Isn't It Time Referees Were Held Accountable?

"Bemused!"

Bemused is a word that has been floating around English football in the last few weeks.

Now, while some are "bemused" by Manchester United's poor start, others are "bemused" by Tottenham propping up the table, while even more are "bemused" by Arsenal's shock defeat to Hull yesterday.

Yet just about everybody is "bemused" by the current state of refereeing in the game. Without doubt this is not a syndrome of English football alone. It is rife throughout the game, from your Sunday game to your Champions League Final.

Who can forget the catalogue of errors made by Moreno of Ecuador and his assistants as Italy were knocked out of the 2002 World Cup by hosts South Korea?

This week the spotlight has yet again been on refereeing standards in England.

On Saturday last week, Stuart Atwell and his assistant Nigel Bannister between them managed to concoct a goal on Reading's behalf against Watford. What will forever be known as the "phantom goal" is without a doubt one of the strangest events you will ever see in football.

Well, one thinks, human error, it happens, it's rare, it's as bad a decision, but it still happens. We were all "bemused" by it, but it'll not happen again for a while, right? 

Unfortunately it took a mere week for us to become "bemused" once again.

On Saturday, Bolton were coping well with Manchester United. They had kept them at bay and even had a few pops at goal themselves. Then, on 59 minutes, up pops everyone's favourite referee, Rob Styles.

From all of three yards away, Styles adjudged that Samuel had fouled Ronaldo in the penalty box. The thing is, the other 79,000 people in the stadium saw Samuel cleanly take the ball away from Ronaldo and avert danger.

Even Ronaldo didn't look for it—now that tells you something.

From then on the game changed. Ronaldo slotted home and Rooney added a sublime second.

Now, I'm not for one second saying that Bolton would definitely have held on for a draw, but the penalty certainly changed the course of the match. If the Premier League can decide that Tevez was worth three points to West Ham last year, then I feel I can judge that the penalty demoralised the Wanderers.

After the game, Ferguson and Megson were just as "bemused" as the rest of us about the decision. Ferguson joked that Styles owed United four more. Funnily enough, Megson was not in such a comical mood.

My problem is not so much the actions of the referees—after all everyone is human—but more with the lack of accountability on their behalf.

Atwell and Styles will most likely be demoted a league and then reinstated to their respective leagues after a week or two. Now tell me, good people, what does this achieve? Does it make their eyesight any better? Does it make their judgment any better?

Furthermore, managers and players all have to face the music if they make a bad decision during the course of a game. Through the media they must answer to the fans and powers that be, why not referees?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not calling for a media lynch mob to attack the referees. But why are the likes of Styles not made to answer to fans if they make a controversial decision such as the one on Saturday?

Managers have got touchline bans/fines in the past for fuming about referees in post-match interviews. If the referee were forced to be accountable for his decisions wouldn't that at least clear up some issues for managers, players, and fans alike?

Referees are paid professionals. If you or I did something wrong in our professional lives, would we not be called to task? Would we not be made answer for our actions?

Perhaps if the men in black had to be more accountable for their actions, we all might be a little less bemused!