AP News, March 19th, 2007
Soccer players are used to getting red cards and serving suspensions. How about the same for blundering referees?
On Saturday, a Premier League linesman awarded West Ham a winning goal at Blackburn that even Hammers manager Alan Curbishley admitted never crossed the line.
Bobby Zamora's shot hit teammate Carlos Tevez, who was standing on the goal line and trying to jump out of the way. The ball didn't cross the line, and Tevez was offsides anyway.
But the linesman flagged for a goal and referee Howard Webb gave it _ and there was nothing Blackburn could do about it.
Maybe the fourth official, whose role seems limited to keeping rival managers apart and holding up boards to indicate substitutions and injury time, should have more power _ like ejecting the referee or his assistants.
The play during West Ham's 2-1 victory at Blackburn is just the latest referee blunder. Usually, it's a case of the ball crossing the line and the goal not given. This was the other way around.
Quite apart from incorrect decisions for offsides, throw-ins, corners and goal kicks, some referees have sent off the wrong players. At the World Cup, English referee Graham Poll showed three yellow cards to Croatia defender Josip Simunic before he finally sent him off.
Sheffield United manager Neil Warnock said a linesman flagged for a nonexistent foul and the free kick led to Chelsea's third goal in Saturday's 3-0 loss, which pushed his team closer to the relegation zone.
"The linesman will be embarrassed with the decision for the free kick which led to the third goal," Warnock said. "I look at how the assistant gave away the free kick and wonder why these officials don't get punished."
The Football Association occasionally acts against officials who regularly have bad performances by relegating them to games in the lower divisions. There is nothing in the rules for referees to be shown the red card during a game.
If it happened, it would take away much of the postgame acrimony that follows bad decisions.
Angry coaches frequently confront referees at the final whistle or charge into their changing rooms to berate them. Such behavior usually leads to disciplinary measures, fines and suspensions, but there is no punishment for the officials.
"At the end of the game I just asked the referee to make sure his door was open when I went to see him later on," Blackburn manager Mark Hughes said after Saturday's blunder. "The linesman lost a little bit of the knowledge of what was going on around him. We had a warning prior to that when he gave a corner although it was a clear goal kick. From that point, he deteriorated.
"To make a poor day even worse, we had a player sent off when we should have had a free kick because he was clearly pushed."
While soccer's lawmakers are still looking at technology to try and help the officials decide whether the ball crossed the line, there is a strong weight of opinion to let the referees and linesmen decide as much as possible.
Some referees are accused of favoring certain teams, especially when they have to give decisions in front of thousands of intimidating fans. But the general feeling is that they are unbiased and don't need technology to help them.
But the improvements in TV coverage show that refereeing errors now happen more frequently. By contrast, coaches don't often praise the referees' performances.
Maybe a few red cards might sharpen them up.
Robert Millward covers soccer for The Associated Press. Write to him at rmillward(at)ap.org
