What do tennis, rugby union, rugby league and cricket have that we don’t? A video review of the most important decisions that affect a game of course, well apart from goal line technology which is in its infancy. The refereeing in the Premier League has been so bad this season that some are even alluding to the possibility of refs deliberately making a few hashes so as to heighten the need for video help. I find this assumption ridiculous at best but at least it highlights just how bad the referees have been. And it is getting worse. More than once this season the wrong player has been sent off in cases of misidentity.
Now, let’s have a look at the Premier League. Here we have a competition where the TV rights have escalated to over 5 billion pounds for the next three seasons and on average each game has a World viewing audience of over twelve million. We have matches comprising of twenty two of the finest and fastest athletes available and they play for an hour and a half with a fifteen minute break. These fit young men also practise falling over at the slightest of touches and if the ref does not give them what they want he and his team mates are allowed to surround him, point fingers and shout at him. He probably can’t hear much of what they are screaming as the 40,000 crowd that sit just a few yards away are hurling abuse at him and have started to chant “you don’t know what you are doing”! They are also questioning his parentage. The TV cameras have by now played twenty eight replays from 108 different angles and the whole place is going manic. Who is this ref, this man in black? Who is this balding, rotund 48 year old that has wires spouting from every orifice and carries around a can of foam? Often he was the young kid at school, you know the one, the one that loved to play football in the play ground but was never good enough to make the school team. He was the kid that decided “better become a referee if I can’t play”.
Now perhaps I am being a bit unfair? These men in black are remarkably fit for their age and know the rules of the game much better than the fans watching and indeed the pundits in the TV box. But come on! When are we going to realise that the speed of the game has passed these poor fellows by? Not to mention the so called professionalism of some of the tactics employed by shrewd coaches trying to con him. They need a hand. Every mistake they make is scrutinised by the video replays, the very replays that could help them make the right decisions!
One of the perceived downsides of allowing a referee or a 4th official the luxury of these replays is that it will slow the game down. My view is I would not care providing we get the right decision and it was only used for the major decisions where a referee requires assistance. My view is also that if we cut out the surrounding of referees by players waving imaginary cards at them, it might help speed the game up sufficiently to make up for any said video review. And don’t get me started on players rolling around on the ground, taking the ball into the corner post and all other forms of time wasting. The surrounding of the refs will stop, as will the need for a 4th official trying to contain an irate manager on the sideline if everyone knew “we were going upstairs” for clarification. If ever the video ref does come into play in our game it will still not be perfect. There will be the odd mistakes made as it will still be a human being that officiates them. But it will be a whole lot better than what we are enduring at the moment. Or will we miss our favourite post match pastime too much? You know, the right to moan after the game to everyone and anybody that will listen, that we were robbed again?