- By Tony Attwood
We are still nine days away from the real (ie club) football when Arsenal play Tottenham. But we can occasionally pick up other bits of news, such as that found in the headline, “Portuguese clubs launch insults but referees find their voice in protest.”
The essence of the piece that follows that headline is that “Match officials are speaking out against alleged intimidation as teams highlight controversial decisions.”
I am of course, not fully aware of what happens regarding refereeing across the world, but the issue in England is not properly covered by the “March officials speaking out” headline. For the issue is, and has been for almost a quarter of a century when the notorious PGMO was formed, one of secrecy. Referees don’t give interviews in England as they do elsewhere, the referee organisation (PGMO) doesn’t even have a website, and we are constantly left in the dark about all refereeing matters. What did the referees think would happen in this scenario?
In fact, PGMO ought to be grateful that the quiet and calm players and supporters at Premier League games fully accept the PGMO dictatorship in a way that other countries never have done and never would. Obviously, it is not good that “Portuguese clubs launch insults but referees find their voice in protest,” but at least the media there have thrown out the gagging order that prohibits them from talking about the refereeing issue in that country.
But as ever, the media in England support the code of silence surrounding English games while noting that, “After a series of incidents involving insults and alleged intimidation that have plunged Portuguese football into turmoil, the country’s referees are breaking their silence and protesting.”
And maybe one day someone in England will have the nerve to report what supporters have been seeing, for statistics reported here and elsewhere constantly show that something is seriously wrong.
For if the situation is allowed to fester in England much longer, then reports like that which we are currently seeing (such as “The Portuguese Football Federation has held emergency meetings with referee representatives”) will start to emerge here. And it shouldn’t be an emergency. These things should be dealt with as a matter of course.
In Portugal, the present turmoil seemed to begin when “Benfica publicly criticised the appointment of Fábio Veríssimo for their Super Cup game against Sporting.” And of course, analysis and subsequent criticism of referees doesn’t happen in England. But it can’t be long before we do get a case of a PL manager publicly criticising the fact that his club has a game overseen by the same referee for the fifth time in one season. All he needs is the statistics to back him up….
But now the situation has got so bad that one referee in Portugal has accused Porto of “broadcasting a replay of a disallowed goal on a television in his dressing room during half-time,” after which they showed a recording of a youth game from a couple of years back that the same ref had also overseen.
Porto have also apparently set out a list of “contentious” decisions against them this season and made that public.
Meanwhile, in England, the policy both from the referees association and the mass media that it appears to have in its pocket seems to be “if we don’t mention any issues, it will all blow over.” Why the media here kowtow to the PGMO I don’t know, but maybe it is a condition of getting a press pass. “Criticise PGMO and we take away your free ticket.” Something like that.
Thus, while we have no mention of referees in England, we have clubs like Benfica showing video highlights of referee errors after games. Which of course then means that when it comes to European games, one set of fans gets one report, and the other gets something quite different.
The view seems to be that the situation, both in ultra-silent kow-towing England where the media obey the command of PGMO and rarely mention referees in English matches and in some other countries, where there is comment from clubs but not from the referees, is getting worse and worse.
But within this dispute, there is something more – for it is the question of just how far the influence of clubs and managers reaches. Of course, we don’t want clubs to be able to influence referees – we want referees to be fair at all times. But in an era in which the former Tottenham owner has just been pardoned by the President of the United States for serious crimes against the state, it seems that boundaries no longer exist.
However, there is a deeper problem – and that is the quality of the football, which the media often try to hide. Or at least they used to, but now seem to be more interested, just occasionally, in telling the truth. As with the headline, “This match was as dismal as last season’s Europa League final and in a routine league game nerves are no excuse.”
That was in the Guardian in relation to the Tottenham and Manchester United game. And the thought must be, if they can say it about the game, then it is time to point out what is wrong with the refereeing too. But on the other hand, don’t hold your breath.
