Yeah I know the irony of saying this as a city fan, but seriously, the treatment they are getting is no better than dele alli or maguire. I know they constantly make shit calls and protect each others’ shit calls and so on, but it’s not like they purposely tried to be bad. For their own sake I hope they don’t go anywhere online, coz if it were me I would jump right off a bridge seeing all those comments. I get that it’s super frustrated when they make a bad call aganist your team, but that doesn’t justified making shit comments. Mental health matters for everyone, not just people you like.

But perhaps more importantly, who the fuck would want to be a ref? Even if someone tried, they most likely will quit within a few years. The abuse don’t just happen in the prem, but also in lower leagues and even youth levels. If no new refs are coming in, the refs that we all love to complain about will still be here 10 years later, and the refs performance would still remain the same. Championship refs are just the same if not worse and promoting them is not a solution.

  • emize@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    The other thing I know for sure is that those who have always complained the loudest about referees are usually the ones who get absolutely humbled in the entry level course. Those people are always the ones that say “I thought referees were terrible and that I knew a thing or two about refereeing. Turns out I know fuck all about refereeing.” Happens every time.

    They also expect that a referee that makes a couple of bad decisions should be demoted to the lower division.

    Imagine if players we held to that standard? Surely they would start playing better right?

    • MaestroDeChopsticks@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      Demoting someone to the lower league isn’t that simple. It is a numbers game and an issue of performance for all officials being assigned.

      Referees are private contractors, although at EPL level, the officials are given a base salary plus game fees. I am not sure if the referees in the Championship are given a base salary at all. In any case, there are only so many referees and so many games. Sending officials down to the Championship would also mean those referees are losing money.

      The worst case scenario is for a referee to not be assigned a game at all. This means that whatever you did was so bad that the assigner doesn’t trust you to be on the pitch at all.

      Players are held to a much lower standard than officials when it comes to tolerating mistakes. As an Arsenal fan, there have been plenty of players through the years at Arsenal that somehow play regularly. It is also a fact that given the ludicrous sums of money spent on player transfers and wages, as well as politics behind the scenes, there are a lot of questionable decisions when it comes to players. Willian at Arsenal being a fantastic example.