Refereeing fiascos - Let's stop the blame game

In the aftermath of the controversial Chelsea-United match, which saw referee Mark Clattenburg dish out two red cards to two Chelsea players, one in especially acrimonious fashion, and a supposedly offside goal (which turned out to be the winner), there has been a fiery outburst by many Chelsea fans and even some Arsenal and Liverpool fans against Manchester United supposedly ‘buying’ referees and the FA being controlled by United. There have been memes, trolls and rages aplenty against the Manchester club, with the common ones involving Sir Alex Ferguson (apparently FA = Ferguson Association) and Howard Webb, and recent victims being Mark Halsey and Mark Clattenburg.

As far as Barcelona goes, there is always that one match that stands out for me. The 2008-09 Champions League clash at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea, which it is sufficient to say, was a refereeing disaster for Tom Henning Ovrebo. Both sides had clear-cut decisions being ruled out, but Chelsea fans felt more unfairly treated as the tie eventually saw Barcelona go through to the final – which they won – courtesy an Andres Iniesta away goal, which cancelled out Essien’s wonderful strike.

This, and many, many incidents after that too, have seen the Catalan team being victimised by a lot of fans. They deem it ‘funny’, creating trolls and adding captions that indicate that UEFA is biased to Barcelona – resulting in a new term, ‘Uefalona’ being coined. There are images of Barcelona players who were just talking to referees, but the heroes of the Internet turn them into Barcelona players ‘ordering’ the number of cards and penalties they want against the opposition, much like a customer placing an order to the waiter. Oh, so hilarious.

Firstly, as a football fan, I was appalled. It’s nice to have some banter here and there but at the virulent rate at which this seems to be growing, it’s quite unhealthy for football and the camaraderie between fans of different clubs. We have Arsenal and Liverpool and various other fans on one side, who accuse United of ‘buying referees’ and Barcelona of buying UEFA. On the other side, we have United and Barcelona, who feel victimised and accuse the others of blindly charging them of doing such things when they cannot match their level of football. And in the centre of everything, we have Chelsea, who have had intense rivalry against both these teams in recent history, thanks in no part to refereeing decisions. I do not mean to generalize the clubs’ fans, but on social networks, this is how the story goes most of the time.

I am a Chelsea fan, yes. But I am a football fan before that. If the opposition plays better football, I’m usually the first to applaud them, and though I will be disappointed with my team’s performance, I don’t usually detrude the other team. Against Manchester United recently, I was horrified at some decisions, yes, because it was a vital match; during the match itself, as for any Chelsea match, I wear blue-tinted glasses while watching.

That however, does not go beyond the match, after which the blue-tinted glasses are put back neatly into their case. As I analysed Chelsea’s below-par day out, I realised that though Hernandez’s (offside?) winner was decisive, and maybe Torres’ sending off was questionable, as there might have been contact, the match only had one real turning point – Ivanovic’s red card. After sitting bleary-eyed in the wee hours after the match, replaying Youtube videos of the crucial incidents, I was sure that Ivanovic’s red card was indeed the right decision. He did hinder Ashley Young‘s path to the goal and it was a goal-scoring chance. Having sent off James Milner for a similar tackle, Clattenburg would be questioned for consistency if he didn’t brandish the red card to the mighty Serbian, who had possibly been Chelsea’s most solid defender up to that point.

The loss of any defender hinders the team’s progress. An unsettled defence is any striker’s dream and Ferguson, being the mastermind he is, made the decision I myself was dreading – bringing on a poacher like Javier Hernandez, who would’ve been rubbing his hands like a little kid at the possible prospects. Though Torres’ sending off crippled Chelsea’s chances of winning the tie, maybe with Ivanovic still at the back, they could’ve got a point and kept their unbeaten streak alive.

Away from that and to the point, I’d like to ask every single one of you out there who has ever accused any team of buying and bribing referees or certain organisations: do YOU have any evidence? Do you have a video of Sandro Rosell sneaking in a stash of notes into Michel Platini’s hands? Do you have a telephonic conversation between Sir Alex and Howard Webb, where the Scotsman demands of the latter that certain decisions go their way in a match? No? Too bad then, but it seems your accusations are just completely, totally, unequivocally baseless and false.

Just because certain decisions went their way in some key matches in the past, does not mean these teams buy the referees. On their part, I’ve always felt sorry for United and Barcelona. There is absolutely nothing they can do if a decision of a red card or a penalty goes against them. Sometimes, there are players like Miroslav Klose, who tells the ref that he did handle the ball when the decision goes in his favour, or Robbie Fowler, who refused the penalty awarded when it seemed like David Seaman had brought him down. But it is human nature and instinct to not argue with the referee’s decision if it is in your favour and more so, it is quite close for you to decide yourself. After all, referees are trained for this and it’s best to let them do their job.

If the referee awards certain decisions against your team in favour of United, Barcelona or any other team for that matter, why do you go out all guns blazing on the team? There’s not much they can do about the referee’s decision, can they? They are only looking to win the match or gain maximum points out of the situation. Some mistakes are just bound to happen, you cannot avoid them. Referees are human after all, and do make mistakes. They are trained not to, but sometimes, there are somethings that you don’t see coming, there are some things that just happen. Referees do not have a 360 degree view, they do not have laser eyes to detect offside players or if the ball crossed the line or not, they don’t even have the luxury of reviewing the incident on the field of play. Mistakes are bound to happen, and it is time we incorporated some technology into a game that is the most followed source of entertainment around the globe.

Howard Webb, Mark Clattenburg and Phil Dowd are all great referees and they’ve refereed hundreds of games in their career fairly and justly. They’ve made fair decisions in tough situations, and made some very good decisions about the ball crossing the line or not. But I guess that is the thing about being a referee. When you’re good, no one remembers; when you’re bad, no one forgets.

I’m not preaching here. I’m just saying, spare a thought for the others before unleashing your wrath on them. Football associations are as transparent as possible and referees are humans like us. No one is perfect. Most of the jokes about referees and bribing are not funny; sometimes they’re just pathetic. Football is our sport. In the end, we’re all football fans before we’re ‘devils’ or ‘reds’ or ‘gunners’ or ‘blues’. Let’s not let this destroy the camaraderie. Refereeing fiascos? Let them pass; believe in your team.

Long live football!