Jack Tame: Football and the odd way players are allowed to treat the referee

The All Whites were playing Poland yesterday in the build up for next year’s World Cup. I saw about half of the game. Although we ultimately lost, my main takeaway was that we looked alright. All Whites of old would have faced potential humiliation in a game against Poland – not this team. 

But for whatever reason I was also struck by one of the challenges that led to a yellow card in the match, and the way in which the players reacted. 

To be clear, it was nothing special. A heavy, clumsy challenge, but one which happens in every top tier football game and probably every Sunday league golden oldies 40+ social game too. The tackle came in. The ref blew his whistle. And in a moment, players from both teams immediately crowded him out. 

I don’t get it. I don’t understand why football, of all sports, lets players rush the referee, getting right up in their face to theatrically plead innocence or insist that an opponent should be more harshly sentenced. Sure, the rules state that players can be penalised for dissent, but it happens so rarely. Instead, you see them rush the ref all the time in top level games. Sometimes half a team will run in. It can take minutes to restore order. 

I get that sport is emotional, but it’s a curious exercise to compare what football will generally allow players to do to referees with other, more violent sports. In rugby, there’s no way referees would stand for it. There’s a very clear process. If you’ve got a problem, your captain is welcome to bring it to the ref, but if any other players push the line, they risk being penalised. Most players get it pretty quickly. 

In American football, if you give much more than a ‘yes sir’ to one of the officials, you’ll be penalised for unsportsmanlike conduct or ejected from the game. 

They have trialled similar things in football. They looked at a blue card option in which referees could sin-bin players for dissent. They looked at rules where only captains could approach referees. But so far it hasn’t been adopted in the top leagues with the most money, the most viewers, and the most influence. 

Apparently one of the concerns is that cracking down on player treatment of referees will suppress some of the emotion in the game, and emotion makes it fun to watch.  

But I dunno. I reckon by being so loosey-goosey and allowing ten or a dozen players to all get up in the ref’s face at once, they’ve ended up incentivising histrionic behaviour. Now, if a player makes a heavy tackle and knows they’re probably in the wrong, they have to go up and scream and yell and stamp their feet at their supposed cruel treatment, because they know the other team will be making just as much of a scene, trying to get them punished. It’s like an arms race – you have to match your opponent’s outrage.  

Football is a near-perfect team sport. It’s beautifully simple. The barriers to entry are basically non-existent. The scope for creativity and flare is vast.  

But if there is one way the beautiful game might be improved just a bit, it’s the way players treat the referee. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack team podcast
from News Talks.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
That'd be so the All Whites were playing Poland yesterday
in the build up for next year's Football World Cup.
I saw about half of the game, and although we
ultimately lost, my main takeaway was that we looked all right.
We looked all right. Maybe not quite ruthless enough in
front of goal, but we looked all right. You see,
All Whites teams of old would have faced potential humiliation

(00:37):
in a game against Poland, like you know, seven or
eight goals down, but not this team. So yep it was.
It was a defeat, but a one nil defeat. I
think we left where our heads held high. Anyway, for
whatever reason, I was also struck during the game by
one of the challenges that led to a yellow cart
and the way in which the players reacted. Now, to

(00:59):
be clear, there was nothing special about this tackle, right,
That wasn't a part unique moment or anything like that.
It was a heavy, clumsy challenge, but one which happens
in every top tier football game, and you know, probably
every Sunday League Gold Noldies Master's forty plus Social game

(01:20):
as well. So the tackle came in the ref blue
iss whistle, and in a moment, players from both teams
immediately crowded them out. And I just don't get it.
I don't understand why football, of all sports, lets players

(01:40):
rush the referee, getting right up in their face to
theatrically plead innocence, or insists that an opponent should be
more harshly sentenced. Sure, the rule state that players can
be penalized for descent, but it happens so rarely. It
is such a rare event that you see a football
referee actually penalize a player for pushing the line too far. Instead,

(02:06):
you see players rush the ref all the time in
top level games, and sometimes half a team will run it.
It can take minutes to restore order.

Speaker 1 (02:15):
And I get it.

Speaker 2 (02:16):
I get that sport is emotional, right, but it's a
curious exercise to compare what football will generally allow players
to do to referees with other more violent sports. So
in rugby, there is absolutely no way that referees would
stand for it. There is a very clear process. If
you've got a problem, your captain is welcome to bring

(02:38):
it up to the ref, but if any other players
push the line too much, they risk being penalized, and
most players get it pretty quickly. And American football, you
know NFL, it is even more extreme. If you give
much more than a yes, sir to one of the officials,
you'll be penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct, or in many cases,

(03:00):
you just be kicked out of the game. You'll be ejected.
That's it. And they have tried similar things in football.
They've had a couple of trials in recent years. They
looked at a blue card option in which referees could
sind in players for dessent, so if you got too lippy,
you'd be sent off for ten minutes. They looked at
rules where only captains could approach referees, but so far

(03:23):
it hasn't been adopted in the top leagues with the
most money, the most viewers, and the most influence. Apparently,
one of the concerns is that cracking down on player
treatment of referees will suppress some of the emotion in
the game, and of course emotion makes it fun to watch.
But I don't know, I don't know, I reckon by

(03:44):
being so loosey goosey and allowing ten or a dozen
players to all get up in the ref's face at once.
They've ended up incentivizing histrionic behavior, you know what I mean.
Think about it, right, if a player makes a heavy
tackle and knows that they are probably in the wrong,

(04:05):
they now I have to go up and scream and
yell and stamp their feet and make a massive scene
at their supposed cruel treatment because they know that the
other team will be making just as much of a
scene trying to get them punished. It's kind of like
an arms race, right. You have to match your opponent's outrage,
and that only incentivizes more and more and more drama.

(04:29):
It only incentivizes the whole team to rush over to
the referee. Football is, as far as team sports go,
near perfect in my view. It is such a wonderful sport.
It is beautifully simple. The barriers to entry are basically
non existent. The scope for creativity and flair is vast.

(04:50):
But if there is one way the beautiful game might
be improved just a little bit, I reckon it's the
way that players treat the referee.

Speaker 1 (05:00):
For more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame, listen live
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