After another weekend of controversy with the Blues and Referees, could this be a news headline that will be extremely common in years to come?
The best clubs want to buy the best players and the best players want to play in the best leagues. Cristiano Ronaldo has played in England and now plays in Spain. This is allowed to happen because Real Madrid wanted to buy him even though he was born in Portugal. However, there is a man who stands on the pitch when Ronaldo is playing who can only play in the country he is born in and that is the referee.
With FIFA stating that 'the door is closed' where goal line technology is concerned, why can't FIFA allow the best referees to play in the best leagues?
I regularly watch the Spanish League and their referees seem to have a lot more control of their games and are respected a lot more in their country because of the respect that they have earned with excellent refereeing.
They don't try and sell their life story after they retire or end up as a judge of referees on TV like our most treasured referees Graham Poll and Jeff Winter. I think there are too many games nowadays being decided on a decision that the referee gets wrong and that top Premier League referees are over protected. Also, I think we have had our fair share of refereeing decisions go against us in recent years.
No thanks to referees like Mr Alan Wiley. I won't criticise him too much just in case I receive a letter from the FA for mentioning his name in a slightly negative manner.
Referees in Sunday Leagues normally receive persistent abuse whether there decision is correct or not and are paid thousands of pounds less than Premier League referees. However, if a manager or player voices his opinion in a diplomatic manner in the Premier League then he will most probably be fined.
If they cannot handle criticism then maybe they are not fit to referee in what has and will most probably be always known as the best football league in the World. I am against the abuse of referees by players on the pitch but if managers in the heat of the moment want to express their opinion on a person that they believe has influenced the game then I believe that should be allowed.
I cannot actually see many disadvantages to a rule like this being implemented by FIFA. Even if no referees actually moved countries, it would most certainly improve the quality of the referees in the Premier League because they would know that if they didn't perform in a run of games then they could lose their place in English football's top flight.
Referees would take more care when making decisions because they would be in danger of losing their job.
Even if this rule wasn't put in place, which I very much doubt that it will. There is one thing that I am sure many fans would like to see. Rooney is currently top of the Premier League Goal scoring leader board because that can be accessed on many sports and statistic websites. However, there is not a published referee's leader board. This would be positive for referees who could strive to become Referee of the Month.
As I mentioned before, there is one problem with Referees being allowed to referee in different countries. We have had a taste of the crème de la crème of European refereeing in Pierluigi Collina and I think that puts a rule like this in serious doubt.
What are your views on the refereeing situation?
