Referees crisis: 15% decline per year. UEFA campaign

UEFA as Uncle Sam. “I want you for the US army” said the billboards for recruiting soldiers during the Second World War. Here there isn’t an enemy to fight – oh God, you never do… – but the strength is lacking. There is a crisis of referee vocation never seen in the past. 15 percent of whistle blowers are lost every year. Today a problem, tomorrow a serious drama if football wants to maintain a level of refereeing up to the show and its champions. So in Nyon they decided not to waste time and launch a recruitment campaign, “Be a referee!”, i.e. “Become a referee!”, aimed at boys and girls aged 13 to 18. There is no more time to waste.

Vocational crisis

—

The alarm is launched by Roberto Rosetti, former great world whistler, the best Italian after the Collina era. Of him the final of the Euro 2008 Spain-Germany. Today Rosetti is the head of the UEFA referees and explains the situation with a figure that is not a little surprising. Today in Europe there are 236,000 referees in Europe and 276,000 would be needed. 40 thousand are missing. The reasons? Many, all together a combination that multiplies the effects. The refereeing image is not excellent, the unacceptable (and unpunished) violence and threats in the minor leagues towards the young referees who start “and are alone”, recalls Rosetti. Even salaries that are not always adequate.

What future

—

In agreement with the 55 federations and clubs, UEFA is launching the campaign. Collaboration with schools is needed. We need to make it clear that the referee is an athlete like a footballer and that he has a career that can lead to the highest levels. The problem is when Rosetti admits that “refereeing today is dangerous”, of course in the minor leagues. If the base is eroded, the problem necessarily has repercussions up to the top. It won’t be easy to choose the referee for the next final unless we concede an encore. Today Oliver and Gil Manzano are in the running, the young Letexier is emerging, but the season is long and Italy isn’t doing very well either. There is Orsato already out of time but indispensable, then Massa. Waiting for Sozza. Little. A common problem.

New season

—

Montecarlo is also an opportunity to talk about current events. The new season begins, the last one was not ideal. Some referee errors, some exaggeration of players and coaches. If it is not the moment of “zero tolerance” we are close. New rules of engagement for players and coaches who exceed in protests, offenses, provocations, “aggressions”: beware that now the “red” starts immediately. This explains Rosetti, specifying the guidelines for the upcoming season. Shorter recoveries than those suggested by Fifa. Great circumspection on handballs and penalties. Effective time to be kept on the hour (like last year), allowing goal celebrations and setting up barriers “because this is football”, adds Zvone Boban, head of UEFA football.

Unsportsmanlike

—

Some scenes are starting to get annoying. Exaggerated protests, referees surrounded, simulations, provocations. The regulation already offers the solution. Rosetti explains: “Admonition immediately”. The gatherings around the referee must end. But the most worrying situation is that of the benches where the coaches are now shouting, reciting with emphasis, insulting, protesting: here he will be expelled. In the videos you see scenes of Mourinho and Klopp, but this is the tip of the iceberg. Everyone exaggerates. Now only the technician will be able to stand and give directions.

Do it by hand

—

They are too many for UEFA (and not only). Rosetti reiterates the directives that the referees will have to follow: “Not every touch of the hand is a foul”. In detail: it is a foul if the gesture is voluntary or if it enlarges the body in an unnatural way. No “hands” if the ball has been deflected and takes an unpredictable direction. But that’s not all. A “hands” in the area, from a shot on goal, will no longer be a yellow card unless it is a voluntary gesture, such as an attempted save: in other cases, the penalty is already sufficient punishment.

Lost time

—

UEFA claims an effective time of 60 minutes per game on average, high compared to the best of the leagues (Ligue 1 with over 55′). Boban – here the gap with Fifa widens – doesn’t want long recoveries: “The risk is that at the end of the season we will play five-six more games. Too many. You risk injury. And then in football there are also wastes of time”. Rosetti: “The referees will not have to indicate the recovery but they will have to hurry the time wasters”. Very happy with the Var in Nyon. According to statistics there is a video correction every three games (2.87 to be precise). The video avoids penalties. Semi-automatic offside speeds everything up. But now that we have the technology, we lack referees. The world upside down.