Originally Posted by
Upside
I think watching the game back on TV I'm often surprised at the amount they have got right.
The speed of the game, the speed of plays, the players trying to manipulate the refs, the lopping fish at the play of the ball, players trying to con the crowd in the hope they will abuse the ref to pressure a decision, the constant undermining by coaches, the fan abuse, the online abuse, hatred towards them I'm surprised we have any tbh
But let's assume this is an individual performance issue and that officiating a game without making an error is an acheieveable and expected goal, how do you propose it is fixed?
Options are? Sack a ref who makes a mistake? How many mistakes are they allowed? Do we suspend them for an error? How many errors per game ban? Who comes in when we drop a ref? How do we prepare the new ref for a SL game? Are you allowed to make errors in your first games whilst you learn, how many learning games are you allowed?
How do we support refs? Players have a full support mechanism behind them, refs don't, not to the same scale, what can be done to help their ability development, their emotions when they get abuse or have a bad game? Will abuse and dropping them improve their performance?
Then consider the amount of refs we have, how do we develop more? What is the carrot, they get appalling abuse at amateur games, why should they Continue? It's deemed acceptable to abuse a person if they wear a ref top, of you carry a flag I cannot hurl abuse at you without fear of retribution. It is accepted that a ref can be abused by both sets of fans, players, parents, coaches etc. It is the opinion of many that they should accept abuse if they are a ref, why? Theynhave emotions like other people, it does affect people and claiming they are snowflakes doesn't justify further abuse.
I wouldn't like my children to be a ref seeing the attitude of people towards refs.
Often people abusing refs (often very young children) try to justify it by claiming the same would happen at my work if I made errors, well really? Who has a job wher HR allow public confrontational abuse every time it is perceived you have made an error?
The ref top is not magic and means they have no emotions, any person should be allowed respect and support at their place of work, players and coaches at professional level should not pressure or try to con the ref. Again, another common myth is that they are professional players and therefore are allowed to gain an advantage for their team, do we really want a game where the best cheats win?
So if you feel they are ruining the game, a post I've read many times over the past two decades and heard for much longer and the game is still her, how do you propose it is 'fixed'