Football News: The Respect Conundrum: Bad Behaviour and Bad Decisions in Football

Image from: rulesofsport.com

Many column inches have been dedicated to VAR this season and all of its flaws. From inconsistent application, to erratically drawn "lines", to seemingly random interventions incident to incident. It is an experiment that continues to produce worse decisions instead of better ones and seems to be, on the surface, benefiting the bigger teams even more so than the old fashioned method of officiating. However, VAR is not what I want to discuss today.

As a Liverpool fan, Klopp's red card at the weekend highlighted what is a seemingly never-ending pattern of bad behaviour from figures within the game. Berating officials, abusing officials, surrounding officials, you name it, the Premier League does it. Players and managers are equally culpable of this and it is not only detrimental to the game, but to wider society as a whole.

Fans, like players and managers, seem to demand perfect decision making at all times. Never mind the fact that 10 different people can interpret an incident 10 different ways, we expect officiating to be at the highest possible level. Is it? Arguably not. However, the conditions under which officials are working are, at best, impossible. Whatever decision they make half of the people invested in the game do not like or agree with it.

Take the Arsenal - Liverpool game last week: Gabriel handles the ball, some say penalty, others say not. Jesus flops to the floor, some say penalty, others say not. The point is officials cannot and will not please everybody and, as the rules of the game are open to interpretation, there will always have some who vehemently disagree with whatever decision officials reach. For me the aim then should not be for perfection, but for a higher degree of accuracy in decisions and, to reach that goal, we have to ask whether or not players and managers are helping or hindering that cause.

Does knowing a manager like Klopp could scream in your face if you make a decision he doesn't agree with more or less likely that you'll make the correct decision? Does getting lambasted in the post match interview by a prominent manager make your next game easier or harder to referee? Does being constantly berated, harangued, abused by players and every decision make your next decision easier or harder to reach? I think you see what I am getting at.

Fans will always give officials a hard time, that cannot be controlled and is something officials have to deal with. Players and managers have to do better. Their actions not only rile up the crowd, but they increase the pressure on officials, and this does not lead to better officiating. More seriously their petulant, childish, aggressive behaviour sets a precedent you can see play out in weekend football up and down the country.

Abuse, intimidation, violence, directed towards amateur officials who are there, for free, in order to help games take place. All junior games this past weekend across Merseyside were canceled due to the conditions officials were subject to. There is a refereeing crisis in amateur football because nobody wants to volunteer their free time to be potentially assaulted. You could argue these incidents stem from a wider, societal problem, and there may be some truth in that, put the examples and precedents of the top players and managers are undoubtedly having an effect on this.

It is also worth noting how difficult a correct decision is to reach when you have players constantly trying to con referees. Diving, simulation, feigning injury, players have become more and more shameless. And these same players then have the gall to berate an official when they do not make the right decision? It is perhaps endemic of a wider culture of entitlement, of a spoilt brat, that seems pervasive (though unsurprising) in a world in which teenagers are earning more in a week than nurses are earning in a year. I mean realistically they live in their own bubble in which they can do, say, act as they please and this shows on the pitch.

How is this problem solved? Realistically the authorities need to show some backbone. It would not seemingly happen but a system like rugby in which zero backchat is allowed would be a start. "F-off ref" - yellow card. "Are you blind ref? " - yellow card. Surround ref? Yellow card to every guilty party. Manager shouts at official? Instant red card. I don't see how anything other than strict consequences solve this problem.

Football is already losing the battle for its soul, I am already far less interested in it than I was a few years ago, and if things continue on their current trajectory it will struggle to maintain its appeal. Players and managers need to do better, then maybe we can start to expect and see the same from officials.

Written by Seano_ October 18 2022 08:36:36