Ok while the lines in the title are attributed to the belligerent American tennis star John McEnroe, they were exactly the words echoing across my mind (and am sure several million others) on tuesday night. As the referee pulled out the yellow and red cards in succession on account of a “technical foul” by Robin Van Persie and sent him off, the footballing world was left dumbfounded.
Arsene Wenger later said, “ I just spoke to [the] Uefa people. They are shocked as well. He killed a promising, fantastic football match. What for? If it’s a bad tackle it’s a second bookable offence but the way he did it it’s embarrassing, if you love the game. If you have played football at a certain level you cannot understand that decision. It’s impossible. Even if he [Van Persie] heard the official, where have you seen a sending-off like that?”
His emotions were echoed by almost everyone, with even the Catalan daily Marca reporting it not only to be “very questionable” but simply “unjust”. For those still wondering what am on about, Van Persie was on a yellow card, and as he sprinted on to latch on to a long ball, he was “blown” offside by the referee. The striker instinctively took a shot, which spilled into the crowd, and the ref gave him a second yellow – and thus a subsequent red – for time wasting.
While the rule book does put down time wasting as a bookable offence, but it clearly says only if the offence is deliberate. And it was clear to the world that Van Persie had shot the ball instinctively, with the whistle being blown hardly a second or two earlier. Ofcourse as the striker remonstrated immediately, with 90000+ fans screaming horse, he had as little chance of hearing the whistle, as would I of hearing a whisper in Bombay’s locals. Sadly the referee forgot a basic code, that game changing decisions such as red cards are often flashed after viewing the offence in context, and weighing the action’s impact on the game.
But despite the above facts, the Swiss’ offence cannot be directly related to having an impact on the result (though it’s clear to see the significance). The same sadly cannot be said of the laughable offside call by the linesman in the weekend’s game against Sunderland. But for that error, the dynamic of the League table would be totally different and such mistakes can have tectonic implications in a season. For all those thinking that I’m just a cribbing Gooner, let me say that I was equally incensed over the Phil Dowd’s failure to send off Carragher for his horror tackle on Nani. What prevented him from giving the Liverpool defender his marching orders I don’t know, but am sure he is not feeling too good about it now.
The problem as I see it is that referees, while having an extremely high pressure job, are the ones in the game with least accountability. What would happen if a referee could be baned / booked after a terrible and game changing mistake such as these. And why are they so shielded from the media? Why this facade of protection for the officials by the football authorities when they tacitly allow referees to be subject to constant abuse and disrespect from managers and players. No official in any other sport – even football’s sibling rugby for that matter – can be challenged by the players as in football.
I feel that if referees are made to justify their actions in public or have some punitive measures taken against them for blunders, the general standards will rise. Now I understand that it is very convenient for them to be made the scapegoats by the losing side, and that would be chaotic, but the state right now isn’t perfect either. We have to have referees taking more responsibility of their calls and justifying them in public – and at the same time protect them from antics of Sir Alexes and Drogbas of the footballing world.
One big matter related to this is the ubiquitous “human vs technology” debate. FIFA is hyper skeptical about bringing any technology in the sport – try mentioning the world “goal line technology” to Mr Blatter of Monsieur Platini. Intervention in football definitely is complicated unlike slower games such as cricket and tennis, wherein their nature permits for detailed referrals, but Rugby has been able to find a middle path. Again the referral system isn’t perfect anywhere, especially in cricket where it has created a furore in the ongoing World Cup, not to mention the chagrin it’s bringing about for the hassled umpires.
What FIFA and others need to understand is that these technologies can never be perfect, they shall always remain an aid to the human official with the final call being his/her. Authorities have to implement them and let them evolve, cause waiting to implement once it is perfect will never happen. Decisions could still go wrong, but no one is asking for an 100% success rate, even a single reduction in the number of erratic decisions being made currently should be seen as a success of the system.
Without breaking the natural flow of the game and devaluing the status of the referee, I guess an apt start would be for the fourth official to have the final word on controversial off-side calls. I mean in case of a disallowed goal (as in the case of Arshavin), or a goal which should not have been awarded, the fourth official – with real time access to match video and related aids – can immediately overrule the field referee. This would not delay the game (as it would have halted in any case) and would prevent the error leaving an indelible mark on the result.
