Modern day football keeps the spotlight on the referees as much as the players during a match, adding extra burden on the shoulders of the officials. Former professional referees Ray Olivier and Ian Williamson tell Karthik Raman on dealing with this added pressure and what measures have been taken to cope with the threats received from crazy football fanatics
When it comes to a football match, the focus often revolves around the 22 players on the field and not many notices the hard work of the four referees - the referee, two assistant referees and the fourth official.
The official comes to spotlight only when a controversial decision is made and will come to even more criticism when that judgement inadvertently affects the final outcome of the match.
With so much coverage given to football matches, particularly European games, the pressure of officiating in a professional match is as challenging as playing in it.
Despite preparing and motivating oneself to the fullest, one way or another, referee has to somehow keep himself prepared to face the inevitable media, coaches and fans outrage at some point in their career.
Ray Olivier, head of Professional Referee Development (PGMOl) explains how he deals with those tricky situations.
"Dealing with external pressure is gained over many years of refereeing experience. However, with the support of sports psychologists and the training that is now offered to our match officials on mental toughness and resilience, this allows them to develop coping strategies to deal with the negative media," says Olivier.
Whereas, Ian Williamson, who retired as a professional referee only last year, feels he is his own worst critic, hence he doesn't need to look anywhere else for extra criticism.
"I deal with this element of refereeing relatively easily. I know that I prepare for each fixture thoroughly and referee to the best of my ability. If I make an error it would not have been intentionally. It would have been an honest mistake," said Ian, who is currently a referee performance coach at The Football Association Centre of Refereeing Excellence (FA CORE).
"I am my own worst critic and I will do analysis of each performance. You can take learning points from every game and if I have made an error I will learn from it and try not to make the same mistake again," he adds.
Ray, a former professional football referee, recalls a match in which he had to make several controversial decisions, which apparently did not go well with the fans in the stadium. "One of my toughest matches was a game between Sunderland and Wigan Athletic (many years ago). The match was particularly tough as I sent off the home team's star player for a second yellow card early in the first half which was not very well received by the home spectators," he says. "There were a number of physical tackles, many reckless tackles receiving yellow cards. I also awarded a penalty kick and dismissed an away team player for the offence. Needless to say, I wasn't very popular but I had to remain strong and resilient in seeing the match through to its conclusion," he elaborated.
Famously in 2009, Norwegian official Tom Henning Ovrebo was heavily criticised and blamed for getting several key decisions wrong against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. Those decisions proved crucial as Barcelona inspired by Andreas Iniesta's late goal reached the Champions league Final at the expense of the Blues. Ovrebo later revealed how he got death threats against him and his family as a result of those bad calls.
However, Ian feels referees being threatened or verbally/physically attacked are lot higher at the youth level than the senior professional level.
"In the professional game the players are generally more disciplined, the field of play is set up with goals, nets and corner flags. There are barriers and stewards to manage the crowd and probably the biggest difference is the referee at youth level will probably arrive at a football field on his own with no neutral assistant referees or fourth official to support him," he says.
However, Williamson believes only if the official steps forward to inform about the incident, appropriate action can be taken, which he feels is not the case always.
"It has been reported that referees have been physically or verbally attacked by a player or coach/parents. The important thing is always to report the incident to the authorities and the police if of a more serious nature. They will take care of the rest. Unfortunately there are a number of incidents that are not reported by the referee which then means that nothing can be done," he adds.
Whereas, Ray feels this is a problem which is present all over the world and to avoid the issue from getting out of control, he warns the refs to not approach the spectators at any cost.
"I believe this is a problem worldwide but we have been pushing a respect programme in England for over 12 years. An example of this is where the parents of the children playing have become abusive towards the referee. In this scenario, we instruct our referee not to approach spectators (parents) as this may lead to further abuse," he explains.
"Instead, prior to starting the match, the referee will ask the home team who is responsible for crowd behaviour so that if there is a situation that arises, the home team will be responsible for taking the appropriate action against the parents of the child."
Moreover, Olivier reckons the support mechanism in England is already at place to deal with these kinds of threats.
"In these situations, if the threats are from the crowd or via social media etc. the authorities are very good in England to support the referee (and their family if required) and we have a number of support mechanisms that can help a match official at this difficult time," he says.
A common question which often lingers on a fans' mind — will a referee also be scrutinised in depth after every match like the playersIJ Ray says yes and he explains how.
"Every level within all levels of referee has an assessment programme where the performance of the match officials are critically analysed by independent evaluators or match assessor. like any system, referees do not go out to referee to make mistakes but sometimes the error is highlighted due to the increase in video cameras at the game.
"The mistake does affect the final mark but the referee is supported through coaching and performance review to learn from the experience. Of course, as a referee, you want to be top of the merit table and by performing consistently, it does allow you to get the bigger matches," says Olivier.
So how does a referee decide the magnitude of the punishment a player deserves after an offenceIJ
"If the challenge is a reckless tackle/challenge then the player should be cautioned, however if the player uses excessive force and endangers the safety of an opponent he should be sent off," explains Ian, who has officiated in more than 500 matches in the English Football league (EFl) Championship, EFl Cup and FA Cup.
But, to get the decision spot on, the official has to get into the right position first, says Williamson.
"The challenge the referee's face every game is getting in a creditable position and having the right viewing angle to see the challenge/tackle and come to the right conclusion. The referee has one set of eyes and will make a decision honestly based on what he sees," he adds.
Normally, if a player commits a careless tackle, the ref will first have a quiet word with the player. But, if the player does not learn from his warnings, then he may be running the danger of getting cautioned, explains Ian.
"If the same player commits another careless challenge you may choose to speak with him publicly and also bring in his captain too to stress to both that if the player makes a similar challenge he will run the risk of being cautioned for persistently infringing the laws of the game," he adds.
But first, the referee has to keep himself physically and mentally fit to survive in the modern day football, particularly in the fast-paced English Premier league.
"The demands of English Football and the pace of the game is one which makes it exciting to referee in. Yes, of course the demands on both physical and mental ability are tough, but like most teams, our support mechanisms through our comprehensive sports science programme allows us to target specific training needs to cope with the demands of the modern game," says Olivier.
Ray and Ian, where in Mumbai to be part of a 3-day training programme - Premier Skills Referee Development programme in partnership with the Indian Super league and All India Football Federation - from 27th February to 1st March.
On the standards of present Indian referees, Ray says, "The standard of officiating in India has been remarkable this year. This is my 4th visit to India (two with the ISl referees and one Premier Skills Course in Kerala). I have been impressed with the level of officiating and their knowledge and enthusiasm is definitely on par with other European referees."