New Fufa head of the refs: what will change? « Untold Arsenal: Arsenal News, supporting the club, the players and the manager
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By Walter Broeckx
In a few articles (maybe more than you could bear) I have been talking about referees. And I have even written a complete series on all different kind of reasons why a referee can be biased in some games. I think I wrote it down in some 6 or 7 different articles. Somewhere half way the season that was.
And maybe some of you will remember that I said that one reason for showing a bias in a game could be the reward thing. I know how those things work in my country; I have seen and heard enough. To described it in short: a ref knows (or is told) that if he favours a certain team he will get some kind of reward. A ref’s career in the highest divisions is rather short (10 to 15 years maximum) just like any player his career. A ref only gets to the top in a country when he is around 30 years old (if he is a quick learner) and if you know that the top refs have to stop at 45 years old according to Fifa regulations you understand that they have just a short period to get to the top of the top.
So to get at the top of the top you must get the support of your local FA or ref organization. In England the PGMOL. And as a result the refs will try their best to be good friends with the head of this organization. And as most of you know the head of the refs in the PGMOL is Mike “I’ll stop your unbeaten run at Old Trafford” Riley. He is in fact a great example on how to make a career by doing what the big man likes you to do.
So Riley stopped our unbeaten run and he got rewarded with being boss of the PGMOL. In fact this was a very bright move from the persons in charge of the FA and the PGMOL, because they knew Riley was reliable (by letting United getting away with murder and giving a penalty for a Rooney dive) and Riley knew that he had to stay on this line in the future to keep his position.
As a result the refs in the PGMOL, who are not stupid, know what to do in order to get a great job after their short career at the top: do what Riley has done and the reward will come.
This is the way it goes in many countries. Good relations with people in power are vital to get a good reward.
And then you see that the next chief of the PGMOL, (when Riley will be promoted to another important job), will be Howard Webb or even Phil Dowd. This will depend on the fact if Webb gets a bigger job offered by Uefa or Fifa in the next years when he reaches the end of his career. Don’t expect a ref to become head of the PGMOL who has good statistics in Arsenal games. This is the way things go in ref land.
Last year we had the scandal at Porto where the ref literally gave the ball and a goal to Porto against all the rules and the instructions from Fifa and Uefa. I then wrote an article and said that this ref would be rewarded with a place at the world cup later that year. And I was right. He went but he then made a mess of his game and they had to send him home.
So when I read in the press that Busacca was named head of the refs in Fifa I wasn’t surprised at all. In fact it is very much in line with the things I have written in recent years. The only surprise was that Busacca who is only 42 years old still had a few years to go as a ref before he had to retire as a Fifa ref. He could have had another European Championship and maybe even could have gone to the next world cup. So the fact that he stopped as a ref now is the only thing that surprised me. The timing, not his promotion.
Because I just felt that he would get his reward for what he has done. Because also at Uefa and Fifa they work in the same way as in the English FA and the PGMOL: they reward the refs that help them achieving their goals. They give them a high job and the refs are sure that the money keeps on pouring in. Do what we like you to do and you will get a reward.
And then I quote the words of Sepp Blatter the whiter than white president of Fifa who will clean up the corruption in Fifa (that’s me in sarcastic mode). I just wonder how it could be possible that under his presidency he never knew that there was corruption in Fifa until recently? Maybe not that good a president after all? But with what I have written in recent years for Untold and with the points made in this I am hoping you will see the need to look beyond the words themselves…
Blatter said: “Massimo Busacca’s experience will prove to be particularly useful to our mission and to our efforts to continue the groundwork we have put in place with the confederations and member associations in this particularly important area. I am very happy that he has joined us.”
Yeah I bet he is happy he joined them and he will continue “the groundwork” in this area. It just means: we have a man who knows what to do, will do it and we are happy we have him in the bag. So if anyone thought of a possible change in the refs in the next decade…just forget it. It will be business as usual. Just do what we like (help the powerful) and we will reward you.
Match fixing scandal and corruption issues…
Match Fixing: Latest on the arrests in Turkey and Greece
The Italian scandal keeps coming back
A call to arms; let us sort out this refereeing issue once and for all
The big European study of refs reveals something rather sinister
Refs and scandals: the problem spreads across the world
The complete index of the Match Fixing Scandal in the Premier League is now here. You might like also to note that the BBC has picked up on our story and is now running it here – including interviews with Walter and Dogface.