How can we get better referees in professional football?

But YOU basically said 3 of them are useless yesterday. So we’ve got a couple of really good ones, 3x crap & another 14x middle of the road?

 

With all the money in the Premier League and with such massive tv audiences you would think there was enough cash available to have well trained high quality professional and impartial referees. Unfortunately it's not even close to being like that. Add in VAR, which is managed by the same inept bunch of clowns that are allowed to referee matches and we end up where we are today. This whole shambles is destroying football and it's no longer enjoyable for many people, me included. I have gone past the anger and have reached the stage where the whole thing leaves me feeling the game has reached the point of being a complete joke.

I have supported Saints for over 50 years, and I will continue to do so until the day I die, but I am ****ed if I would spend a penny of my hard earned watching some imbecile destroy a match just because he has been given the authority to do so. Tom said the decisions made by a referee are reviewed? If that is the case, why is there never any improvement in the quality of refereeing standards? VAR is ****e, no matter which way you look at it. If the cameras don't have sufficient resolution to accurately review a decision then it's a complete waste of time. Bin VAR and get true professionals to referee matches, because this lot are certainly not professional or in any way competent.

 

So you'd get rid of Michael Oliver and Anthony Taylor would you? Yes there are some referees who are blatantly not good enough but don't tar them all with the same brush.

 

I actually think Jon Moss had a good game in the cup last week. He was effectively invisible - which (to me) is how a good ref should be in a game.
I agree that we cannot tar them all the same, but we have 10 games a week minimum and only 2 or 3 decent refs? Says it all basically ....

 

I'd say we've got 8 or 9 who can be considered an acceptable standard or better.

 

I've said it for some time now. Jon Moss is easily the most improved referee in recent years. He was awful when he first came onto the PL scene - no different to how bad Mason still is. But he really is so much better now. I don't agree with the stick that he continues to get.

 

Don't think that really solves anything tbh. Just adds another later of subjectivity to it.

 

Agreed. Presumably some handballs would still need to be penalties, otherwise everyone would just be punching the ball away from the goal. So where would the line be drawn between what is a handball penalty, and what is an indirect FK handball.

 

There’s 19 approved, yes? So 10, less than acceptable!?

 

I'm not expecting many people to agree with me but I wonder if we've ever considered going down the NFL route with a team of 10 officials to cover the entire pitch from different angles. Two on each of the four touchlines / bylines and one in each half of the pitch (still moving to get a second angle on the same incident). A brief discussion with the official nearest and with the best view of the incident should be just as good, if not better, than VAR.

For me, the only reason Moss looked 'invisible' last week was he struggles to keep up with play! You have to wonder what the fitness regime is for some of these officials.

 

I suggested exactly the same thing a year or two ago.

 

Much harder to score with a free shot, when there are six or seven blokes in a wall in front of you though.

Currently, 3 points can be won/lost because of this bullshit rule. It's farcical, and entirely undermines all the effort of the players and managers, and the emotions of the fans. Not to mention the potential financial aspect of it all.

 

I have been saying the same for years. The idiot on the street knows better than the man in charge as usual.

 

How about

1. Target the journeymen players who have seldom played above Leagues 1&2 but who haven’t earned enough to retire, want to stay in football but are coming to the end of their playing careers.
2. Put them on Summer Camps so that they are well versed on the laws and can take part in play role situations to gain practical refereeing skills, under the guidance of top referees, retired or active.
3. Arrange Summer football tournaments for academy teams, to allow these “fast track” refs to officiate aspiring professional footballers in competitive conditions.
4. Those that show promise start their refereeing careers by officiating U23 games, so refereeing, in most cases, professionals.
5. Those that excel get fast tracked to League 2, with a view to moving them up or down depending on performance.

 

Until a ref decides something was intentional that you think wasn't and 3 points are still lost to it...

 

Lineker has said in the past that he favours changing the rule to "if the ball hits the arm or hand it's handball".

Clear, simple, enforceable.

Vin

 

This and other posts make a great of sense but frankly something a lot stronger in terms of action is required. The clubs for a start need to challenge as a group this growing farce and fans like us need to bombard the authorities with letters of condemnation of the present situation and thirdly and probably the most telling is the the players through their channels making a stand against this rubbish system by threatening to withdraw their participation if things don't change. Problem is will at least two of these things happen? Not hopeful.

 

Make it even simpler. A clearly deliberate handball which either stops a pass or stops the ball going into the net is a penalty offence. A ball which hits the hand is never a penalty if the hand is close to the body. You know I am just riffing on this but it is obviously possible to write clear and specific handball guidance.

If a defender handles the ball in the penalty area it should be declared an indirect feee kick unless the offending player is clearly able to prevent hand to ball contact and chooses not to in which case a.penatly shall be awarded. For a penalty to be awarded the referee should have no reasonable doubt of intent. All handballs in the box will be checked by VAR. A penalty cannot be given if the player is not looking at the ball unless a hand is thrown out in a clear attempt to make the body bigger.

Etc.

 

Trouble is, that opens yet another can of worms. No distinction between deliberate and accidental? In which case you may as well give away a penalty by making a diving save. If you do distinguish, you’re back to subjectivity again.