An
official football match is never complete without those men in black (Well, at
least back in the days. Nowadays, they get to wear other colors) with the
whistle and those colored cards running the match, the referee and his fellow
officials. Love them or hate them (it is more often the latter); they are an
integral part of the beautiful game and provide their fair share of cause for
the passion that exists in the world of football.
From
the players, coaches, pundits and the fans themselves, you get this feeling
that referees all over the world are incompetent, never get things right and
worse of all, and cost your team the match. It is very rare that referees get
commended for a job well done. If they were, the praise most likely came from
neutrals. Often you would hear how a referee ruined what would have been a good
match. He missed a crucial call; he lost control of the match, etc. The litany
is endless.
Then
again, let’s try to put a little more objectivity in viewing or judging
referees. Many of their mistakes get scrutinized very closely because nowadays
technology allows us to review incidents on video frame by frame. Yet this is
hindsight, in the actual match the referee has mere seconds, maybe even less,
to render judgment on the field and make a call. It isn’t easy and on top of
all that, you have thousands of fans and supporters second-guessing your every
decision and being very vocal about their thoughts and opinions on a call.
Now
let’s look at the bigger picture. Human error, this is a fact of life and we
live with this every day. We try our best to minimize it but the fact remains
that it is still something we just have to learn to deal with in our daily
lives. Human error is a feature of our lives that just happens and once done,
there isn’t much to do about it but pick up the pieces and move on. As it is in
life, so it is in football. For me, that is part of the beauty and wide appeal
of the game around the world as football, both its positive and negatives
aspects, is simply but a reflection of life as we know it. Only in football, we
experience and savor life through a prism that is entertaining, exciting and
loud (…and with my husband beside me, then it would also be full of swearing
too).
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| Photo via uflphilippines.com |
Now
don’t get me wrong, I also believe that a lot needs to be done to improve
refereeing. While I acknowledge that refereeing errors is part and parcel of
the game, I also believe that authorities should be doing all that they can to
improve refereeing.
Moving
to a local perspective, let me just say that from some of the UFL matches I’ve
seen and from feedback I get from my husband (to be honest, not the most
objective resource in this regard), it appears local refereeing here needs to significantly
raise their standards. The refereeing standard leaves much to be desired, especially
in the manner by which referees control the match. It’s not so much botched
offside calls, non-calls for handball or even inconsistency of the calling of
fouls. I acknowledge that like our football, we also need to grow and support
the development of our local referees. In time and with the proper support, I
am sure standards will improve and those issues minimized.
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| Photo via interaksyon.com |
The more
immediate concern I have with the local officiating is the seemingly loose
control of referees over some heated matches. There were some tough UFL
Division 1 matches where you get the feeling that things were just going to
boil over and the “violence” on the field was threatening to get out of
control. This is a matter that needs attention right away. It is a situation
that isn’t going to help our players, especially our young talents. As a
mother, I also don’t relish having my son watch a match degenerate into a
brutal and “dirty” affair because the referees fail to control the players and
the general conduct in which the match is played. I can live with having my
team lose because the referee botched an offside call. However, I can’t take
situations where referees fail to give yellow cards for unruly and “dirty”
behavior, retaliatory fouls involving flying elbows and the like.
Having
said that, I am hopeful that efforts are being made by the relevant authorities
to help and support our referees. Our players, clubs and coaches are growing
and developing as Philippine football is now beginning to get the attention and
support it deserves, our referees should also be part of that equation.
After
all, the men in black with whistles and those colored cards are as much a part
of the game of football as everyone who loves the sport.
2012
Moira G Gallaga©
