A WEAKNESS IN MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER
By Robert Evans
Monday, October 29th, 2007 at 8:29 pm in General.
As much progress as Major League Soccer makes, what with Beckham at L.A. and other international stars hinting that they might like to come over here to play—Thierry Henry for one—there is still one weakness that has not changed in almost ten years. It is the quality of the refereeing. And many observers have been saying that the league will stagnate unless it does something about its officiating.
The comments come from so many different participants in the sport–fans, players, referees, writers, coaches, commentators—that you’d think that by now the league would have taken notice. But no, their collective heads remain firmly embedded in the sand.
Here’s an example that came as an e-mail to me in the last day or two, from someone who referees, instructs referees, watches games at all levels, and who wants to enjoy watching the pros. His comments speak for themselves:
One of the difficulties we face as referees and as instructors is the visibility of professional games where players create new norms for bad behavior (think of Wayne Rooney’s in-the-face applause a couple of years back), and referees do not administer the game as we are taught.
. . . the Dallas – Houston first round MLS playoff game was an unfortunate example. Houston kept trying to take free kicks quickly, and from the start of the game (the referee) tolerated Dallas players encroaching within less than 5 yards (football markings making the distance quite clear), and then moving to block dangerous quick passes. The players quickly understood his laissez-faire approach, and became increasingly aggressive in their lack of compliance as the game progressed. As the end of the game approached they were running right up to the dead ball. The ball was carried, flung, rolled and ignored in a perpetual theme of time-wasting. Writing as a spectator, I will say that this served to kill the momentum of the game again and again, stifling what could have been an entertaining match.
As a referee attempting to officiate matches that are enjoyable to players and spectators, I stop this when I see it. Once or twice I have even had to eject high-level amateur players for repeated cautions, as they mimicked this behavior. When they see a glaring difference between the officiating in a professional game and their own semi-professional match, the natural assumption is that what you see on TV is how it is supposed to be. A US FIFA referee, working a playoff game in our top professional division must know how it is done, right?
Yes, he must, which leads to the inevitable conclusion that he did not enforce the laws, because someone in the league had instructed him not to. If he did his duty, he would have issued yellow cards, which might result in a player or players having to sit out a game. There are some in MLS who do not want players, especially star players, to have to sit out games at this time of the season.
As anyone who understands this game will tell you, that attitude is a perversion of the way that the game is supposed to be played—is played elsewhere in the world—and MLS hurts its reputation by allowing it to persist. Where are the referees with courage?
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October 30th, 2007 at 7:00 am
This is one of my number one pet peeves in the MLS game. There is absolutely no reason for any player to touch a ball after a free kick to the other team has been awarded, and any attempt to do so should be immediately yellow carded as time-wasting. The same goes for players who don’t immediately move to where the referee indicates when lining up the wall on a free kick.
Lord, Ritchie Williams would never have seen the field for DC United if referees had actually enforced such rules.
November 9th, 2007 at 7:54 am
Re-Richie Williams. Yes, he would have seen the field. Because once he realized he would
be cautioned for his actions, he would stop doing it. It’s that simple. Every refereee and player
knows this. But the people who run MLS apparently still don’t get it, which is why the players
continue to do it.
November 11th, 2007 at 6:23 am
I referee youth soccer and absolutely hate this!
It’s typically a boys team that does it. At the first instance of this, I loudly tell both teams I that I will not put up with it, and usually the game proceeds without any more of that. If it happens again, a yellow card takes care of it.
It bugs me to no end that MLS doesn’t do anything about this, as this is where players get their idea of what is proper.
Mike:
Righteous indignation; well done! Ed Bellion’s remarks are as succinct a statement about this problem as I have seen, and I am glad that you are taking care of this at the youth level. I wish there were more like you! Cheers, Robert.
December 26th, 2007 at 11:33 am
Mike talk to me about the “faked injury” syndrome we see emulated again at the youth levels. It is again, a practice perpetuated constantly by the pros especially in the Latin American and so called “European” professional leagues. Couple this with the “coached” practice of intentional kicking, instep stomping, etc. (done precisely when the ref’s back is turned) that is not ony cowardly, a definate rule infraction, but is most definately… not “Macho!” I agree that what younger players and coaches see at the MLS or Pro level is being emulated or more appropriately, exalted at youth levels! I’d really like to see a few gratuitous time outs called whereby the refs get both players and coaches together and institute “yellow card” penalties for future “bad behaviour.” Coaches who are more knowledgeable about this subject are welcome to respond.