Howard Webb was “really troubled” by the decision of Fifa’s disciplinary committee to suspend Folarin Balogun’s ban for a red card during the World Cup, warning of a growing belief in refereeing conspiracies among supporters. Webb, English football’s chief refereeing officer, was speaking before the new Premier League season, where, among a series of new measures, independent assessments of key refereeing decisions are to be made public for the first time. We know for sure that a red card was shown.
I understand why it was given. We know that there was pressure placed by a politician on to Fifa, because that was admitted. And we know that the suspension was taken away for that particular tournament and suspended through a process which seemingly didn’t exist before the tournament started.” Webb said the scandal would only reinforce a change that has already taken place, whereby spectators watch a referee make a mistake and see conspiracy rather than human error.
Far too often now decisions are viewed as correct or corrupt by people who want to type all over social media. They try to draw inferences around decisions that they don’t agree with and draw a motivation behind that decision which is borne out of no facts, no evidence.” Webb’s feelings on the Balogun scandal were echoed by the chief executive of the Premier League, Richard Masters. We’re talking about other issues.
I think that’s a huge shame. The Balogun issue … is very difficult to comprehend really when you look at it.” English football’s refereeing body has announced a series of measures and targets for the new season, including a rebrand. Now known as Pro Ref, it has committed to publish each week the assessments of an independent key match incident (KMI) panel, which assesses the biggest decisions taken by Premier League referees.
As reported by the Guardian, Pro Ref will also publish audio of conversations between referees and players during matches, and it will continue to use X to publish real-time information during games. Pro Ref has expanded the pool of specialist video assistant referees working at Stockley Park as it seeks to reduce the length of time taken on interventions – which averaged 41 seconds last season – and eliminate incidents where VARs intervene and should not. Webb said fans and players alike can also expect to see more penalties awarded for holding at set pieces.
Contact is still part of the game, we still maintain a high threshold, but this time next year, all being well, we’ll be able to reflect on a season where more offences have been penalised.”
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