In the end the millions of fans world over forgo sleep, blow away months of savings and drive themselves mad to see their teams win, or even lose fair. Thankfully no one is hinting at any malicious intentions, yet such critical misjudgments do leave the fans dejected. And am sure having watched their mistake, in hindsight none of the officials feel good about it either. A reviewed overrule then, would be much less damaging to their self-respect than a sense of guilt that cannot be (legally) undone. So I plead to FIFA, FA, UEFA etc, please have a serious look at this. There is no shame in losing to a great side like Barcelona – but as Switch (Belinda McClory) laments in The Matrix – not like this, not like this.
Related Articles
- Wenger – Uefa shocked by ref (skysports.com)
- Van Persie – Dismissal a joke (skysports.com)
Rafael’s lunge followed a thigh high jab with studs up from Maxi [plus the fury of the Nani injury] and no wonder he lunged – but he should have sent him off too and carded Maxi. Letting the game flow, is different. RvP card is an incident where letting the game flow made sense. But in this game, Jamie needed to be sent off.
Barcelona win against good teams with refereeing decisions only. Remember the Chelsea injustice, Even Inter beat them despite being down to 10! So one never knows, Messi had off days both the games against Arsenal. All we need is a series of injuries to key players. But it’s a long way to go to contemplate any of those.
Most importantly, we are getting players returning from injury.
Just read Arsenal is about to sign Lehmann. What du think..
Ya liv-man u had too many rough moments. And I kind of agree with your Barca theory. They’ve been lucky with NO injuries and refs generally being soft to them courtesy their soft game image.
Lehman is a great player and has done wonderful for us in the past. But I think his arrival can only be taken as a psychological boost to players. He cannot be expected to perform now, after being in Budesliga for so long and considering his age.
AW really needs to rethink his policy. Home development is the best, but atleast for short term he needs to buy a big name or two, just for the hype they provide (and edge in close games). Look what a steal Dalglish got for Liverpool. Out goes disillusioned Torres for a mind-blowing figure and in come two young and hungry talented players!
I was so furious after Jamie got off the hook for something as outrageous as that. True with a lot of pressure building upto that fixture, its best Arsenal hold the trump early. Else United likely to hold firm in the crunch fixture. Let’s forget about EPL for the time being. Champions League action resumes tomorrow! can’t wait.
Ya but Rafael also got let off (and lets not forget Lucas did well to avoid the lunge). So it was ironic justice. But you have to agree, the Van Persie red card has to be the dumbest referring decisions in a long time. Can’t even call it a mistake, it was so shockingly deliberate. And yes good luck to you, though I don’t think Barca can be beaten this season…
Good write up Alekh
“Sadly the referee forgot a basic code, that game changing decisions such as red cards are often flashed after viewing the offence in context, and [NOT] weighing the action’s impact on the game.”
The irony of it all is the successive number of poor decisions by referees in important fixtures over the last 10 days, and where is the accountability, for remonstrating, the managers are crucified and slapped with FA n UEFA charges. Pathetic
From a red devil.
Thanks doc. Ya its extremely frustrating. As I wrote, there is no shame in losing to a side like Barca, but this way it just leaves one feeling cheated. Hope FA takes some action in the right direction, cause I don’t know how touch line bans for managers will help. Its a nothing sort of punishment, which only makes the punished party even bitter.
Thanks again for going through my post and the good words
Cheers!
Alekh
ps: not withstanding the above (and the weekend’s loss), we are going to push you all the way
You are welcome
. My pleasure to follow any person who follows the beautiful game.
The game at London will mostly decide the title, but before that Arsene has a job in his hands to rally his troops.
I am waiting to see the outcome of SAF trying to fight the FA over his ‘fair referee’ charges. That will be fun.
Ya but I do hope we can put a gap before that, else it will be too much of a pressure match. As for SAF, well he does have a tainted history. Though he had ample reason this time round (Nani’s injury was horrific by any definition and nothing short of a three match ban), but his media blackout idea was a bit disappointing.
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superb broo smthng has to be done abt it noww we lost out bcoz of ref for sure
ya rly two times in two matches…..this is so hurting