Refs Miked Up For Australian A-League Finals

It's not the first time. It was done in England circa 20 years ago, with a famous altercation between David Elleray and Tony Adams that pretty much put paid to the experiment and no one has dared try again since.

It's great that the FFA are doing this though, and hopefully it works. The fact it's not live should help, and I think removes any worry about language. The only potential issue I can see is issues of OFFINABUS and/or dissent being recorded and not dealt with, which could be highlighted by the TV company, putting referees in a difficult position.

 

Is it possible that it will interfere with the referee's communication and might they, for example, not be as candid with one another for the very purpose of not putting one another in a bad situation that is being taped? Or will they forget they're being recorded and communicate like normal?

Given that's it isn't being used live, I wonder if the league or referee org have any approval rights or if the TV company can use any portions as they see fit?

All that said, it is pretty exciting. I can think of several plays where it would have been fascinating to listen in on the conversation......

 

Miking up referees for live broadcast could be great for MLS. Might actually make referees take care of dissent instead of just kicking the can down the road.

 

Maybe that would be one small victory, but this would come at the expense of good referee communication. Crew won't feel comfortable communicating with one another knowing that whatever they say will be broadcast and taken out of context to fit whatever agenda a partisan viewer might have. We'll see how it goes in Australia, but it seems to me that the negatives vastly outweigh the positives.

 

Elleray talked about that in his book. He regretted that Adams used some profanity in questioning a call. Elleray thought it was likely to be more benefit than harm, had the experiment been extended, by showing the basic humanity of the referee player interaction.

 

Obviously they are very different sports, but I have not seen any negative issues in the Aussie Rules matches I have seen where they have used this. Likewise the Rugby 7's tournaments they show on NBC/NBCSN often have the referees' audio broadcast. There it is live broadcast. It helps understand what's going on. What are the referees saying to each other that is likely to be so controversial? It might help people understand why a decision is made the way it is if they know what the officials saw. As for the dissent issue, I would be more than happy to see that cleaned up in soccer. It is not tolerated in pretty much any other sport the way it is in soccer and I've never understood why it is allowed to continue.

 

I don't know that it would be wise to have the public mic on all the time. Maybe there is a way they could mute it during live broadcast and still have it recording so we could hear what was said by/to the referee during a replay (after a cursory review for anything offensive).

 

I understand. In those rugby videos though you don't hear from the assistants, only the center referee. I don't know if it is a separate microphone or what. The same could be done for soccer.

Is it also possible that the producers who have access to what sound they show from the referees have strict orders from the league as to what they can and cannot show?

Why would the referees not be comfortable? They don't have anything to hide. Things are taken out of context enough as it is....perhaps letting the audience peek behind the curtain will help them understand that these men and women are professionals doing a job, same as anybody else.

 

I've heard comments from a rugby referee in the past (no attribution, sorry) that "If I think a player needs straightening out, I just cover my mic and let him have it".

Undoubtedly there'll be embarrassing incidents, but overall I think it'd be a good thing. It'd probably improve player behaviour if they knew they were liable for fines from the FCC (or Ofcom for the EPL) too ...

The only potentially thorny issue is if, say, a debatable decision is discussed by the referee crew and then one of the teams tries to use that recording as a basis for an appeal or something. I know for myself I've recorded one reason for a booking in my book, then changed it to another one of the 7 (that after thinking it about it a bit, made more sense or fit the situation better) when it came time to do the paperwork later.

 

I can hear it now. Me micced up and all the sudden the ball/play is way away as I say under my breath.... "oh....S--T!" and the sound of me panting on a full sprint....

 

When I was a kid I thought the play-by-play on the radio was broadcast by the referee, so this shouldn't be new.