The other day I was watching one of my favourite teams play, England, and it got me thinking about the game and the rules that are sometimes, and other times not, enforced. Now, for all you Americans that are here reading this I’m talking about soccer – what David Beckham plays.
When we watch on the telly, I’m sure you’re like me – you’re not thinking about becoming the next Fifa referee who’s going to be refereeing the World Cup between two teams – and, to be honest, I wouldn’t want to do that job either. So, we’re there watching the telly and we’re shouting at it because the ref can’t see the mistake he’s just made on the field. But, alas so many of the fans can; this is something that annoys me. So, a few days ago I spoke to a friend of a friend, a football referee at amateur level but a football referee all the same – he’s part of accrington referees association of referees.
And, it was quite enlightening what Geoff was telling me about the different things that were true about what supporters believed about what a referee does during the game and what things were, well, plain stupid. He told me that he’s forever explaining the offside rule, which seemed strange to me because it’s been around for quite a while. Something we all learn from I guess.
But, the interesting thing he said was that many, many referees back the idea of goal-line technology that Fifa don’t – and which fans are crying out for. So, we can only hope it gets introduced. Oh, and yes, the referees do have sense and are very intelligent – it’s just the media and us fans who get a little annoyed at times.