Well I've finished my first (partial) season and my Saturday afternoons are now devoted to playing cricket.
It was our 2nd second game yesterday and I was reflecting on the difference between umpire and referee at club level. In club cricket the normal practice is that two members of the batting side act as umpires (the duty is usually rotated every 10 overs) so if you're batting, it's a member of your own team you might give you out. This works incredibly well and in 24 years of playing men's club cricket I have only ever seen one incident of blatant bias by an umpire.
Even though there are plenty of contentious decisions you just don't see dissent in club cricket as happens constantly in club football. Why is this? I think there's a number of reasons:
1. Established norms of behaviour. It's the same people playing football as cricket in many cases but they behave better when playing football mainly because they comply to the norms of the environment, established from top to bottom in the sport. Football could learn alot from this...change the behaviour in the premiership, change it in the park.
2. Time to calm down. Cricket is essentially a turn-based, individual game wrapped up as a team game. The bowler who has an lbw turned down has time to calm down and get an explanation from an umpire before bowling again.
3. Perceived neutrality. The batsman who thinks he is "triggered" (given out wrongly, by an umpire with a "trigger" finger) can talk to his team-mate about it later when he has calmed down. However it's his team-mate who gave him out so he's not going to leap to the conclusion that he is a "cheat". A football referee whilst (ironically) more neutral is constantly accused of bias.
Sunday, 24 May 2009
Monday, 11 May 2009
Money, money. money
Many people are surprised to learn there is a match fee for ref at local league level. In my regular league it's £30 per game, which I think is fairly typical (youth 11-a-side is more likely to be £20 per game). So obviously I'm not doing it for the money!
In professional football, refs in the Football League get £250 per game plus expenses but would not be full-time. The assistant referees running the line get less, despite being closer to the abusive crowd.
The "Select Group of professional referees" in the premiership (guys like Howard Webb and Phil Dowd) get a basic salary of £60,000 per year with extra for European games. They will do about 25 games per season so that's about £2,400 a game.
Compare that to the players. In the premiership average salary is close to £100,000 per month of playing time so let's say they play six games a month, that's about £17,000 a game (but they get paid whether they play or not). Most of the highest profile guys will be making money on top of that for endorsements and so on, not to mention the money they make when they change clubs - especially when they go on a Bosman and the new club doesn't have to pay the old club a penny.
And then there's "Beckham Inc", which is in another league altogether.
In professional football, refs in the Football League get £250 per game plus expenses but would not be full-time. The assistant referees running the line get less, despite being closer to the abusive crowd.
The "Select Group of professional referees" in the premiership (guys like Howard Webb and Phil Dowd) get a basic salary of £60,000 per year with extra for European games. They will do about 25 games per season so that's about £2,400 a game.
Compare that to the players. In the premiership average salary is close to £100,000 per month of playing time so let's say they play six games a month, that's about £17,000 a game (but they get paid whether they play or not). Most of the highest profile guys will be making money on top of that for endorsements and so on, not to mention the money they make when they change clubs - especially when they go on a Bosman and the new club doesn't have to pay the old club a penny.
And then there's "Beckham Inc", which is in another league altogether.
Friday, 8 May 2009
Reflections on fallout from Champions League Semi-Final
As I saw it...
- Ballack man-handled the referee because, in Ballack's opinion, he didn't give a penalty decision in injury time
- Drogba verbally berated the referee and had to be restrained from physically attacking him because he felt he was denied victory by the referee's mistakes
- Drogba told the world he thought the referee was a "f*****g disgrace" by shouting into a TV camera
- after game the Chelsea manager said he understood Drogba's behaviour and the Chelsea captain said he supported Drogba
- the next day Drogba apologised for his behaviour in the press
Some thoughts...
- If Drogba said to the referee after the final whistle what he said to the camera he should have a red, not a yellow
- Drogba sets his own personal standards for his behaviour and for me they are not good enough, can anyone imagine Ryan Giggs behaving like that? or for that matter Tiger Woods, Rafa Nadal, Johnny Wilkinson or Andrew Strauss?
