As a referee I was pleased to see a referee on the panel of experts on BBC
Match of the Day 2 two Sundays ago.
So often the pundits get the law wrong when discussing contentious issues. England’s leading referee of the last decade, Graham Poll, made up the panel with Reading captain, Graham Murty and Gavin Peacock, the ex-Chelsea player.
As it was, there was only one game, West Ham v Bolton, to review and presenter, Adrian Chiles, apologised for a lack of controversial incidents during the match.
There was, however, one talking point which was the use of
abusive, insulting or offensive language to the referee and, in a second case, to the assistant referee.
In the first instance, Lee Bowyer, at most times a fiery competitor, could be seen bad mouthing the referee as he walked away after a confrontation. The referee took no action. Later in the game, it was El Hadji Diouf, another player who is no stranger to atrocious behaviour. When he didn’t agree with the assistant referee, he first gave him a mouthful of abuse and then turned back as he walked away to make a gesture with his finger to suggest that the assistant referee was some sort of imbecile. Again the referee took no action.
Graham Poll is in the enviable position of being retired so can speak his mind, knowing that his own performance won’t be open to criticism. He thought that in the first instance the referee should have taken action but the fact that he didn’t, would have inhibited the assistant referee from calling him over to take action against Diouf.
I think this was a very fair summing up but, to be honest a little ironic coming from Graham Poll. Referees at the lower levels of the game still remember when he was quite clearly told to
F*** off by Wayne Rooney and took no action, which seemed to indicate to other players that it was perfectly in order to abuse the referee. I can’t tell whether the next player to tell me to
F*** off was influenced by that decision but he may have felt slightly aggrieved when I told him, much more politely, that it was him who had to leave.
Why don’t Premiership referees take action against offensive language? The answer they sometimes give is that they simply don’t hear it. I can believe this. A few years ago I ran the line at a game at St Mary’s, Southampton’s ground. There were only a few hundred supporters in the ground and yet when I tried to attract the attention of the referee who had his back to me, he didn’t respond. He said afterwards that he couldn’t hear me shouting above the noise of the crowd. Imagine what it must be like with the cacophony of sound at a full house.
However I don’t think the referee in the West Ham/Bolton game could use this excuse, particularly as the gesture by Diouf was quite clear and insulting. The law says, ‘A player is sent off if he uses offensive, insulting or abusive language
or gestures’. I once sent a player off for making a certain hand gesture to my assistant referee. And note the player doesn’t actually have to use foul language. Calling a referee ‘a cheat’ for instance would be insulting and abusive.
I can see absolutely no reason why players should think they can abuse referees and get away with it. And I
am glad to welcome Graham Poll to the band of referees who think Premiership referees should take action against those who transgress, thus setting a good example. But I also have to say that those of us in the lower reaches of the game must be prepared to take action when it is aimed at us, or be prepared to suffer the consequences.
Dick Sawdon Smith
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© R Sawdon Smith 2007