Refereeing Soccer In the 21st Century: What Improvements Can Be Made

One of the most difficult and thankless jobs in all of sports is being an referee. I spent six years refereeing high school soccer in upstate New York. One of the differences between refereeing those games and refereeing Premier League, Champions League, international matches is, obviously, the amount of coverage the game garners. One bad thing is the pay difference. I was making only $70 per varsity game where top-level officials make much more. Another bad thing which is the focus of this article is the amount of scrutiny the official receives during and after the game.

A high school game, at best, will receive maybe a paragraph in the newspaper the next day with no mention of the referees who worked the game. A top-level game will be hyped up for most of the week and if it’s a really big game the referees names will be mentioned in the papers several times before the match even starts. Some people will argue that with the increased compensation, increased scrutiny comes with the territory. But keep in mind, the referees are, for the most part, the lowest paid people on the field.

However, it’s the during and after the game where the referees receive too much scrutiny in my opinion. The game is a fast-paced sport and requires thousands of split-second decisions to be made during the match including by the officials. Whenever there is a 50-50 call or a non-call that is made, the production booth immediately cues up a replay of the incident and the referee’s decision starts to be broken down in great detail. Now instant replay is great for great plays but it is terrible for referees. Their decisions start to be questioned by people who have the benefit of replay. In soccer, the referee does not have the benefit of replay. All of his/her decisions must be made in a split-second and can have great impact on the game without the benefit of replay.

Now, people will argue that instant replay should be added to the game. I’m one of those who think that replay should not be added to the game. Here’s why:

Soccer is a game with an ebb-and-flow. Stopping the game for the referee to look at a replay would destroy this ebb-and-flow.

Others believe that soccer has an ebb-and-flow but does have a natural break when goals are scored and that goals should be able to be reviewed. But what about the situation when the ball crosses the goal line but the referee does not see it and orders play to continue. When does the referee stop play in this instance? The next throw-in, corner kick, free kick? All of these would break up the ebb-and-flow of the game.

Referees are now placed in a very difficult position. They are expected to make every call correct. They have to “pitch a perfect game” every game. The high-paid players and coaches can and do make mistakes and they receive their share of criticism for their poor performance. But when the referee makes a poor decision, there is a outcry that instant replay or more referees needs to be added to the game. We’ve seen this with the addition of goal-line referees for Champions League game. However, I have yet to see an impact of having two extra referees at the game especially the goal-line referees can only rule on goal-line decisions. So, we’ve added two more referees but we have tied their hands behind their back as to what they can rule on. If you going to add two more referees, they should be able to rule on the entire rule book not just one section.

One of the things that I mentioned in the beginning was that referees are usually the lowest-paid players on the field. For the referees to receive the amount of scrutiny that they currently receive, they need to get paid more and receive more training. More training is important. They need to spend more time out on the field working lower-level games in the beginning of their careers learning how to make the split-second decision in a more “lower pressure” environment. But also, they need to spend more time in the film room watching their games and watching games at a higher level than what they are currently officiating. Seeing the pace of the game, seeing their mistakes, seeing how they can improve just like the players do.

However, when you are refereeing players who make as much in month as the referee does in a season, it is difficult for a lot of officials to motivate themselves to put in the time to make themselves a better official.

Refereeing in the 21^st century is a very difficult thing at the upper-levels of soccer. The pay is not equal to the amount of scrutiny that a referee receives if they make an incorrect call. They have to deal with pundits and commentators who have the benefit of instant replay when the referee does not. Finally, they have to deal with governing bodies making half-hearted attempts to “improve” refereeing by adding more referees but only allowing those new officials make calls on just one part of the rule book.

The best game is a game when the referee are “unseen” and “unheard.” With more training, working more lower-level matches, and better pay, I think the refereeing can improve but as it stands, right now, refereeing in the 21^st century is one of the most difficult things in sports.