MPS call on EFL, government and FA to ‘save game as we know it’
EIGHTEEN Members of Parliament and two former Football Association chairmen have written to the government, the FA and the English Football League warning they must act to “save professional football in this country as we know it” in the wake of the coronavirus crisis.
Football in the UK has been suspended indefinitely in the wake of the global pandemic with clubs counting the financial cost.
The Premier League and Championship are nearing an agreement over a return to the field next month but League Two clubs have already agreed to end the season with immediate effect. League One are still in discussions over how their campaign will be concluded.
Former chair of the Digital, Cultute, Media and Sport Select Committee Damian Collins on Thursday sent a letter to the chairmen of the FA and EFL, Greg Clarke and Rick Parry respectively, as well culture secretary Oliver Dowden calling for urgent action.
“We may only have a few weeks to save professional football in this country as we know it,” the letter reads. “The shock of the Covid-19 crisis has badly exposed the weak financial position of clubs in the English Football League, many of whom were already on the edge of bankruptcy.
“For clubs in League One and League Two in particular the loss of match day revenue and money from the sale of season tickets is a major blow that some will not be able to survive.” • TOP-FLIGHT football has been given the go ahead to resume in Italy from June 20.
Italy’s Minister for Sport, Vincenzo Spadafora, said that Serie A would be allowed to restart following a conference call involving the league, the players’ association and the Italian Football Federation. The league has been shut down since March 9.
The Coppa Italia semi-finals are set to be played on June 13, if the Government grants permission.
Q How you started refereeing is a tragic story. What happened?
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I wanted players to be protected. There was a scuffle in a Belfast and District League match, a young guy took a blow to the head and unfortunately died on the pitch. My team Glanville were involved in the game and I went to his funeral. The fella had an underlying health condition but no-one expects their family member to come home from football in a box. That was a sobering moment for me. I was coming into my late 20s and was disillusioned with playing. A referee in the league suggested I gave it a go and I took the course. I haven’t looked back since.
Q And you’re mad enough to still be a referee nearly 20 years on. The obvious question is why?
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A lot of my close friends are amazed I went into refereeing because if anyone was going to give a ref an earful it was me. Maybe that’s why I can have a rapport with players on the pitch. Players will give a lot and I can give it back. I don’t adopt a schoolteacher’s approach; I treat men like men.
Q So you don’t mind using strong language?
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I think what happens on the field of play should stay there between referees and players but sometimes you have to give it back.
Q Are you meaning stand up for yourself ?
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I wouldn’t say that but if you are a shrinking violet the more experienced players in the league will try and influence or intimidate you. They will try to get the upper hand by trying to get the next decision in their favour, when the next 50-50 challenge happens. Players can be shrewd and good at their job. They will use every tool in their locker to get a decision. Equally, us referees have to use every tool in our locker to maintain discipline on the pitch and get the best out of the players. If the players don’t infringe the laws of the game you won’t hear about the referee. We only have to step in when they do that and it’s the nature of the beast.
Q So why are you still doing it, all these years later?
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Sheer enjoyment. You don’t have the thrill of playing but you can enjoy refereeing.
Q But you must have experienced some hard times?
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I’m not the only referee in the country who has gone home, thrown the kit bag up the hallway and said ‘that’s it, I’m finished.’ I’ve had those moments but your colleagues will always support you and we believe in what we are doing. You need a football and a referee to play this game. Sometimes people will say neither the football nor the referee are any good but that’s our life. A player can have a go at me but I can say to him ‘you’re not having such a great game either, I see your number on the board, you’re going off!’ I think a bit of banter with the players is okay and I’m fortunate to be well established in the game.
Q How do you find the criticism, including from social media?
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I think the scrutiny on the referees and players has never been more intense. When I started out you might have had one BBC camera while six games were on. Now every game is covered and every fan has the potential to be a cameraman with his mobile phone. In the refereeing fraternity here we think VAR is a fan on the sidelines posting on Twitter. We put ourselves in the kitchen and we expect a bit of heat. At times fans will overstep the mark. I don’t believe because they pay in they can say what they want to you. Players and managers also get scathing criticism. I don’t think it’s right when people want to infringe on people’s personal lives. That line should not be crossed but some people don’t see it that way. Some people just want to lambast you.
Q The fitness requirements for the referees are pretty strict. How do you find them?
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Our game doesn’t have the finances to have full-time referees, unlike our colleagues in Germany, England, France or Spain. It’s ironic that their fitness tests are the same as ours. They don’t have a 40 hour working week to try and fit their training around. In an ideal world it would be great for us to have a panel of 13 professional referees. With all due respect to Irish League sides, our refs have to have the same level of fitness as the ref who takes charge of Liverpool v Atletico Madrid.
With respect to Irish League clubs, we would all acknowledge it’s a different level of the game. A
It’s a different game but the fitness standards for the refs are the same and that sometimes baffles referees here because it’s strange to say the official who takes charge of the Irish Cup Final has to be as fit as the referee in the Champions League final. And yet the financial rewards for the
Q
job are certainly not the same. We referee because we want to be involved in the game.
Q What high profile games have you been involved in?
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I’ve been involved in high profile international appointments with teams of four and six with Mark Courtney and Arnie Hunter in Europe. In 55 Uefa associations, I’ve been in about 48 of them in an officiating role. I’m very privileged and you always have those memories. I’ve stood in the lashing rain at Paris St Germain and have been as far as Azerbaijan. I think the Nations Cup games were a highlight. I refereed Scotland against Wales at the Aviva. It was a fascinating insight into how players at a much higher level conduct themselves. I always maintained you needed a Jekyll and Hyde personality and style for the Irish League and Europe. I became a completely different character and there’s an obvious language issue but they can still throw English swear words at you. In 2018 I came off the Fifa list and was proud to be an international referee for eight years.
Q So the feisty verbal exchanges don’t bother you?
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We are all in the workplace and if players are prepared to use industrial language, they have to be prepared to take some of it back. The alternative is a referee resorts to extreme disciplinary matters which the laws of the game dictate. None of us want to go down that road. The game would then become a farce. Refs get caught up in the emotion too. Some games and some players are more difficult to manage. Players know what buttons to push and if you’ve been around as long as I have you know what buttons to push back to get the desired reaction to get through the game. Guys who are absolute gentlemen off the pitch become different people on it. You have to get into a player’s head to keep him onside to make your job easier. If a player is verbally abusive, I would usually