Thomas Woods offers his thoughts on the latest refereeing calamity to tarnish the English Premier League and addresses how it can be fixed.
More reasons for video replays
This past week was a spectacular one for England’s big three team sports — football, rugby union and cricket.
You had a full round of Premier League football, culminating in Liverpool v Manchester United on Sunday, watched by an estimated 700 million people around the world.
Before that, New Zealand’s thumping of the West Indies rounded off four days of cricket World Cup quarter-finals.
And later on Saturday, rugby fans witnessed the craziest day in Six Nations history as 221 points were scored in three matches and Ireland won the title over England by just six points.
Football is king in terms of media attention, money generated and attendance, but the sport could take a thing or two from how cricket and rugby union are officiated.
Two incidents on Saturday highlight this point.
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A minute into the first Premier League game of the day, Manchester City v West Bromwich Albion, referee Neil Swarbrick sent off the wrong player after Craig Dawson fouled City’s Wilfried Bony and teammate Gareth McAuley was shown red instead.
Meanwhile, at the end of the second Six Nations game of the day, a late try from Scotland’s Stuart Hogg was overturned by the video referee after he failed to ground the ball properly.
This decision was pivotal to the destination of the title, with seven points from a converted try the difference between Ireland winning the title over England.
On one hand an example of a sport using technology to increase the game’s integrity, and on the other a fast-paced sport still trusting one man to make snap decisions.
While football could take a lot from rugby — the way players respect the referee for one — video replays for major decisions such as penalties and red cards must surely be the next step.
After the City game, West Brom manager Tony Pulis said football should look at cricket, too, where a team has two chances to review an umpire’s decision and send it upstairs to the TV replay. This works, as the numerous reversed decisions throughout the World Cup have shown.
And while we are at it, why doesn’t football take a leaf out of a third sport — rugby league.
In rugby’s 13-man code, a referee can cite a player he thinks has made a dangerous tackle, and a panel then looks back at the incident after the game to decide what, if any, punishment should be meted out.
Football could take this practice and apply it to diving. This is one area of the game where referees do not seem to know whether they are coming.
Take such a subjective decision out of the referee’s hands and allow TV technology to help officials. A panel could then hand out a warning or a ban depending on the offence and how many times the player had dived before.
Costa injury no sweat for Chelsea
Diego Costa was always likely to get injured a some point this season and, if he has done his hamstring, he will probably miss three of four of Chelsea’s next games.
But Chelsea should not skip a beat with Loic Remy filling in up front — the French international would be a starter in most teams. However, Chelsea must be a bit worried as he is also injury-prone and if Remy was out, Jose Mourinho would only have veteran Didier Drogba to call on for goals.
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