'Chopper'
17 Apr 2007, 10:08 AM
According to The Times' Danny Baker there are only 4, yes 4!, professional referees in MLS.
How can a league like MLS expect to be taken seriously when the officials are, literally, a bunch of amateurs?
In his column, Baker says:
How many full-time soccer referees do you think there are in the entire United States? Well, I’ll tell you. Four. That’s right — four. Four blokes cover the whole thing.
I find that incredible. I thought the US was supposed to be something like a soccer superpower these days, no? Yet there it is — in America, professional football referees are outnumbered by surviving members of The Partridge Family. Amazing. I have just watched a short film featuring this hardy quartet “getting ready for a new season” and it was without question the most boring thing I have seen.
There’s nothing to explain how any of them came to be a member of this Gang Of Four at all. Three of the refs — Messrs Salazar, Toldeo, Marrufo — seem to be first generation descendants of families from traditional footballing nations but the fourth, Terry Vaughn, is a little harder to fathom. As a recent, rather breathless, US article on Vaughn has it, “Iowan Terry Vaughn has been involved in soccer his whole life. Who knew soccer would be the vehicle that could take him all over the world?! Vaughn has not forgotten his Iowa roots. He still resides in the Mount Vernon area, even though on a given day he and his whistle might be in Los Angeles, Washington DC, Guatemala or even Des Moines!”
Vaughn himself also talks in a way I simply can’t imagine our own domestic whistlers doing. Here he is on what sort of kit he favours: “Black. Definitely black. It’s sharp and puts some weight on you.” On the toughest decisions: “I’ll have to go with disallowing a goal. Everybody’s celebrating and because of me the emotions are gonna go from one side to the other — real quick!” On where he ultimately would like to work: “I’d say Bundesliga. I took German in high school and I’ve always had a thing for the Germans.” Frankly I can’t see any referee in this country ever saying something like that — out loud anyway.
And how about another of this Band Of Brothers — this time Baldomero Toledo — pondering his greatest wish: “I would love to be able to fly. If I was able to fly I could touch the stars.” A poetic ideal, for sure, but not the sort of thing you want the coarser element at Bramall Lane knowing about you. And here he is again, this time on what would constitute his perfect job. “The English Premier League. It is one of the top leagues and the players all respect the referees.” Uh, Mr Toldeo . . . I’d just stick with that first dream if I were you.
Is MLS just a final pay-day for the fading elite or will it grow to be a 'serious' place to play professional football?
How can a league like MLS expect to be taken seriously when the officials are, literally, a bunch of amateurs?
In his column, Baker says:
How many full-time soccer referees do you think there are in the entire United States? Well, I’ll tell you. Four. That’s right — four. Four blokes cover the whole thing.
I find that incredible. I thought the US was supposed to be something like a soccer superpower these days, no? Yet there it is — in America, professional football referees are outnumbered by surviving members of The Partridge Family. Amazing. I have just watched a short film featuring this hardy quartet “getting ready for a new season” and it was without question the most boring thing I have seen.
There’s nothing to explain how any of them came to be a member of this Gang Of Four at all. Three of the refs — Messrs Salazar, Toldeo, Marrufo — seem to be first generation descendants of families from traditional footballing nations but the fourth, Terry Vaughn, is a little harder to fathom. As a recent, rather breathless, US article on Vaughn has it, “Iowan Terry Vaughn has been involved in soccer his whole life. Who knew soccer would be the vehicle that could take him all over the world?! Vaughn has not forgotten his Iowa roots. He still resides in the Mount Vernon area, even though on a given day he and his whistle might be in Los Angeles, Washington DC, Guatemala or even Des Moines!”
Vaughn himself also talks in a way I simply can’t imagine our own domestic whistlers doing. Here he is on what sort of kit he favours: “Black. Definitely black. It’s sharp and puts some weight on you.” On the toughest decisions: “I’ll have to go with disallowing a goal. Everybody’s celebrating and because of me the emotions are gonna go from one side to the other — real quick!” On where he ultimately would like to work: “I’d say Bundesliga. I took German in high school and I’ve always had a thing for the Germans.” Frankly I can’t see any referee in this country ever saying something like that — out loud anyway.
And how about another of this Band Of Brothers — this time Baldomero Toledo — pondering his greatest wish: “I would love to be able to fly. If I was able to fly I could touch the stars.” A poetic ideal, for sure, but not the sort of thing you want the coarser element at Bramall Lane knowing about you. And here he is again, this time on what would constitute his perfect job. “The English Premier League. It is one of the top leagues and the players all respect the referees.” Uh, Mr Toldeo . . . I’d just stick with that first dream if I were you.
Is MLS just a final pay-day for the fading elite or will it grow to be a 'serious' place to play professional football?