What should the FA do about referees?

Page 123, Law 13 - The ball is in play when it is kicked and moves.

This is not the first time there has been controversy surrounding refereeing decisions made in a Liverpool Sunderland fixture, nor is it the first time referee Stuart Atwell has woken up on a Sunday morning with his name all over the papers for the wrong reasons.

Last year, a beach ball deflected a Darren Bent shot, in open play, past Pepe Reina in the Liverpool goal, and referee Mike Jones allowed it to stand. Sunderland won that game 1-0, and the debates over whether or not the goal should have stood continued for days, but in that case most arguments were ended on the agreement that the right decision was made by law and by common sense.


And 2 seasons ago Stuart Atwell was at the centre of attention again as he awarded a mysterious "ghost goal" to Reading against Watford. Amid a goal mouth scramble, Atwell adjudged the ball to have crossed the line between the goal posts and underneath the crossbar, despite the fact that only time it crossed the line was outside the goal. A goal kick should have been awarded, but instead a goal was given. The game finished 2-2.

Yesterday, as I am sure everybody has seen, Atwell awarded an indirect free-kick to Sunderland in their own half. Turner tried to take the kick quickly, but it was pulled back to the correct position by the 27-year-old youngest Premier League referee. Atwell waited until Turner was by the ball, and as Atwell turned his back and walked off, Turner appeared to backheel the ball towards his keeper, and the keeper walked forward to take the kick, but instead Torres pounced on it, and although the keeper appealed, Torres was allowed to go on by Atwell and pulled it back to Kuyt for an easy finish. The referee consulted his assistant, and a goal was awarded. The game finished 2-2.

I am currently undertaking a refereeing course, and we were told that while you should stick to the laws as much as possible, the use of common sense is also very important. It could be argued that he did the right thing. Turner, afterall, passed the ball to his goalkeeper, and so the ball was in play, and Torres and Kuyt were justly rewarded for their quick thinking. However, surely it would have been clear to his assistant that Turner had not deliberately given the ball to Torres, and maybe the kick should have been retaken.

As you can see, all three decisions have affected results, and although in some cases the right decision may have been made, the FA is going to need to do something to stop such strange occurances happening again. It appears at the moment that young referees act like robots, and rarely use common sense. More often than not, younger referees make decisions correct by law, but not necessarily correct in practice. Is it nerves that force these referees into making the decisions, or is it younger referees wanting to be better and sticking to the rules?

So what should they do? Does the process of a referee going from Level 9 to Level 1 need to be changed? Or is this problem always going to be there of referees making mistakes? Unfortunately, I think it is the latter. Referees go about their job in different ways, some are leniant, and some only make decisions on their first thoughts. Because of this, it is likely that referees will always make mistakes, and we will just have to hope that they aren't too costly.


Gibbo