitter attitude in deciding Van Persie was clever because he elbows players and batters them out of the way has only served to add to the difficulty I have in finding anything to like in the man. His press conference’s are entertaining, but frankly he needs to acknowledge that Van Persie ran rings around his side, and that’s nothing to be ashamed of right now.

The next points both concern Referees, one good and one bad. The first is Arsene Wenger’s statement after Arsenal’s loss to Fulham that the ref was ‘naive’, because the Fulham players were constantly trying to get Djourou into tackles after picking up his booking. I think it’s fair to say that Arsene Wenger has been in football long enough to know how the game works. Firstly, no player is going to risk a horrific injury for the sake of sending the opposition team down to ten men. Secondly, any manager in the world, himself included, would use a tactic of trying to draw a player on a booking into slightly more 50-50 balls. It is common knowledge that you focus more pressure on a player like that, because if nothing else, it forces more cover over to help him tackle, and leaves space in the rest of the pitch. Finally, he has criticised the referee for not giving Gervinho a penalty in the first half. Now in an age of such critical coverage of the way sports are controlled, particularly during a digital era where goal-line technology and video replays are discussed on a weekly basis, being a referee is a thankless task. They are assessed by everyone with such scrutiny, and I think Lee Probert actually did a very solid job. There are some times, as you’ll see in a second, where referee’s come in for justified criticism, but like Mr. Warnock above, Wenger (who I am incidentally a big fan of) has been bitter because his side have simply not got a result.

The second refereeing decision is unsurprisingly the Joey Barton sending off. If reports based on Barton’s personal Twitter account are to be believed, then the officials actually told him at half time that they had made a wrong decision. It seems that despite a large portion of the public sharing a dislike of Joey Barton, the majority are in agreement that the referee made a mistake. He didn’t see it, judging in a Utilitarian way (by basing the action on the consequence). There may be people who say his reputation proceeded him; that he has got away with things like that enough times that he deserves to then be picked up for it at others. I disagree, if we start judging matches like that, the game will fall apart. Referee’s have a hard job, but if they don’t know then they shouldn’t make a decision. The fourth official could have told the referee in seconds that there was nothing to do, and this is where the arrogance of FIFA to keep the purity of the game is in fact ruining it. Yes video replay’s may slow the match down a bit, but by doing so, they will conversely rule out the incidents that are now ruining matches.

There were further incidents, Lampard and Cole both lucky to be on the pitch against Wolves, Sunderland’s Ji Dong-Won sneaking a goal in the last minute against City when he was clearly offside. The truth is, that drama’s such as these keep everyone talking about football. They can sometimes make such a big difference to the game, the season, the tournament, but they are a part of the game. The game would be purer and slicker if these got stamped out. The only way to do so is through the addition of technology, and so the vicious circle continues. If nothing else, I wish referee’s would get some more credit, and managers would be honest when their team lose…well pigs might fly!