Improvement of Refereeing Standards in English Football

To:  Football Supporters

Enduring poor and wrong referee decisions is part and parcel of football at all levels, but a line must be drawn in the competence of refereeing in the beautiful game in the Premier League, Championship, League 1 & 2, and Domestic Cups. It is tarnishing the reputation of English Football, as the media, managers and players are quick to highlight the inefficacy of top-level officials, as well as their superiors.







PROTECTING THE BIG CLUBS:



Supporters of clubs outside 'The Big Four' will have you know how they often it is that a referee is quick to protect larger clubs, especially playing at home, to the frustration and despair of travelling clubs and their supporters.







PRE-CONCEPTIONAL ARBITRATION:



Referees can be seen to often single out specific players, due to a deserved or undeserved reputation. Whether you believe this is justified or not, it strongly contradicts the ethics of fair refereeing and is often the subject of controversy across national and international media, tarnishing the reputation of English Football.







FREE SPEECH FOR ALL:



We live in a democracy, where we take for granted the right to free speech. The way in which the FA deal with comments from club managers and players is little for than a communist dictatorship: questions cannot be asked about the authoritative figures in black, let alone criticize their performance. Clubs are often fined for their outbursts, regardless of their opinion being justified or not.







INCENTIVE-BASED STRUCTURE:



Referees have NO incentive to perform well. A player who is not producing the goods can be dropped, but this logic does not apply to officials performing poorly week-in week-out. Whether they have an excellent game or a shocker, they will be paid equally







EGOTISTICAL OFFICIATING:



Psychologists will confirm how the performance of referees is often in line with their egos, in the way they speak to players, penalise or sanction them. They thrive in the power an control instilled in them, and will often abuse this power beyond their allocated purpose, to the frustration of clubs and supporters at all levels.







INCONSISTENCY:



Having different laws for different people is in the same level as racist laws in an apartheid regime. A tackle that breaks a player's leg cannot be sanctioned in the same way as any other behaviour conducive to a straight red card with an automatic 3 game ban. It is down to the referees' interpretation of an incident as to how an incident is dealt with. The rules of the game are written in black and white, but how these rules are enforced is far from it.







We, the supporters of the beautiful game should be empowered to act on this important issue. We pay billions into the game through football attendance and television subscriptions, only to have the great players and scintillating football eclipsed by the man in the middle, imposing laws in an ad-hoc fashion. Our game is being ruined by poor officiating, and we must take a stand together in highlighting our dissatisfaction at the existing regime; as paying customers of football, but more important, as true supporters of football.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

The Improvement of Refereeing Standards in English Football Petition to Football Supporters was created by and written by Dyron Wilkie (wilkie2726@gmail.com).  This petition is hosted here at www.PetitionOnline.com as a public service. There is no endorsement of this petition, express or implied, by Artifice, Inc. or our sponsors. For technical support please use our simple Petition Help form.