Gabriel scores, Martinelli selected and English refs have a new organisation (but no sign of change)

Martinelli has played in 191 games for Arsenal and scored 41 goals in the Premier League (full details on Wiki).  This goal was his fifth for Brazil in 26 games.   And that wasn’t all he did, as the rest of the Brazil team appeared to feel that Japan were one of the great footballing nations and so had difficulty breaking them down; Casemiro headed in Gabriel Magalhães’ cross to equalise.

But the question for Arsenal is should he be played as a starter in every game?  On the basis that last season we saw Martinelli in 30 league games and he scored one goal.  Yet watching him we can see what a distraction he is for defenders, and we might recall that he also scored six goals in the Champions League last season.

Meanwhile, in other news, Professional Game Match Officials (PGMO), the body supposedly overseeing “elite” refereeing in English football, has been given a new name (Professional Game Referees) and the media are instructed to call it “Pro Ref” in the 2026-27 season.  (I am not sure what we are going to call it).

At the same time, the Football League outside the Premier League has agreed to pay referees more for each game – although ultimately that money is coming from a combination of the men’s and women’s leagues and the Football Association.

The referees who now oversee games in the Premier League and in EFL matches will, as a result, all become part of a single entity known as the “Professional Referee Group” with, as ever, the same high-profile referees taking multiple high-profile games.  I guess we’ll call them the “Prgs”.

What this means is that our prime concern (that of referees seeing the same clubs over and over again) is not being addressed at all, and will continue as before.  What are now known as “Group 2” referees will oversee Championship games  — which will allow them to hone their arts in terms of “adjusting” their refereeing style according to the nature of the game and the level of the players.

We are also told that the Premier League will be putting extra money into refereeing to help with “development and educational programmes” which is aimed at producing more qualified referees to handle games played at lower levels.  There is also what is said to be a move to increase diversity, and to give “stronger understanding of officiating to academy players.”  (Or they could read Untold).

What is particularly interesting is that these changes are being promoted as a way of “enhancing refereeing standards” without giving any details at all of how this is going to be done other than by changing the name.  And my own experience of organisations is that when they lead a change by changing a name, then next to nothing happens.

So we will hold in mind that the whole purpose of this review is the “modernising” of refereeing and “allowing for quicker promotion” of what they call ‘talented officials’.”

For we must now ask, “what is a talented official”?   We are not told, but there is also talk of “a more contemporary representation of professional refereeing in England” which it is said “is vital to support the ongoing development in our area of the game.”  I have to admit I am not at all sure what that means.  Maybe it’s an American thing (the boss worked with Major League Soccer some years ago. )

There is also a new thing called the “Player to Match Official” programme, which is funding 10 former professional footballers to train as referees, according to an article in The New York Times.

And perhaps in considering all this we might recall that PGMOL as it was then known, was set up a quarter of a century ago in a vague attempt to improve refereeing standards in professional English football.   It was set up as a secret organisation that had no website, and never allowed its members to give interviews or even answer agreed questions.   It would appear the new organisation is exactly the same.  So the chances of change are somewhere around zero.