Very interesting reading RE: MLS reffing

Whoa!

It's somewhat satisfying that my complaints are validated by someone in the position of Robert Evans, but at the same time I feel confused and a bit like a fool.

What I would like to see is that MLS publicly addresses this "paper" and the author publicly elaborates on his accusations.

Hopefully something good will come from this.

Thanks so much for leading me to that thread DouginSJ.

 

Wow, hard to believe "the referee problem" may actually be worse than we thought.

Here's a snippet from Bob's paper:
----------
Players in the MLS are being granted unsporting privileges that are not available in
any other nation’s professional league. All season long I have watched Mathis berate referees,
Etcheverry take control of a game away from the referee, Los Angeles systematically cheat the
clock without interference (and with no comment from the league), Beasley and Donovan get
butchered regularly, Meola insult referees in the foulest way after matches, coaches behave as
though in bedlam. The acceptance of misconduct is pervasive and explained by many of the
referees as confusion and a matter of survival arising from contradictory instructions they are
being given before, during and after matches. The Federation says one thing, but the officials
know they must bow to the dictates of the league if they wish to continue in the MLS, and
possibly thence step up to the international panel. Five of our present FIFA referees have said
the same thing in conversations I have had with them this season.
--------------

This really sucks if MLS is really that lacking in integrity (read the complete paper; some of the accusations are incredible, yet believable given some of the things we've seen this year). On the other hand, maybe we should take heart that the problems we've seen are not all caused by blatant referee incompetence or spinelessness, making the situation solvable to some degree.

I hope this topic makes it to every MLS team forum. MLS patrons must be informed, and pressure exerted on league big-wigs (we got rid of the shootout, didn't we?).

--PaulChild

 

While I believe that ALL of the "Observations" are appalling, this one just bites me in the butt!

Referees have been instructed to change the
emphasis of decision-making in offside situations,
when the score is heavily in favor of the attacking
team. After giving the benefit of the doubt to
attackers throughout the game, the officials must
in these situations, now favor the defenders.
WHAT?!?!

There's no question that this paper is authenic (read the thread in the link posted by DouginSJ).

This is a must read for anyone who cares about the future of MLS in the U.S.

The paper:
http://soccer-ref.quietfire.com/BobEvansPaper.html

MLS's Garber:
mlsgarber@mlsnet.com
If nothing else, just send an email with the words "Bob Evans Paper 9/24/02" in the subject line and text reading "Please explain" in the body of your email.

 

One more thing...for those of you who think LD and FY have no basis for complaint against the refs (away from the game, in the media). Do you still think that way after reading this paper?

 

Very good point, yalpstel. After having read this five hours ago and thinking about it, I would even go so far as to say that Mr. Itaya's positioning in relation to the first defender was not simply a matter of negligence.

 

This paper does not make me think that LD and FY have any more justification to go complain in the media. Bad reffing screws everyone, not just Quakes. The team looks bad when the star striker and coach are complaining in the media. This paper does not change my opinion on that.

However, this paper makes MLS look like two-faced liars. If it's true -- MLS was telling the refs to ignore the laws of the game, while at the same time, Trey Fitz-Gerald tells yalpstel that they need more fans to complain about the reffing.

 

Something I am not sure of, but I hope somebody would clarify for me. Didn't someone say a while ago that USSF is where the refs come from? And that that was the reason the league doesn't have control over them?

 

I think this is the crux of the matter. Bob Evans says the league has too much control over the refs while Trey Fitz-Gerald says the league has too little control over the refs.

But it seems to me that there's a bit of difference in what each means by the term "control over the refs." Bob Evans means control over what the refs call in a particular game. Trey Fitz-Gerald means control over whom they're given as refs in the referee pool.

A guy like Dr. Evans who is intimately familiar with the situation yet doesn't fall under the reaches of MLS is perfectly suited to comment on the state of refereeing. This letter is truly disturbing, and MLS needs to address it. If MLS is indeed mandating that the internationally accepted laws of the game be suspended in certain circumstances, then they've got some 'splainin' to do.

 

I'm not sure the accusations set forth in the paper our genuine. If you use the Quakes as an example, in the most egregious violation from which we suffered, the Ruiz offsides non-call, the refs did the exact opposite of what the author would have you MLS instructed the referee do.

He gave four minutes of added time, a no-no, according to the author, and allowed the offsides rule to favor the offense, another no-no according to the offense.

Also the talk of not giving cards in certain situations, ie last man back, for fear of not having the stars out at the next game is somewhat baseless in that most of the fouls are committed by defenders. These are certainly not the "MLS Strikeforce" players they are trying to promote.

I think the letter is BS and sour grapes from a USSF ref who knows his product sucks.

