Respect for Officials

Davidth88

Hi

Something struck me this weekend .

I think that Football has a real problem with respect for officials , the sight of refs being surrounded and harangued by players are common at the highest level of the game

Now look at what happened to Dylan Hartley in the Rugby , he apparently called the ref a cheat , got an instant red card and an 11 week ban !!

I can't stand Rugby personally , but I do admire the way the players have respect for the officials , and this sort of action re-enforces that.

Perhaps FIFA could learn a thing or two in this regard ?

Headshot

Very hard to respect the refs when they are this bad. For example bayern should of had 2 men sent off in the CL but the ref decided against it and the one with Ribery was the worse when he's looking straight at it and does nothing

It must be infuriating on the players tbh

missingtime

I like the idea that captains are the only people who are allowed to speak to the ref and imo that's the way it should be.

If you start effing and blinding the ref, instant yellow card.

Richard Hillman

I think refs need to be mic'd up to start explaining why they gave a decision and football commentators and co-commentators brought on courses to inform themselves on the laws of the game.

I do believe a lot of referees shirk their responsibility in the aspect of forward players "fouling" defensive players, that they clearly wouldn't give had it been the other way around. Every single match we watch, the question of "Would that have been a penalty had it been the other way around" gets asked. IMO this is cheating. It happens too often for it to be considered genuine mistakes.

I also believe that when a referees integrity gets questioned it should be taken seriously and not just bandied off as sour grapes or punished immediately. When Trapattoni was complaining about the ref in the 2002 world cup, everybody was crying sour grapes when in reality the ref was as dodgy as they came.

I also think a captain being the only person to be allowed talk to a ref should come into force.

oldyouth

I've being watching live football for over 40 years and have the utmost respect for referees (generally). It is hard for a single official in the district leagues to see every offside and every off the ball incident. I take the view that these things balance themselves out and I would never let a player under my charge disrespect an official during the course of the game. There's nothing wrong with a frank exchange of views after the game.

However, I have to say that the standard of officials in the LOI is so bad, that I believe it is actually killing the game. Nonsensical decisions are actually deciding the outcome of a lot of games and mystical red cards are being dished out like confetti. While it is not nice to see, I can understand why players get so worked up at the injustices in the game. Fans are staying away because of the farce that ensues.

In life, I always though my sons that you must earn the respect of others and not take it for granted. Therefore, players and officials have equal responsibility to eradicate bad behaviour from the game

Pro. F

Headshot wrote: »

Very hard to respect the refs when they are this bad. For example bayern should of had 2 men sent off in the CL but the ref decided against it and the one with Ribery was the worse when he's looking straight at it and does nothing

It must be infuriating on the players tbh

It's just as frustrating in Rugby as it is in football. But the players learn to control themselves because they have no choice.

Richard Hillman

Pro. F wrote: »

It's just as frustrating in Rugby as it is in football. But the players learn to control themselves because they have no choice.

I think they are more comfortable with authority too. Footballers have usually dropped out of school by the time they hit 16 and leave their schooling at an age where any teenage boy has a gripe with authority. By the time we all hit our later secondary school days we become more comfortable with the authority figures and end up on a basis of near mutual respect.

Footballers finish up school at 16 with a chip on their shoulder and never really learn the importance of how to deal with rule makers. Their only authority figures in the Academies are their coaches and they would be the first to be hammering refs. The refs and any sort of authority figure will always be the enemy to these guys because they struggle to grow out of that mid teenage phase where authority is bad.

Jelle1880

Richard Hillman wrote: »

I think refs need to be mic'd up to start explaining why they gave a decision and football commentators and co-commentators brought on courses to inform themselves on the laws of the game.

They did this in Scotland once (Think it was a Hearts game ?).

They stopped it because it was embarrassing to hear what was said to refs and to other players.

Davidth88

I remember there was a TV programme where they wired up the ref for a game I think it was Millwall Vs Arsenal

Anyway , the abuse the ref had to put up with from the players was disgusting.

I think , if a player abuses the ref .... red card .... the coaches/mgrs would soon be telling the players to back off. Why not a yellow , well it doesn't punish the player for that game.

Also , the ref should talk to the captains more.

Wasn't there a rule introduced to bring free kicks forward 10 yds if there was abuse .... never seen it done.

This and the blatant playacting , rolling over like you have been shot etc , ruins the game TBH.

Found the game in question ....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4ruNosLNOE

my memory is not bad , it's from 1989 !!

Pro. F

Richard Hillman wrote: »

I think they are more comfortable with authority too. Footballers have usually dropped out of school by the time they hit 16 and leave their schooling at an age where any teenage boy has a gripe with authority. By the time we all hit our later secondary school days we become more comfortable with the authority figures and end up on a basis of near mutual respect.

Footballers finish up school at 16 with a chip on their shoulder and never really learn the importance of how to deal with rule makers. Their only authority figures in the Academies are their coaches and they would be the first to be hammering refs. The refs and any sort of authority figure will always be the enemy to these guys because they struggle to grow out of that mid teenage phase where authority is bad.

I agree that the coaches don't help the situation, but I disagree with the idea that rugby players are inherently different from football players, because of age when they leave school or any other reason.

I played rugby in secondary school from the age of 12/13 and of the other 25 or so kids playing in my year only one had any previous experience of the game. It took us about half a season to realise that you can't argue with the ref. The refs authority isn't based on mutual respect or more mature players - we were stupid kids and we detested most refs - it's based on sensible rules that cut out the shìte and force the players to behave on the pitch.

There are also plenty of places around the world where rugby is played people with very poor education, the type who leave school early and would naturally have problems with authority. The rules work in those environments too.

I don't mean to be blowing smoke up rugby's hole, imo football is a better sport. But one thing a comparison of the two sports shows is that rules enforcing respect of the officials works, just talking about respect doesn't.

razorblunt

It's a joke really, more onus should be placed on the manager and clubs to curb the behaviour of their players. You can mic the refs(don't they have headsets anyway) and play it back to the FA to justify giving yellows for abuse.

If I spoke to say an auditor in my job like a player does to the ref there'd be a hell of a good chance I'd get fired, they shouldn't be exempt.

CSF

I don't understand all the complaints, the referee has the power to impose a certain level of behaviour on the players, by punishing all unacceptable behaviour accordingly.

That to me seems the logical solution to the problem. If players know they will be booked and then sent off for acting in an abusive manner, the behaviour will gradually stop. It doesn't happen enough.