EPL: Referees, Technology and Player Behaviour, What Changes Are Needed?

Once again, the 2010/11 EPL season has seen referees come under fire for their decisions.

This has happened in a number of circumstances.

One of the most apparent forms of criticism comes on the pitch, from the players. Referees are often surrounded by groups of players, angrily protesting any decision that goes against them.

The second form is from the managers.

Managers continue to criticise refereeing decisions, having done so for years. Thanks to the growth in television coverage, everything they say these days can be analysed and replayed by the governing bodies.

Pundits and fans form the third group, publicly giving the referees a hard time. Poor refereeing decisions can be easily criticised and highlighted in slowed replays, from numerous angles that can even determine the referee's position at the time, to judge if they should have been able to make the right decision or not.

The "Respect" campaign has been going for several years and appears to have hit its ceiling in terms of effectiveness.

Using just the basic ability to lip-read, fans can easily spot professional footballers being abusive towards match officials throughout the course of a game.

How can this situation be resolved?

The problem is not restricted to English football and is seen in games across the globe, meaning that the solution has to come from FIFA, and down to the various national football associations.

But what are the possible solutions to this problem?

First of all, there has to be a directive on language used towards officials and the behaviour of players—and it must be enforced. The current card system is not really sufficient in such circumstances. 

A lesson here could be learned from Rugby Union.

Officials in rugby have the option to decide that an incident has involved so many players and has happened so quickly that there is no manner that they could possibly judge all the infringements that have taken place.

When this happens, officials can signal to put the players on report. This means they are allowed to continue the game and instead properly assess the incident in question after the game is over, using the help of video footage.

The second part of the solution concerns the managers.

It has to be expected that referees are not going to be able to spot everything that happens on a pitch. They are also not going to always be in the best position to make decisions.

If a manager so wishes, he should be allowed to request an explanation, through the FA, about specific decisions made throughout the game. This should allow managers to understand the reasons behind specific refereeing decisions.

Does technology then come into this? If incidents are to be put on report, then there must first be an acceptance of the use of replays in the aftermath of games.

Surely, everyone in football can see that something has to change to stop the kind of poor behaviour that happens on the football pitch.

If for no other reason, to stop it from being replicated by kids in school.