Clampdown on dissent intensifies
Concerns as elite behaviour levels echoed in grass-roots
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Premier League referees are being instructed to clamp down more and more on dissent. Stats soon to be published will reveal that yellow cards for dissent are up more than 100% on last season.
Howard Webb, the chief refereeing officer of the Professional Game Match Officials Limited, wants to bring behaviour levels more in line with other sports and create a better example for those down the pyramid. “We have to change the culture of the game,” said Webb, who also wants to recruit more former players as referees.
Webb was at Wembley on Tuesday to lend his support to a fund-raising event for the Twinning Project, the charity founded by David Dein, formerly of Arsenal and the Football Association, which helps to rehabilitate prisoners on their release.
Webb, 52, was asked by a grass-roots referee about players on parks pitches copying the dissent directed at officials by some elite players. Such has been the abuse of grass-roots officials that the FA has been trialling body-cams for referees in some local leagues.
“We take our responsibilities around behaviour seriously at the top end of the game,” Webb replied. “We understand how strong the example can be duplicated in different levels.
“I spoke to the FA Council last summer in terms of how we tackle dissent, surrounding of officials and other behaviours that are not acceptable but have previously had a blind eye turned to them because it’s been cloaked as ‘emotion in the game’. We spoke to our officials to stop doing that. We told them, ‘we will support you if you take stronger action, we want you to face head on some of the dissenting behaviour which we don’t see in other sports, that have become the norm (in football)’.
“By and large our officials have delivered. The stats are showing dissent yellow cards are up more than 100% this season, and technical area sendings-off are up more than 100%.” The last released figures (in December) showed an 88% increase, so the clampdown has intensified. “We pull our officials every single time they don’t deal with (dissenting) players or coaches. We are keeping our foot on the gas.”
Nicolas Jackson (Chelsea), Andreas Pereira (Fulham) and Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United) have been three of the worst offenders for dissent this season, as have their clubs. Webb used the example of Diogo Dalot’s two yellows for dissent in 10 seconds after his United side were wrongly denied a throw-in against Liverpool in December. “He threw his arm in the face of Michael Oliver,” Webb added, “Michael showed a yellow card, he did it again and was shown a second yellow.
“It wouldn’t have happened previously. Maybe officials didn’t feel the game was completely behind them in terms of delivering this culture change in the way it is played. We absolutely need to change the culture of the game otherwise people won’t be involved in refereeing, and will walk away earlier because those experiences at grass-roots level are not positive because of the power of example.”
The Twinning Projects event was opened by Mark Bullingham, the chief executive of the FA, which has been working with Webb on tackling dissent. “I spoke to Mark earlier today,” Webb continued. “We will double down on our messaging (to players about behaviour levels). At this business end of the season, they (players) must know the consequences of a second yellow or a red. That needs to sit on the shoulders of those participants who behave in a way that’s not acceptable.
“Our officials are still understanding passion, understanding importance. But there has to be a consequence there in August and in May, and next year and every year going forward which drives other sports’ participants to behave in a different way.”
Webb was accompanied at Wembley by referees Anthony Taylor and Abigail Byrne, and the head of women’s refereeing in England, Bibi Steinhaus-Webb, in the event ably hosted by Dan Meeson, PGMOL’s new development director. They analysed on-screen clips of difficult refereeing decisions with the audience. “It’s made me realise we have to do more of this,” Webb added. “We’ve got to show people what this job is all about and how challenging it is and build a bit of empathy.”
Webb gave an insight into the pathway and pressures of his chosen career. “I never wanted to be a referee,” Webb recalled. “Like so many other kids I wanted to be a footballer. I remember watching Bryan Robson scoring after 27 seconds against France in the ‘82 World Cup, thinking that’s absolutely me - being a Manchester United legend in years to come. Some people thought I achieved that goal! But that's really not true! I wanted to be a World Cup-winning captain for England. The one thing missing was talent. My dad said, ‘you’re not going to make it as a player, have you thought about becoming a referee?’”
So Webb took an eight-week refereeing course in 1989. “My first game took place just after New Year 1990,” he recalled. “It was a difficult game, seven yellows, two reds, three mass confrontations which is quite excessive for Under-10s football!” He joked. “But on a serious note I got about six or seven handshakes coming off the field. It made me feel good.
“Then to walk out at Burnley versus Shrewsbury in 1996 as a Football League assistant was still the highlight of my entire career because I’d made it to the professional game. So it opened up for this failed footballer from South Yorkshire to go to the 2010 World Cup final.”
