All Apologies

We’re three games into the new Premiership season and I’m already sick of hearing about it. Such is the media-driven environment that the game finds itself in, there is nothing that will not be discussed on the 24 hour television channels or analysed in the colour supplements. Martin Jol to be sacked already. Manchester United in crisis. Manchester City to challenge for the league. The latest crisis to fill the column inches has been the fall-out from the ‘league decider’ at Anfield between Liverpool and Chelsea where the referee, amongst other failings, ‘cracked’, ‘lost it’ and ‘robbed’ Liverpool of victory against their London opponents. Since Rob Styles awarded the dodgiest penalty you’ve ever seen to Chelsea he has been hung out to dry by the media, forcing Keith Hackett of the Professional Game Match Officials Board to demote him and force an apology to Liverpool Football Club.

The hypocrisy of Steven Gerrard talking about ‘robbing’ when he was quite happy to benefit last Saturday for the winner against Aston Villa notwithstanding, this sets an interesting precedent. Perhaps Mr Hackett is taking inspiration from Michael Howard, sending the beleaguered Boris Johnson up north to apologise to the baying Scousers. Whatever his intentions, can we now expect referees now to publicly humiliate themselves because they missed a throw in or didn’t book a player when maybe the foul warranted it? When will this stop?

Where every game is supposedly a relegation six-pointer, a championship decider or a match that could decide European places, the pressure on referees has never been bigger and just as international footballer Carlos Tevez somehow managed to miss an own goal against City in the last minute on Sunday, referees are subject to human failings as well. The clamour for video technology is welcome but will take years for everyone to agree and implement it. In the mean-time perhaps referees should be allowed to do their job without the intense media scrutiny that follows.

It should be noted that the linesman who failed to see David Healy’s equaliser in the last minute had actually crossed the line has also been ‘demoted’ from high profile games but as of yet has not been court marshaled by the press. Perhaps it’s only ‘big’ clubs who are worthy of apologies.