- the club set their standards and they are not good enough either by not condemning Drogba and Ballack's behaviour whatever their emotions, they diminish themselves and the sport
- I think the referee got himself into a mindset of "they are trying to get something from me and I'm not giving them to them", he legitimately turned down 2-3 penalty appeals but then made a bad miss on the Pique incident- that sequence has pretty much already happened to me... the more a team pressures you the worse decisions you make (this can go for or against them)
- I don't believe Drogba's apology, I think he just wants a smaller ban.
The whole thing makes me sad and a little angry.
The referee made a mistake that denied Chelsea victory.
When Drogba cut inside the last defender and scuffed a weak, left-footed shot at the keeper he made a mistake that denied Chelsea victory.
What are the consequences for both individuals and the game? The millionaire footballer may sit out a few games, the referee is in hiding I am pretty sure the damage to the game is done and calling a referee a "f****** disgrace" has been further legitimised.
- Ballack man-handled the referee because, in Ballack's opinion, he didn't give a penalty decision in injury time
- Drogba verbally berated the referee and had to be restrained from physically attacking him because he felt he was denied victory by the referee's mistakes
- Drogba told the world he thought the referee was a "f*****g disgrace" by shouting into a TV camera
- after game the Chelsea manager said he understood Drogba's behaviour and the Chelsea captain said he supported Drogba
- the next day Drogba apologised for his behaviour in the press
Some thoughts...
- If Drogba said to the referee after the final whistle what he said to the camera he should have a red, not a yellow
- Drogba sets his own personal standards for his behaviour and for me they are not good enough, can anyone imagine Ryan Giggs behaving like that? or for that matter Tiger Woods, Rafa Nadal, Johnny Wilkinson or Andrew Strauss?
- the club set their standards and they are not good enough either by not condemning Drogba and Ballack's behaviour whatever their emotions, they diminish themselves and the sport
- I think the referee got himself into a mindset of "they are trying to get something from me and I'm not giving them to them", he legitimately turned down 2-3 penalty appeals but then made a bad miss on the Pique incident- that sequence has pretty much already happened to me... the more a team pressures you the worse decisions you make (this can go for or against them)
- I don't believe Drogba's apology, I think he just wants a smaller ban.
The whole thing makes me sad and a little angry.
The referee made a mistake that denied Chelsea victory.
When Drogba cut inside the last defender and scuffed a weak, left-footed shot at the keeper he made a mistake that denied Chelsea victory.
What are the consequences for both individuals and the game? The millionaire footballer may sit out a few games, the referee is in hiding I am pretty sure the damage to the game is done and calling a referee a "f****** disgrace" has been further legitimised.
Saturday, 2 May 2009
Good game
A much better game today. A hot day and a 10 o'clock kick-off for both teams' last game of the season. Easier teams to handle with home team having already won the division but I was much happier with how I approached it.
I have realised at the level I am refereeing I spend most of my time adjudicating on pushing in the back when competing for headers and throw-ins. I gave my first penalty in this match (for a push in fact).. a bit of complaining but nothing serious. The keeper saved it.
The main challenge in this match was to maintain concentration, especially in the first half when there was not much to give... I caught myself watching the game once or twice and had to get my mind back on it.. luckily didn't miss anything in those times. It's a shame as a ref that you can't really comment on a match, there was some good skill on show today and I enjoyed the game.
I was getting a bit of nagging from the players in the 2nd half and I have noticed a tendency in myself to just stop whistling at times when this happens but I was on that today and made sure I gave what I saw and didn't 2nd guess myself too much.
Tired, hot and blistered at the end but very happy with a good game. Nice way to end the season. Annoying that I am one game short of applying for my promotion to level 7.
I have realised at the level I am refereeing I spend most of my time adjudicating on pushing in the back when competing for headers and throw-ins. I gave my first penalty in this match (for a push in fact).. a bit of complaining but nothing serious. The keeper saved it.
The main challenge in this match was to maintain concentration, especially in the first half when there was not much to give... I caught myself watching the game once or twice and had to get my mind back on it.. luckily didn't miss anything in those times. It's a shame as a ref that you can't really comment on a match, there was some good skill on show today and I enjoyed the game.
I was getting a bit of nagging from the players in the 2nd half and I have noticed a tendency in myself to just stop whistling at times when this happens but I was on that today and made sure I gave what I saw and didn't 2nd guess myself too much.
Tired, hot and blistered at the end but very happy with a good game. Nice way to end the season. Annoying that I am one game short of applying for my promotion to level 7.
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