While most will accuse me of being a bitter Sporting fan after the semi-final loss in the Taca, this goes beyond that. The Porto-Sporting thread in particular included comments from fans of both clubs -- as well as a few Benfica supporters -- complaining about the officiating in Portugal. And in light of recent officiating scandals in Germany, Belgium and so on, how much longer must it be before UEFA or FIFA step in? It's obvious that there will always be connections or affiliations of some sort when you're dealing with Portuguese officials callilng Portuguese games (this applies to any nationality in any league). So why not follow similar rules to International competitions and not allow any official from a particular country call games involving teams from that country? Why not ship Portuguese officials to other leagues in Europe and import French, English, Italian, etc., officials into Portugal? Every league is familiar with similar accusations, so I think this would be the best way to minimize the risk of biased/corrupt officials. We need a Europe-wide governing body for officials that can handle these matters. Perhaps then we can avoid all this corruption -- at least on the field for that matter. Although, after reading Tonel, Sa Pinto and Nelson will be investigated 7 weeks after an incident (following a win streak of 8 to climb within 2 points of the top), perhaps the corruption lies a lot higher than the officials. (Sorry, had to drop a pro-Sporting jab in there somewhere) But seriously, let's discuss this importing/exporting officials thing.
it would be way too hard to get all those leagues to agree and work something out. plus who would want portuguese refs anyway
I don't suggest sending all Portuguese officials to the English league, but there are enough European leagues to evenly spread out all officials. Most leagues would have 1-2 officials from a specific country. It may even work out that some leagues would have no Portuguese or Italian, etc., officials. And they could work on a rotation basis from season to season. Last time I checked, an off side is an off side, regardless of whichever league you play in. This may even help putting the game on a more-balanced level, eliminating the whole a-foul-in-Portugal-would-not-be-a-foul-in-England crap. Same game, same standard everywhere.
it's a good idea having a larger entity govern refereeing but it would be too hard to implement... in the near future anyway
I see this officiating in Portugal and it makes me sick to my stomach. And im not just refering to the Sporting-Porto game. Its seriously beginning to become a joke. This is probably one of the reasons why the Superliga gets no recognition.
One way is to go to a true "lottery" or "draw" of officials before the games. Not assigning like what is done now. Hard to bribe a ref if you don't know what game he is doing. Not that it still couldn't be done but it would make it a little more difficult.
I think making them professionals and going back to drawing names from a bag would be a good start. Plus, if you get caught on a bribe, justice gets served with some jail time for everyone involved, not just the referees!
Making them professionals?That means they would have to quit their regular jobs.And what would you do with these guys after they couldnt ref anymore at the young age of 43? Refereeing is ,was and will always be controversial.....Not in Portugal but everywhere...In the past we use to complain about our refs,but in the modern age,where we all have access to games worldwide ,we see that in all other leagues refs make mistakes ......DOES this mean that everything is perfect?Heck no....But Uefa should spread the refs thru out the different European leagues...Why not have an Italian ref in a hot Portuguese league game.....I have been saying this all along.....There should be an interchange of European refs thru out Europe...... If thats not possible ,than the refs for the Liga games should only be announced the day before the actual game,this was The media and all the soccer buffs dont have an entire week to put pressure on the refs or worst to try and bribe them....Just my 2 cents......
can you imagine the costs associated with what you're suggesting. Sounds like it would be pretty expensive (flight and hotel) to me to have French refs. for example coming over to Portugal every weekend... cause let's face it there will be a HOT Portuguese League game every weekend
Not as expensive as making them professionals like you suggested....Refs in Portugal make very good money.Some of them make more money than certain players in the 1st division....And what would you do with these guys after they retire....?You can only have some many retired refs to Coach,train new refs...Meaning the rest of them will be collecting social security at 44!!!!!!
Perhaps I should have made it more clear in my initial post, but I think the interchanging of officials should be done on a season-by-season basis. So from a pool of all European officials, refs A1-Z1 would be assigned to Portugal for the 2006-07 season, A2-Z2 to England ... and so on ... This way, you would at least have some consistency in the type of calls made throughout the campaign.
I say extend the age limit to at least 50 if these guys could show they are in shape during the pre-season.
IMO the problem relies mainly on the League for just sitting by, and not recognizing we have a problem. It seems that FIFA not taking one Portuguese ref wasn't enough. Why not make them accountable for their mistakes, fines, suspensions etc.. I know these laws exist, but once we correct the corruption at the top. Let's start with with the game reviewers, the league sends to every game. The newspapers gave the ref from yesterday a 1 rating, but if we had access to the leagues game reviewer report, he probably got 6-7. Once you start punishing them, by demoting them to lower divisions. The quality would improve, drastically. Training is also a big problem, they don't get any manditory, physical as well as positioning, and classroom. As for making them professionals, it's working well in the EPL.
The Problem lies with the league. If the Referee were evaluated after every game and made to answer for their mistakes, then maybe it would change. The other problem that exists is the soccer culture in Portugal that allows people within the game to basically say anything at all regarding referees, without fear of reprisals, so as a REF you will always be criticised by people regardless of your actions, hell it is common to have club officials and fans, espicially of the big three accuse a ref of bias even before he has reffed a game. This leads to overcirticising by the wrong people, (fans, club officials) which leads to defending by the liga of their refs. (Remember as a fan you will defend your TEAM even though deep down you know that they maybe in the wrong.)
when refs are referred to as professionals this doesn't necessarily mean they won't have other jobs...much like NFL refs who are high ranking corporate officers and still professionals. We mean they should be rated weekly by the league, and trained more often. One of the issues is also the amount of complaining and whining that goes on in every game. You can't watch a game without noticing the crowd immediately starts whistling whenever there is a hard tackle that is eventually called a foul. Not to mention the players, coaches...
Maybe they should consider what the NHL did a few years ago and adopt the second referee. Let's face it, in soccer the referee is sometimes way out of position to see a play and must rely on the linesmen who may also be across the opposite side of play to make calls. By incorporating a second ref, each ref could patrol each half of the pitch..similiar to hockey and be alot closer to make calls. Even on corner kicks or when the play is deep in one end, the second ref can venture in and patrol mid way in the other half. Intially, I thought it would never work in the NHL but I was wrong. What do you think?
Making the referee become actual professionals would be great, but I think that the monetary costs involved would be too much. Referees do go through a lot of hassle because of what transpires during matches, so you have to make it worth their while ($$$) to go through what they do as their main livelihood. Bumping their age limit to, say, between 45 and 50 would help, too. If referees become professionals, you can't just cut them off at 43 - what would be the point of quitting your day job of, say, a banker to be a ref until you're 43? Besides, isn't that age discrimination? Also, one thing that the league needs to do is make them more accountable for their actions. Missed calls, poor judgement, bribery, these are some of the things that occur in this sport and need to be tackled harshly. If you don't make them pay for their actions, then they can continue to officate poorly knowing that they won't be punished for it. Hey, there are sumaríssimo's for players weeks after games - why not for referees? Just some of my thoughts...
That's an interesting point I never considered. However, my only problem with that is different officials often have different interpretations of what's a foul and what isn't a foul. It's frustrating to see calls vary from game to game. Could you imagine if that happened depending what side of the half you were on? This continues to be a problem in the NHL and I wouldn't be surprised to see them return to the one-official system down the road. I would be curious to see that implemented. And then it would cost Porto twice as much to buy the game. (Kidding, Porto fans. Inhale. Exhale. Count to 5)