With the current row about Clattenburg continuing to gain media, FA and police attention, there's been a renewed call for refs to wear microphones and to be treated properly by players. Is there actually any downside to this? It works in rugby already and I can't really see why it'd cause any problems. Players would have to stop hounding officials, the fans would get a better idea of what the hell the refs are giving and the players would be forced to provide a better example for any kids watching. There would obviously be some problems at first, as people got used to the new way of doing things and learned how to behave, but after the initial bedding in period, I fail to see any detrimental issues with it. Positive, negative or a mixture of both? Also, introduce the spray painting thingy at free-kicks. It's simple, straightforward and stops players from nicking yards when the ref's distracted. Another no-negatives idea, for me.
It will only be worthwhile if we hear a ref say "You only paid me for four minutes" during a match at Old Trafford.
They do wear mic's don't they?, Clot always has his Madonna headset!, but, as has come out since, nothing is recorded! purely a line of communication between the officials. please log in to view this image
There's also been talk of selling radio gear and headphones so that the fans can listen to the ref all the way through the game. They do something similar in the major golf competitions. I'm sure the clubs would see dollar signs and make this happen for the cash reason alone.
I've been a major advocate of this for a while and mentioned it a week or so ago on the thread that was discussing goal line technology. Not only would it remove any ambiguity regarding the conversations that happen between match officials but also it would pick up on chatter between players and refs, which would solve issues like the current Clattenburg one but also would probably go some way towards dissuading players from dishing out abuse, as anyone who watches rugby on TV will know that you can pick up some of what the players say in close proximity to the ref. Seeing as the refs are already miked it can't be too difficult to implement a system similar to that used in rugby. Inda, the selling of headphones so you can hear what the ref says already happens at international rugby union matches (probably league as well but I can't confirm that). I'm not sure if it happens at club level but you could include them as a bonus for members/season ticket holders possibly? I honestly don't know how this could cause any additional problems in the game and think it would be relatively easy to implement. Get on it FA.
Chavs have just announced that they have lodged a formal complaint against Clattenburg only for 'inappropriate comments' made to Mikel - and not the two players initially mentioned. One down, one to go!!! Did occur to me that (as he is not the captain of The Chavs) Mikel would have avoidedall this todo by not chasing Clattenburg around and haranguing him. Or doesn't that rule exist anymore??
