Should Referees Face Being Substituted for Poor Performances?
There are some games that warrant players be at their best; derbies, fierce rivalries usually topping the bill. But while players, and managers, have a duty to turn out the performance of their lives, so do the officials. When a player fails to live up to the required standard, they run the likely risk of being substituted. Should that be the same for referees?
Alexander Hleb is the latest player to lash out at the recent “monstrous” standard of refereeing. Naturally spurred on by the recent events of their Champions League’s quarterfinal against Liverpool, the Arsenal camp are clearly livid after having two keys decisions go against them, ultimately knocking them out of the competition.
As if you didn’t know, Hleb was denied a penalty in the first leg after Dirk Kuyt tussled him to the ground inside the box. Referee Pieter Vink - who incidentally is well known to Kuyt during the striker’s time in the Dutch league at Feyenoord - saw no malice in Kuyt’s challenge.
Then, to rub salt into some very open wounds, Peter Frojdfeldt, the man in charge of the second leg tie, awarded Liverpool a much more dubious penalty just minutes after Arsenal had scored and given themselves an away goal advantage.
Now as frustrating as these incidents are, referees, like us all, are far from perfect and until video technology is introduced into the game there will forever be unavoidable events that spring from human error. I’m not suggesting one bad decision, regardless of how costly, and an official be replaced.
I’m talking about when the referee has lost control of a game, is distributing cards left, right and centre and ultimately spoiling the match. After all we pay enough, be it your Sky and/or Setanta subscription or actual tickets, for the honour of watching; it shouldn’t be ruined by a professional.
Take the recent throw down between Manchester United vs Liverpool. While many may not recall the final score, you’ll certainly be able to remember Javier Mascherano’s red card.
Now while I’m certainly not condoning the Argentine’s behaviour - frustrated or not, he should have left the pitch in a much more respectable way - Steve Bennett missed the opportunity to take charge of the game prior to the incident by calling over both captains and expressing the need for their players to cool the tempo.
It takes a certain calibre of referee to take charge of such passionate games as these and, in my eyes, Mr Bennett was not up to the task, thus failing in his job as a referee. Yet he remained in charge for the full 90 - how many players would you see last the entire game if they put in such a performance?
Tags: Arsenal, Champions League, Football Referees, Liverpool, Manchester United, Premiership Football
