| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Karl |
Posted - Jan 07 2004 : 09:49:36 AM
Look out refs, the fans are watching!
FROM THE SPORTS DESK
SEAN A WILLIAMS
Wednesday, January 07, 2004
The job of a football referee is a tough one.
It is so because the man-in-the-middle has on his shoulders the huge task of being judge, jury and executioner in high stakes matches. It is his responsibility to ensure that the laws are adhered to and that the game is played in the highest spirit of fairplay.
This awesome duty rests with one man in the main - the referee. Though their roles are equally important, the assistants are essentially back-up to the ref. The judgement calls lie with the onfield official, and they are final.
It can be a lonely place for the ref, I imagine, being the target of incoming verbal flak from disgruntled spectators, team officials and even players when decisions go against them. The ref will remain a marked man and in his quest for fair play, will make human errors. In Jamaica's tough, "bad-to-the-bone culture", refereeing can be a dangerous vocation.
It is common knowledge that some have even been attacked - with fists, sticks, stones, bottles, knives - when they are deemed to have made "bad calls". But amazingly they carry on, fearless in the face of danger.
Yet, out of this brutish environment where respect for authority figures is fast dissipating, Jamaica has been able to produce top-class referees who have represented this nation at the highest level.
Perhaps it is this crudeness to our officials that has bred the likes of the no-nonsense Peter Prendergast, who has the distinction of being Jamaica's first referee at a World Cup Finals tournament, back in 2002, in Japan/Korea.
One also wonders, with the existing standard of refereeing in Jamaica, how many more Peter Prendergasts will we be able to produce? Based on what has been on show in the past few years, I would have to conclude that our standards need a lift. Some of our referees have either not improved or have not shown the aptitude to do so. In fact, some of them - by virtue of their shenanigans on the field - have made a mockery of the sport.
More often than not, a ref loses his grip on a match either because of poor decisions, inexperience, lack of resolve or deficient knowledge of the rules - or a combination of these.
This is dangerous because infuriated spectators can't be reasoned with when they feel they have been wronged by the ref. Many ugly incidents in our football could have been avoided if only the official had acted earlier in nipping a potentially explosive situation in the bud. The ref must be alert and should quickly stamp his authority on the game. He must let the players know who is boss from the first whistle. He must not flinch.
At the National Premier League level, where the crème de la crème of Jamaica's referees practise, we sometimes get some atrocious officiating. It is astonishing at times what these refs allow and the punishment they execute for certain "fouls". The yellow and red cards have a way of popping up at the wrong time.We may be some distance away from the play and might have missed something, but often journalists, spectators, players and coaches are in disbelief as they try to make sense of some of these calls.But the ref is always closer to the action, so he may have seen something we didn't.
There should be, I think, a weekly assessment of referees' performance here, and when found to have done poorly, those officials should be penailsed - perhaps suspended or charged their match fees, or both.That alone would be a deterrent to sub-standard officiating, especially from our FIFA-accredited personnel.
But where the officials definitely lack ability or are found wanting in the areas of exposure and experience, then that is something for the Referees' Commission of the Jamaica Football Federation to address.
A country's progress in football should not only be measured by the achievements of its players and teams, but also by the quality of the arbitors of the rules.
If we do not raise the bar of our officiating, the football will suffer.
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