Refs under the microscope

By Trevor Haylett

Referees in the English Premiership will find themselves under even closer scrutiny this coming season with their performances now the subject of appraisal from former players and managers.

Move welcomed
A panel of new match delegates will talk after games to the two managers concerned and draw up a report on the accuracy of the referee's decision-making. This will be in addition to the role of the referees delegate who will be looking at the technical aspects of the official's work over the 90 minutes. The change reflects the desire of clubs to make officials more accountable. For their part the refereeing authorities welcome any move that will improve decision-making and reduce controversies.

More influence
Appointments to the panel will come, by and large, from former managers, players and administrators within the professional game. Clubs will no longer have their own individual say on referees but the League Managers Association believes it will give them more influence over the appointment and promotion of match officials.

Don comments
Referees' organisations have welcomed the initiative. Philip Don, referees officer for the Premier League, said it meant that the English set-up would now be mirroring what happens with UEFA competitions. "What we will have now is a referee delegate who is a former referee looking at the technical performance of match officials and a match delegate who can be an ex-player, ex-manager or ex-administrator," he said.

Health and safety issues
"In addition to looking at crowd behaviour, player behaviour and health and safety issues, the match delegate will also be reporting on how the referee manages the game and whether he gets the calls right on major decisions. What happened last season was that clubs marked referees on a weekly basis and quite often these marks were very subjective and occasionally if there was a controversial incident in the last minute against a team that was reflected in the mark rather than looking at the referee's performance over the 90 minutes.

More rational view
"What will happen now is that within 72 hours of the game the match delegate will contact both club managers and ask for their opinions so by that time the managers will have calmed down, they may have looked at the match video. Hopefully you will get a more rational view as to how the referee performed on the day."

Most difficult job of all
Every time he is out in the middle, the referee knows his competence will now be assessed in two separate reports but Don does not believe it puts any more pressure on the man who has arguably the most difficult job of all. "We want there to be as few controversies as possible," he said. "The referees need to be getting the major decisions right, they need to be seeing the big decisions because of course they're the ones affecting the result of the game."

Durkin welcomes change
Top English referee Paul Durkin has also welcomed the change and said anything brought in with the aim of raising standards had to be positive. "I hope it will benefit referees and also the game itself which is what we are all striving for," he said.

Plenty of input
Durkin also denied it would be an added pressure now two pairs of eyes will be running the rule over his matchday performance. "I don't think any referee gives attention to the people in the stands while we are out in the middle - we just go out and referee a game honestly and according to the laws of the game. We are employed now as professional referees and I suppose it is only right that the different parties employing us all get to have an input."