Stop Bitching About the Referees!
Posted on January 27, 2012 2:56 pm
(I originally wrote this as a column for a Mexican page, but I realized it was a great topic for a blog post here, so I decided to translate and adapt it)
Last Wednesday I was lucky enough to be at Camp Nou to watch the Barcelona-Real Madrid Copa del Rey Clasico. The Merengues played their best game of the Mourinho era and deserved to win. In the end, they didn’t, and the staff and players resorted to the usual tactic, to blame the referee. Worse, Mourinho’s level of paranoia was so high, that he waited for the referee in the parking lot after the match to scold him for his decisions.
The point is that however bad Teixeira Vitienes was he was not particularly terrible to Madrid. And I’m not the one saying it but Andujar Oliver, the refereeing analyst for Marca (a Madridista newspaper no doubt even if they have clearly become more objective lately). In his piece he considers that Lass and Pepe had to be sent off, that Sergio Ramos’ goal was deservedly disallowed and that the ref was right not to whistle any fouls in either area.
At the end of the game, the Merengues, as if following a script, spared no words to lambast the ref. They do this with every defeat, playing great or badly, and the mood is contagious to their fans, who see conspiracy theories at every turn. And the worst part is that the strategy has never worked. The referees don’t help them when they play against Barça, Mourinho will leave the team unless he doesn’t win the league and many players will follow him if that happens. Why keep doing it?
Of course, Real Madrid are not the only ones. We can find examples in every team on every sport. The problem is that fans can only remember when a referee affected them, not when he benefited them or had no effect. And so they begin to see trends where there are none. It’s easy to say “this referee has something against us, he was wrong three times in the last four years!” That seems like a trend, but only if it is conveniently forgotten that these three errors occurred in 20 games, not four.
In every sport, the syndrome “the world against us” is very common and complaining against the referees is the most used outlet to express it. But I have news to you, ALL the fans of ALL the teams in ALL sports believe it. Madrid complain about the matches against Barça, Barça complain that they never get penalty calls in their favor, Valencia and Atletico complain that referees have a tendency towards Barça and Madrid, and so on. So, if the referees screw everyone, then who benefits?
The only valid answer so far is: host teams. In the spectacular book “Scorecasting,” which discusses various statistical aspects of the sport, the authors Tobias Moskowitz and Jon Wertheim, analyzed matches for more than 15 years of 60 leagues and reached the conclusion that the usual home team advantage is reduced almost exclusively to refereeing errors in their favor. I have a theory that, because of fan pressure, the officials also help top teams, but I don’t have the statistical evidence to prove it. But what I know for certain is that when a fan says that a referee has something against his team, he’s usually wrong, and suffers from that same “us against the world” syndrome.
That does not mean that referees are perfect, far from it. In my opinion, they make too many mistakes, but that’s because the system puts too much responsibility on one person. With the stubborn resistance of Blatter and company to help them with technology, they put them in a situation as fragile as unfair. They already do quite a lot with what little they have to also have to suffer the outbursts of paranoid coaches and angry fans every week.
Well said! Much easier to blame refs than to complement your rival.
We soon forget when we get benefits from the ref or come up with excuses on why it was ok to receive that benefit, but we never forget bad calls against our team.
If the Barca and Real players spent more time on their feet instead of diving, less time arguing every damn call, and avoided the little “gamesmanship” fouls that lead to cautions and ejections, then the referees would not be in a position to have to make all these calls. Sure the refs make mistakes, but they see a lot more — and know the LOTG a lot better — than most coaches, players and fans.
Amen^
Other sports are more disrepectful to referees and tougher on them, basketball and American Football being easy examples.
That said, I wish soccer would take a lesson from Rugby (of all sports!) They give the referee the business from the stands and the commentating booth, but the players by and large just play the game – if they don’t it’s to the sin bin!
Yes, referees make mistakes, but as you said people only remember the ones that go “against” them and say, “THAT cost us the game!” Never mind the errant passes, missed open shots, failed corner and free kicks, and more that are conveniently forgotten quickly.
The referee doesn’t affect the outcome any more than anyone else out on the pitch or in the technical area.
http://static.betazeta.com/www.ferplei.com/up/2012/01/Mourinho-arbitro.jpg
Mou waiting on the ref
Unfortunately, it paid off for Madrid: they got the ref banned from their games (that’s right, just ones featuring Real) for the rest of the season.
http://www.mediotiempo.com/futbol/mexico/noticias/2012/01/26/vetan-al-arbitro-teixeira-vitienes-de-juegos-del-real-madrid
Mourinho may be a wingnut, but he’s not stupid. There are also pictures of him waiting by the referee’s car post-match, I doubt he was there to congratulate him on a well-called game.
Mourinho is a first-class tool, but it worked for him this time.
Awesome post.
In basketball, football and baseball, you rarely see as much whinning and complaining toward the ref. I believe that this is the case because a referee mistake has little affect on the final score, whereas a blown call in soccer, can easily lead to one team winning and the other losing.
I though it was histerical when the FMF chastized refs for doing a bad job. It would be the equivalent of chastizing a construction worker not building a whole bridge, by himself, in a week. People should be judged on their realistic potential and for referees, their realistic potential includes a lot of missed calls.
Until they are given the tools and personel that are needed to justify the big responsibility they have, this will keep hapening and people will keep bitching.
I disagree, “working the officials” has become part of every coach and player’s toolkit in all of those sports. They and their officials just see it as part of the game.
The difference is they are very hamstrung from commenting about the officiating (and usually fined if they do at the professional level).
I do agree with you the FMF whining about referees was laughable and insulting, the FMF succeeded in eroding any authority the refs down there had left. Good refs in Mexico were just marginalized, and poor refs got cover in the generalization.
About Martin del Palacio
My name is Martín del Palacio Langer, I live in Barcelona and I'm a freelance contributor to FIFA.com, World Soccer magazine, Kicker, MedioTiempo.com, PasionSports and some other publications around the world. I love the tactical and statistical side of football but understand that passion is the most important ingredient in the game. Hope you enjoy this blog and feel free to contact me in the comments section or in www.twitter.com/martindelpENG (for English) and www.twitter.com/martindelp (for Spanish)Popular Store Items
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