That final was infamous for the Netherlands’ rugged approach against Spain, including Nigel de Jong’s kick to Xabi Alonso’s chest. Webb did not have a clear view and gave only a yellow. This was pre-VAR. Webb spoke of the pressure he was under going into the final. “Bearing in mind, you know there will be 2bn people watching that game, and that is going to define your professional career. It will live with you.”
Graham Poll infamously gave Croatia’s Josip Simunic three yellow cards against Australia in Stuttgart at the 2006 World Cup. “Three yellow cards is something that lived with Graham for years and years,” Webb said. “Quite recently I saw him, and he said not a day goes by when somebody doesn’t say something about it. And he refereed hundreds of games really well.
“You know the jeopardy at stake. If you’ve not got VAR – wow - you might miss something in the blink of an eye. You might believe somebody has been caught but it might be an optical illusion. If you then give a penalty that decides the World Cup final (wrongly) that’s hard to come back from.”
Webb retired from refereeing after the 2014 World Cup. “Towards the end of my career, I started going into games hoping there wouldn’t be controversy and then not being prepared to make big decisions. That taught me it was time to go.
“Coming away from a game without being talked about is the biggest relief, just having that sense of feeling that you weren’t a talking point, you’re not the reason why somebody has not won the Champions League or World Cup final.”
He knows the pressure on his officials, and uses some of the new funds from the Premier League and FA to support them mentally. “There is more pressure than before, way more. It’s off the scale. Social media is pretty toxic. Some of our guys are confident but they want affirmation that they're doing a good job. I fear some of them search social media. I say, ‘don’t do it’. They're looking for for recognition that they're doing a tough job and do it well.
“We have to let them know we've got their backs and supporting them in the same way that a manager supports a player who misses from five yards or a keeper who throws it in the last minute.
“We also balance that support with some level of accountability. They have to know we're in a performance industry. If they don't perform over time there will of course naturally be consequences.” Referees sit out weekends or drop into the Championship, as well as undergoing more coaching. “We try to ensure that we upskill them,” Webb added.
“We are mindful of the stress levels that officials work under and the consequences of perceived or real errors. And how that manifests in people’s behaviours. Anthony faced that in May in Budapest.” After the Europa League final, Taylor was hounded by the losing coach, Roma’s Jose Mourinho. “Anthony’s resilient. He’s been through some trying times in the Europa League and dealing with some really horrendous things but he's built that thick skin.”
Webb emphasises to his officials that the majority of fans are decent people. “I felt that positivity on the field at White Hart Lane (in 2012) when Fabrice Muamba (the Bolton Wanderers midfield player) had that heart attack and the crowd were urging the doctors to push harder and get his heart going, all the fans absolutely engaged in this desire to get this human being back to life. Fans are decent by and large.
“We just have to make sure the noise and negativity of the minority doesn’t drown out what’s real and this sport is allowed to continue to grow and develop. And that involves enticing more people to refereeing because we’re only as strong as those people who say, ‘I’ll have a go’.”
Webb was confident that standards would improve as more talent emerges. “We have opportunities to identify talent earlier, bringing them through more quickly. We’re hopefully showing that we have a real eye on being open and welcoming to all parts of the community. Absolutely, better diversity is needed in our officiating groups.”
PGMOL is actively working with the Professional Footballers’ Association to accelerate the pathway for former players considering refereeing. “We are opening up to our friends within the playing world. I will love to see some ex-players coming in. We’re working closely with PFA colleagues and excited about trying to entice players who might finish their career at certain levels through injury, through release, through just natural retirement mid-30s, who’ve got a lived experience that can really be beneficial in the refereeing sense.”
Former players have been put off by the time taken for them to complete courses and climb the ladder. “We want to find a way to take away some of the barriers that prevented players from wanting to get involved,” Webb added. “We are determined to make this happen. You'll see lots of faces coming through the pipeline supported by all of the investment that we are having around extra coaching, extra performance support and also specialists around VAR.”
Before returning to his PGMOL duties, Webb spoke powerfully about his awareness of the impact of the Twinning Project which links clubs with local prisons providing coaching and refereeing courses. It has proved such a success that clubs in the United States, Australia and Italy have adopted the model.
“I worked as a police officer and I used to see people come out of prison and they were different people to the ones that went in,” Webb said of his time in South Yorkshire Police. “They went into prison emaciated, absolutely in terrible health, looking like on death’s door. They’d come out a few months later looking healthier, looking well, but then I saw them again six weeks later back in our charge office starting to go back towards that emaciated, skinny, drug-ridden youth they were before they went in prison.
“It was clear to me that something had to happen to stop them going back to prison. There wasn't enough help to keep them out of prison.” Working in partnership with HM Prison and Probation Service and professional clubs, the Twinning Project helps that, reducing re-offending and saving lives.
twinningproject.org