THE ARCHIVE
Referees
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The idea of clubs even at semi-professional level – let alone in the Premier League – having to find their own referee for a home game is hard to imagine. At parks level, however, many clubs do that every week, often prompting disputes about the officials’ impartiality. The reason that referees are in such short supply is because hundreds have drifted out of the game due to the poor behaviour of players and spectators. That is why the Football Association launched its initiative to improve respect for referees, which begins in earnest in January 2008. The County FAs of East Riding, Gloucestershire, Middlesex, Cheshire Cambridgeshire, Berks & Bucks, Staffordshire and Northamptonshire will run three different pilot schemes. FA chief executive Brian Barwick explains: “One [is] where only the captain can approach the referee. Two [is] roped-off areas so over-indulgent and abusive parents and spectators can’t get at them. And number three is a memorandum of understanding. Everyone signs up to a standard of behaviour. If it’s breached then you can’t go out and play. It’s not going to change overnight but we’re working very hard at it.” The initiative could go further. At an FA roadshow at The Hawthorns in October, Barwick outlined the scheme and cited the example of rugby union, where referees in televised matches are equipped with microphones, as a “marker” for football.
Barnet have shown that such ideas can work. They had players sent off in three consecutive League matches in August and collected seven yellow cards. “Our disciplinary record at the start of the season was a fraction off ideal,” admits David Bloomfield, the club’s communications manager, in a nice piece of understatement. “Red cards and cautions put people out for a few games and we’ve not got the largest squad.” In early September, Barnet winger Adam Birchall had what the club describes as “a ‘eureka!’ moment”. Birchall suggested that Barnet’s growing number of red and yellow cards could be cut down by allowing only the captain to speak to the referee. On the subject...
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