Ousted slams retroactive refereeing
DECISIONS ARBITRARY: Midweek suspensions ‘tampering with the game’ and second-guessing refs
Count David Ousted among the concerned.
In the soccer world, MLS has been precedent-setting in its attempt to modify player behaviour through retroactive suspensions since 2012.
The MLS Disciplinary Committee — an anonymous group of five made up of an ex-referee, ex-coach and three ex-players — metes out punishment mid-week following the weekend’s games.
Their latest list of bad deeds — a growing list — included embellishment from Whitecaps’ striker Masato Kudo, Ousted’s teammate who won the Caps a penalty, and the game, against Houston last weekend.
Kudo gets a one-game ban, the Caps keep the three points, and Houston gets bupkis, which isn’t a bad trade if you’re Vancouver.
And while most will agree that something must be done to curb diving — that scourge of the game — as well as to protect players from nasty tackles, there’s far less agreement on whether the group affectionately known as DisCo is going about it the right way.
There’s a sense in some corners — one bravely shared by Ousted, the Caps’ keeper — that the decisions announced mid-week come off just as arbitrary as the ones the referee did or didn’t make on the weekend.
Furthermore, that this whole mechanism of re-refereeing games won’t actually lead to better refereeing.
“While I get what they’re trying to do, I think it’s misplaced,” Ousted said ahead of the Caps’ game against L.A. on Saturday at B.C. Place (7 p.m., TSN2, TSN 1040), adding that he’ll probably get in trouble for the comments.
“I obviously get that they want to protect the game, protect the players, but what’s happening now — they’re trying to be one of the best leagues in the world and I don’t see anywhere around the world where this many retroactive suspensions are given.
“In every single game in MLS you can go and retroactively suspend two or three players where they are drawing the line, and I think it’s dangerous because they’re tampering with the game and with what some of the game’s about as well. It is a physical game.
“We’re also telling the refs that they have to be better all the time and I think you’re doing them a disservice by not letting them ref the game.
“Obviously if someone comes studs up and the ref doesn’t see it, by all means help him (the ref). But a lot of these retroactive suspensions are something the ref has seen and given a yellow card, or not given anything, and that’s a problem because you’re saying every single time they’re not doing a good enough job.”
Outside Vancouver, Ousted’s comments might well be seen as sour grapes.
The Caps (2-2-0) have had three players retroactively suspended in four weeks — Christian Bolanos and Kianz Froese for tackles — and Seattle fans would argue the Caps should be 4-for-4 with how Bolanos and Blas Perez earned penalties in a 2-1 win at CenturyLink Field two weeks ago.
But that also speaks to the consistency concerns, because what did the DisCo see in the replay of Kudo’s penalty that they didn’t see in the others?
You had more fans screaming about Bolanos’s dive (or was he touched? Or did his toe get stuck in the turf? Or did he intentionally stick his toe in the turf?) than you did about Kudo’s embellishment.
Fans have seen one replay of the Kudo incident. It’s a soft penalty call, no question. Caps coach Carl Robinson admitted that Thursday. It was harsh on Houston, and the Caps have benefited greatly from penalties this season.
Those points aren’t debatable, and no one likes a diver, including Caps fans who’ve been admirable in condemning their own for doing it— Camilo, Seba Fernandez, Octavio Rivero to name three.
But Robinson, while saying he respects the DisCo’s decision, also made his point without getting himself fined like Kudo on Thursday.
“I don’t condone (embellishment),” Robinson said. “But there was contact.”
It’s impossible to tell if there was or wasn’t from the one angle we’ve all seen from the TSN broadcast. Perhaps the DisCo has other angles. MLS didn’t respond to that question Thursday.
And if there’s to be a harsher crackdown on certain actions this season, why not trumpet that before the season?
People can live with clarity and consistency, even if they disagree with the standard.