One goal in ten in the EPL is wrongly given. Comparing refs in the EPL and the CL « Untold Arsenal: Arsenal News, supporting the club, the players and the manager
By Walter Broeckx
Now that the group stage of the Champions league is behind us I thought it would be nice to see how the refs have done in total and how they compare to the refs in the EPL in global.
So I took my table and tried to get an average percentage in the categories we have used so far this season.
| Game | ref | cards | penalty | goals | other | total |
| Arsenal – Braga | Hammer | 60 | 33 | 100 | 75 | 72 |
| Partizan – Arsenal | Stark | 50 | 60 | 100 | 50 | 67 |
| Arsenal- Shakhtar | Moen | 100 | 100 | 83 | 100 | 91 |
| Shakhtar- Arsenal | Busacca | 80 | 100 | 100 | 0 | 64 |
| Braga – Arsenal | Kassai | 41 | 0 | 100 | 0 | 31 |
| Arsenal – Partizan | Tagliavento | 100 | 50 | 100 | 100 | 91 |
| Total | 431 | 343 | 583 | 325 | 416 | |
| Total % | 71,83 | 57,17 | 97,17 | 54,17 | 69,33 |
And in the Premier league we get these total numbers (based on more games)
| Total | 1130 | 1091 | 1830 | 539 | 1236 | |
| Total % | 56,5 | 54,55 | 91,5 | 26,95 | 61,8 |
So the last numbers are the most important one and we can see that the refs in the CL got a total score of just under 70%.
One could say we had one bad referee who did the Brage game and who really was poor. One could say he played in the Dean-Webb division of refereeing.
Then we had three more or less flat referees and those where Stark and Busacca with some average performances. And to think that those are “top” refs in Europe but who had not that good games this time. Hammer did a bit better but he forget to give us a few penalties and otherwise would also have had a much higher score. And Hammer is a ref from a very small country (Luxembourg).
And then we had 2 excellent refs and the where Moen from Norway and Tagliavento from Italy.
They had the almost perfect game and to think that Moen lost points for giving us a goal that should have been cancelled for offside. And those were rather young refs so one could say that the future (based on this little inquiry) looks rather good when it comes to refs who are not afraid to follow the rulebook.
If we look at the cards section one could say that this is very much in line with the overall result. The good ones did what they had to do without looking at who and which colour they gave their cards. Compared to the card handling in the EPL there is a big difference. Around 7/10 cards are handed out (or not handed out) correct in the CL and in the EPL this is only around 56%. So the refs in the EPL seem to miss a lot of cards. Does this surprises anyone?
The penalties is another story as almost half of the penalty decisions were wrong. I think this is a far too high number. And to think that they have placed extra refs behind the goals to keep an eye on those decisions. It sure doesn’t look that it is a big help. In fact the score from penalty decisions in the EPL so far is around 55% so just marginally worse than in the CL. So one could ask if it is worthwhile to put extra refs out there as the level of decisions is not much better than when the refs don’t have the extra help out there.
A very good score on the goals as there was only 1 goal in total that should have been cancelled out. It was a goal from Song when he came back from an offside position. So the number correct goals of 97% is very good. In the EPL we get a figure of around 91%. So one could say that the assistants and the refs have done a very good job in the CL. The number in the EPL means that 1 goal in 10 is wrongly given. I think this is too much. Work to do for the refs and the assistants.
The category “other” sees a score of only 54%. So the refs still miss a lot in the CL and they are with 5 or even 6 in fact. Almost half of the decisions are wrong. In this category you can find wrongly given free kicks or not given free kicks, messing around with the advantage rule and other fouls that refs made during their games. But mind you in the EPL this number goes down to 27% and that is half of what the refs in the CL are doing.
I don’t think this is down to the extra refs as they are more (or should) be dealing with the important decision in the penalty area but I cannot explain the difference immediately.
If I have to base it on my memory in this category you find a lot of decisions when the refs don’t deal with things like time wasting, fouls on keepers, dangerous tackles.
In each and every category the refs in the CL have done better than the refs in the EPL. Now in a way this could be down to the fact that the refs in the CL are always Fifa refs who in their country are top refs. And as in the EPL not all refs are Fifa refs this could have brought the average down.
BUT unfortunately for the Fifa refs in the EPL it is just them (Dean and Webb for example) who have the poorest numbers behind their names. So in Europe a Fifa badge means something but in the EPL it means nothing. Is this some kind of signal that in other countries refs get their Fifa badges on their merits and that in England this is not always the case?
Normally you would expect the Fifa refs to shine also in their leagues but this is certainly not the case. So are Fifa badges in the EPL been given on other criteria compared to the rest of Europe?
Maybe Mike Riley, head of the refs in the EPL, could give the answer…..
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