Why can't referees talk to players?


One of my sons who lives in London, is an Arsenal supporter. I know, you do your best to bring them up properly but you never know how they are going to turn out!

A few weeks ago he e-mailed me an item from the Arsenal website, that followed Arsenal's Champions League defeat in Moscow. Thierry Henry, their brilliant French striker, was reported as saying that he wished football referees would be more like rugby referees and talk to players. Believe you me Thierry, football referees would love to be able to talk to players like our counterparts in the oval ball game. But what we would like most of all, is for footballers to talk to us in the same way that rugby players talk to their referees. 

If you ever watch any televised top class rugby, you will know that the referees wear microphones but, unlike those worn by football referees in the Premiership, not only can you hear what they say, you can hear what the players say to them. There are virtually no disputes, none of the argumentative dissent which is commonplace in football and players often call the referee 'Sir'. Now wouldn't that be lovely.

What prompted Henry's comments was when he had a goal ruled out for handball which would have meant Arsenal would have drawn the game and clinched their participation in the knock-out stages of the competition. It's difficult to know what could be said. Henry would presumably say that he hadn't handled the ball and the referee would disagree. 

I remember walking back to the dressing rooms after a game with a player who I had given a penalty against for handball. 'I can understand why you thought I handled the ball', he said. 'I gave the penalty,' I replied, 'because I saw you deliberately knock the ball down with your hand'. What more was there to say?

I think, however, it's true that most referees will talk to players if approached in a reasonable manner. A couple of weeks ago I gave a penalty against a defender who was holding an opponent's arm and pulling him back. It was a pretty pointless foul as it took place on the edge of the penalty area down near the goal line. Few players would have seen the offence and one of the defending team came up to me and asked quite calmly why I had given the penalty. Whether he fully accepted what I told him, I don't know but he walked away without another word. 

Now compare that with the scene at the recent Bolton v Blackburn game. The referee gave a penalty, the second in quick succession against Bolton. It was, quite frankly, as clear a penalty as you are likely to see but that didn't stop the Bolton captain squaring up to the referee, snarling in his face with loud dissent of his decision. How could the referee talk to someone behaving like that? Instead he just stood there calmly until the player had finished and then took him to one side and showed him the yellow card. 

This wasn't enough for the Bolton skipper however. After the penalty had been taken (and missed) he had to have another go at the referee which simply resulted in a red card. I'm sure Mike Dean would have loved to have been able to talk to players like a rugby referee but let's face it, no rugby referee has to suffer such crass behaviour from players.

According to the Arsenal website, Henry says the example of rugby is a culture of communication between players and referees. I think this is the crux of the matter, there is a difference in culture between the two sports but you have to ask, who is responsible for that difference. Is it the referees or is it the players?


Dick Sawdon Smith 



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© R Sawdon Smith 2006