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Players and coaches expect and deserve three things from referees:
Knowledge
Impartiality
Consistency
We'll discuss all three in separate articles. This time...
Consistency is sometimes difficult, and often misunderstood.
Many referees will call a match tight in the opening minutes of a half to establish control, then loosen up as the players demonstrate their willingness to play fair. Many referees will apply the advantage liberally or conservatively early, then switch to the other mode as the players demonstrate a need or willingness.
This is not inconsistency. It is adjusting to the play and should be acceptable to players and coaches (and spectators) who understand soccer.
What is often a problem is calling things one way here and another way there. "Here" is usually the middle of the field and "there" is the penalty area. Referees have a (perhaps natural) tendency to treat actions in the PA differently. This probably stems from an unwillingness to call a "slight" foul that gives a penalty kick, a goal scoring opportunity. For this reason, they only call fouls in the PA that have consequence... that is, that occur when the fouled player might have had a chance to score. They consider this "fair."
But is this the consistency players and coaches expect and deserve?
We often hear that referees should call things the same way in the PA as they do at midfield. Well, here's another take on that advice:
Just for fun, I decided to pose this question to Ali Saheli (FIFA referee from Missouri), who gave an advanced clinic here in Minneapolis a few weeks ago... "(Do) you, at your level, call fouls differently in the PA than you might elsewhere on the field?"
Here is Ali's response:
"... Please keep in mind that Soccer is a contact sport and there is a lot of contact between players. As referees we look at game, the players and their skills and judge their actions to be fair or unfair. Once you see the incident, if you are of the opinion that what took place was unfair and unnecessary, you judge it to be a foul; otherwise play continues.
"Here is some food for thought: As a referee call only the fouls that you would make in the PA, elsewhere on the field. Too often we make trifling calls everywhere on the field but, when we get to the PA, we feel that it's not good enough for a PK and therefore we shy away from it. If you readjust the rest of the calls - and by that I do not mean, don't call anything unless you see blood - you will have fewer surprises for the coaches and they will be satisfied with your consistency.
In my experience, the foul selections deal with the "temperature" of the game. There is a message that gets sent and as long as you are consistent, it will be acceptable."
An interesting - and different - take on consistency: Call the fouls at midfield that you would call in the PA.
This may seem a bit strange - and certainly you wouldn't want to delay your call in the PA while you considered this line of thought - but it does point out that consistency works both ways. And it reinforces that a foul "here" should also be foul "there." Think about it.
Oh, a final word of caution... Just because you develop unfailing consistency in your calls does not guarantee that everyone will be happy with them. But it does give them the opportunity to adjust to how you call things.
And that's what they expect and deserve.
09/16/02
Revisit Part 1 - Knowledge
Revisit Part 2 - Impartiality
(If you wish to comment on this article, send a message to basra@basra-refs.org.)
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