The Great Ref Scandal: Time for transparancy! « Untold Arsenal: Arsenal News, supporting the club, the players and the manager
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By Walter Broeckx
So time to make a final round up on all the different reasons which can lead to poor refereeing. I opened this series with four reasons as to why we have a problem….
1. Not enough refs
2. Fatigue
3. Familiarity
4. Influence as a result of not enough refs
Those four reasons are due to the fact that for some reason the PGMOL lead by Mike Riley is not doing a proper job. They have allowed the situation of not enough refs to develop, and they are allowing this to continue. They should be working on preventing a situation like this.
A ref has a lot of power on the field. So one should always take care that this power is not being used in the wrong way. Prevention is always better than cure is a phrase both in my country and in the UK, and never was it more true. Yet the organisation of refs doesn’t seem to work that way.
There must be more refs in the EPL to have a bigger rotation and let the refs have a smaller effect on the total outcome of the league. I think it is close to criminal that the PGMOL has let this situation happen like it is now. This is putting the door wide open to poor refereeing in the games and possible wrong doings from refs. Shame on you PGMOL!
Then the series of articles moved on to a second set of influences of quite a different nature.
5. Childhood love
6. Underdog effect
7. Personal dislikes
8. Gambling
9. Bribery and corruption
Those are reasons that are down to the ref and his inner being. About the childhood love I have suggested referees inform the FA at the start of their career of which 3 teams they like and which you hate or dislike.
This little change does not solve all the other problem areas in the list, but it is better try to solve one problem than doing nothing at all.
For the rest one can only hope that the refs are decent human beings who don’t have any problem with some people. If there is a way to track this down it would be great but how can you do such things? I’m not a specialist in such matters – I am open to ideas.
10. Instructions
11. Rewards
To prevent the last ones it is absolutely needed that the refs are monitored in each game. And I have recently found out that this is in fact happening. It seems that one of the partners of the PGMOL is a company that is giving them feedback and updates on how the ref have done their games.
The company is ProZone Sports Ltd. And this is what you can find on the website of the PGMOL.
ProZone Sports Ltd was formed in 1999 in order to facilitate the integration of sports science into football. ProZone are the pioneers of time-motion analysis and have evolved into the global brand for performance analysis solutions. At ProZone it is our vision to deliver insights to those committed to enhancing performance. We endeavour through our passion, expertise and innovation to support you in making better informed decisions. ProZone’s portfolio includes operations throughout the UK, Europe, America, South Africa, Australia and Asia. Our aim is to empower people involved in team based sports through the provision of performance affecting information. ProZone have several technologies and these analysis systems have been independently validated to ensure the output data is both accurate and reliable. The information captured supports analysis for individuals, teams and single or a series of games. This creates trend based information and the ability to analyse entire leagues or seasons. ProZone have worked with the PGMOL since 2002 and have assisted in revolutionising the way in which referees, and assistant referees, analyse match performances. ProZone’s dedication to constantly developing referee products and services through consultation with PGMOL experts has ensured that we are now world leaders in delivering performance enhancing feedback to match officials. For more information please visit us at www.prozonesports.com.
So that is great news I would say. But assessing the refs is one thing. The public should be informed about this!
Shard, one of our readers has informed us that in India the High Court has ruled that the information of the Cricket organizations should belong to the public domain and should be open to the public. This all was the result of the suspicion of corruption in cricket in India.
So wouldn’t it be nice to see how he FA and the PGMOL assessed Dowd in the game at Newcastle. And most of all wouldn’t it be nice that we all could read this? This would mean that from now on we could see if the assessors are doing their job and if the refs would get punishment for a bad game.
We as spectators in the stadiums or in front of our TV are paying a lot of money to see the games. We can analyse everything and everyone. Players are given marks for their performances. Managers are asked questions. I even do the review of the refs.
So why not also have the numbers about the refs out in the open? This would mean that we can see how the FA and the PGMOL is thinking about the rules. This would mean that if we see that the FA and the PGMOL does nothing to punish refs who allow dangerous tackles in their games could be taken to court for negligence in their job.
This could open the door to improve the standard of refereeing. Because it would push the refs more to a stricter ruling on the field. It would make the refs aware of the fact that what they are doing wrong will come in the open and will be exposed. No more shoving it under the carpet in some backroom of the building far away from us, the fans who are paying for the product and who are keeping the system alive.
Because without us supporters, football as we know it will be dead and forgotten. Time to make a new start. Time to open the accounts. Time to open up the scores of the ref.
I can only hope that someone out there with some influence will be asking the FA and the PGMOL to open up their files to the public. After all if there is corruption they should open their files so we can see if there is. If there is no corruption they should open up their files to show us there is no corruption in the game. Either way: Open your files to the public is a question that should be asked until they do.
Let us start our own peaceful revolution: the revolution that wants the FA and the PGMOL to open their books, all of them. Why don’t we just start asking them to open their files?