Swearing at the race management is commonplace in many sports, on and off the field. “Watch your caps!” Or: “Hey, silly, that wasn’t offside!” Poor referee. The word means little more than “settlement of a dispute.” But under the surface, dark connotations swirl, of which distrust – deeply rooted in contemporary society – is most striking.
Unwritten rule
My sport, rugby, values respect for the referee. Rugby is the most technically complex of all sports. Unlike in much simpler football, it is impossible for a rugby referee to make most decisions correctly.
That’s why there’s this unwritten rule that nobody but the captains talk to the referee during the game. Physically, rugby is so tough that chatter will backfire anyway. Hence the motto: keep your mouth shut and play on. And for the spectators, with a contentious decision: so be it, on to the next one play.
The more we rely on technology, the greater our suspicion of the man with the whistle
That is easier said than done, especially if the referee comes across as insecure or incompetent. Then we smell blood, strangely enough nowadays much more in rugby than in football. This is due to the introduction of the television match officials, the ‘television referee’. During a rugby match there are so many cameras that a game moment can be illuminated from all sides and in slow motion, frame by frame. This is what the referee sees – who then has to judge further – but this is also what millions of fans all over the world see. As a result, the more we rely on technology, the greater our suspicion of the man with the whistle.
You’ll be a separator secretaryportion of the sceitslûdewho needs such a rugby or football dispute divorce or ‘to settle’.
Abritral cohesion
From the sixteenth century we say ‘referee’. And how necessary it is. Someone has to decide, you would think, point the way. But no. At the World Cup in Qatar, it was an immediate hit during England-Iran. Early on, defender Harry Maguire was knocked down in the Iranian penalty area – with nothing less than a rugby tackle, as the replay showed. Astonishment everywhere as the video assistant referee in the ‘FIFA VAR Room’ is silent. Then, late in the game. Iran penalty. An English player lightly pulled the shirt of an Iranian attacker, and the VAR immediately came into action. penalty kick.
The lack of arbitration coherence in such contests fuels mistrust, while so much is already questionable all around us, from the legitimacy of election results compromised by conspiracy theories to the question of whether beloved public figures are kosher.
In such a nervous world sceitslûde have no chance in advance. If ref on a Sunday afternoon in a muddy field somewhere in the country you do have your whistle as a weapon. So blowing hard, looking at maniacal players and fans, and hoping for confidence. If that doesn’t help, all you have to do is run for your life.