 

Wow, what a shocking letter that rings with truth and could truly explain some of the atrocious reffing we've seen this year. a comment that really stood out to me was this:

"That the Laws of the Game specify that play shall continue appears not to have been of interest, and seems to represent a prevailing attitude in the MLS administration: We will modify the Laws to suit what we imagine the American audience wants, or what our coaches and owners want."

One of the biggest complaints I here from people being introduced to the game for the first time is that they don't understand the rules, not having grown up with the sport like they did with football, baseball etc. How can they ever learn what the Laws of the game are if they change from match to match?

Dr. Evans is right on the mark when he says that MLS should not be in charge of the Refs. Surely it would not be hard to stike an agreement with USSF that would allow MLS to "black ball" a LIMITED number of refs in the pool if they are not up to snuff, but they CANNOT be in charge of telling a referee HOW to call a game.

 

First off, using the Itaya offside call is a bad example, when the TV replay clearly showed him running with his head down, not looking at the field when the pass was made. It was just a bad call. No conspiracy there.

However, you need to read the letter for context. Yalpstel quoted the relevant passage above, I will include it here:

Referees have been instructed to change the emphasis of decision-making in offside situations, when the score is heavily in favor of the attacking team. After giving the benefit of the doubt to attackers throughout the game, the officials must in these situations, now favor the defenders.


I emphasised the "when the score is heavily in favor of the attacking team." That didn't apply in any of our games against LA this year. It looks like the purpose of that decision woud be to keep teams from running up the score and making other teams look bad, but it's kind of irrelevant, if you're already winning by three goals then getting an offside call against you doesn't really make a difference.

 

Fair enough, but the idea that you don't want to give red cards to players who fell an attacker with a clear goal scoring chance is completely inconsistent with the idea of promoting the "strike force". It's also inconsistent with a huge article MLSNet.com placed on their website calling out Mike Clark for doing that to Donovan here on September 7. The idea that they would have this "conspiracy" to keep the good players in is completely inconsistent with the reality we saw on the field: Donovan getting the C#$p kicked out of him everytime he touched the ball. He's the good player and while we got to see him everyweek, we didn't get to see him do his best stuff, because the morons who were hacking him were not getting the cards they should have been getting. The author talks out of both sides of his mouth on this issue.

 

A very interesting read...I havn't had time to take it all in yet, but, it looks like in a lot of cases he saying what I and others have been saying like a broken record...consistency, consistency, consistency..it does not and never has existed...the laws of the game are explicit and cannot be interpreted differently in one situation to another depending on who's playing and the state and time of the game....

If this gets to FIFA and they invstigate and find it true, the league could lose its status a recognized Division 1 league.

I'm sure I'll have more to say, after I get a chance to read it thouroughly over the weekend....

-Richard

 

This is exactly what I was told by T. Fitz-Gerald and why I feel confused by the "observations" that Bob Evans talks about.

BillReeves is right...MLS does appear to be "two-faced liars" and unless T F-G. knew absolutely nothing about MLS's alleged involvement, then he flat out lied to me which is far worse than any PR person just telling a fan what they want to hear. And, like DouginSJ suggests, if T F-G's comments to me were in earnest (wanting more negative attention from the fans/media about the refs) then, IMO, it gives more fuel to Bill's statement and says to me that there is conflict within MLS itself about this issue.

Also, I knew the "offside" observation by Evans had nil to do with the horrendously bad no-call in favor of LA on September 14. The paragraph just galled me to think that MLS is arrogant enough to think they can make such a change in the rules of the world's game. All the "observations" make my skin crawl, but for some reason the offside one (something so basic to soccer) just screamed flat-out cheating to me.

 

I agree, all the teams suffer for it. If what this paper says is correct, it cheapens every MLS contest, not just the ones that we may or may not have gotten the short end of the stick on.

 

Not often that I am on the same side of the fence with you, Albany, but on this one I think you have it right.

Its one thing for the league to play roster games in the name of almighty parity, but it is another thing completely to tell the refs (as on the off-sides rule) to keep the games artificially close by making it harder for the team with the lead to score.

 

Oh, my God! What I have I done wrong? The Cadaver agrees. Just kidding, of course. How about you guys from LA sending email missives to mlsgarber@mlsnet.com and feedback@mlsnet.com and speaking out (complain, bitch, whatever) on this issue? Something is definitely wrong with the refereeing in this league, and Evans may have (probably has) his hand on the button.

 

All of it still hasn't sunk in yet. All the good points to be made have been.

BTW, Brian Hall refereed my match today (Skyline v Mission). Did a good job.

 

Did you drop the F-bomb on him when he called a foul on your team?