June 17, 2025 • 35 mins
In this weeks episode of the Huddle Within Podcast, join us as we dive into the world of refereeing and uncover the hidden truth behind game-changing decisions. From referees counting seconds to those who watch replays, we're discussing the var controversy and debate surrounding umpire training and time management. With the use of video review and instant replay, referee decisions are under more scrutiny than ever. But what really goes into making these crucial calls? In this episode we analyse the VAR debate and explore the mind behind referee decisions, shedding light on the secrets behind the whistles. Whether you're a sports enthusiast or just curious about the world of refereeing, this podcast is for you. So, sit back, relax, and get ready to uncover the truth behind the bad calls that changed the game.
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Chapters
00:00 Introduction and Podcast Updates
00:38 Latest Sporting News
07:57 The Art of Bad Calls in Sports
15:38 Make-Up Calls and Referee Accountability
19:44 The Role of Technology in Officiating
22:14 The Effect of VAR in Referring
28:49 Referees: The Human Element in Sports
34:29 Outro
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to the Huddle Within podcast, where we go beyond the
surface to uncover the real impact of sports on our lives.
Whether it's lessons of resilience, the passion that
fuels us, or the stories that connect us all, This is where
the game gets personal. I am Daniel, a regular sports
fan just like you, and together we'll explore what sports truly
means beyond the surface. So step right into the Huddle
and let's get into it. What is going on, everybody?
(00:41):
And welcome to this week's episode of The Huddle Within
podcast. Once again, thank you very much
for tuning in today. As you can probably tell by the
quality of the camera, I've decided to opt into using my
iPhone. Bought myself a nice little
tripod for about 30 bucks on Amazon and thought I'd use that
to kind of give you the the landscape a little bit more
(01:04):
clearer. My old webcam that I use was
nice. It did a good service, but I
found that it wasn't giving me the quality that I sort of
wanted. So just trying now with this
iPhone, it's a little bit above my height, so excuse me if I'm
not really looking directly intoyour eyes like that because it
is quite high. But yeah, new camera, new look,
(01:26):
hopefully it's a lot more clearer for you guys as well.
We've made it to episode 18, which is pretty cool as well.
Started the podcast a little over three months ago, just at
the start of March. And now we've hit up to episode
18, which is quite awesome. So thank you guys for those that
have tuned into any of those 17 episodes.
(01:47):
I really appreciate it. And to this one as well, I also
appreciate that if you have beenlistening or if it's your first
time listening, it'd be great ifyou could leave a five star
review wherever you do get your podcasts, just so that more
people can view and and listen to this podcast and take in all
aspects of the deeper meaning ofsports, which is what I'm trying
(02:08):
to do on this podcast. A lot of solo episodes, but we
also have guests as well, as youprobably all know, feel the ones
that have viewed for a long timeas well.
And I know there's a few views from different parts of the
world, so feel free to engage with me and leave a comment
below on any of the episodes if you want to kind of join in.
I'm in the plans of doing like abit of a competition at the
(02:30):
moment. So if you guys are interested in
this, it will involve winning potentially some money.
Unfortunately, I'm not someone that has a lot of money at the
moment to hand out for free. You'll have to put in a small
stake, but I promise you it's not more than 5 bucks.
You have a chance to win potentially $500.00, so look out
for that. If you are interested, please
(02:51):
leave a comment below. I will probably put something up
on my Instagram or TikTok regarding that.
So yeah, have a look in below and watch this space because I
am very excited to kind of do this.
But the only way that I can do it is with obviously listeners
and people interested in wantingto put in an easy 5 bucks there.
I don't I don't make money off off the prize or anything.
(03:14):
I promise that it's simply just to get you guys a bit of a
reward for your hard work. If if you're a betting person as
well, just to have a bit of a gamble and potentially come out
with with some money there. So again, I won't reveal too
much here. I will reveal it on a on a real
coming by just depending on the traction that I get based on on
this episode as well. And before we kind of dive into
(03:37):
the episode, I thought I'd give a bit of background on some
Sporting News. So we obviously got the Club
World Cup starting from this time of recording.
There's probably a few games that that have happened, but
Auckland city just got smacked up 10 nil to Bayern Munich, and
it's just funny how Auckland's in it.
They're not the actual Auckland FC team from the A League,
they're just some random New Zealand team I think that plays
(04:00):
in their top level. I'm not really sure about the
New Zealand league itself, but the A League team doesn't
compete in this. So it's pretty much a bunch of
part time or full time workers that have football as a weekend
job. So they've just faced Bayern
Munich and got obliterated 10 nil, which was, yeah, quite a
not a shock, but probably quite a big exposure there for them.
(04:23):
Not in the right ways either. And then you had into Miami
drawing nil nil as well with Messi there.
What I think about the Club World Cup, honestly, I think
it's just them competing with UEFA with the Champions League,
but I will look out for it and kind of breakdown a few things
there moving forward. The favourite that I've got to
win it is probably Manchester City.
I know PSG just won the Champions League, but I think
(04:44):
that Man City are the strong favourites coming out of here.
And I'd love to know how the hell some teams have qualified
because I'm looking at Chelsea and I'm thinking how did they
qualify and how did a team like Liverpool not qualify when they
did win the Premier League as well?
So don't really know too much about that as well.
But again, we'll have to wait and see as to or I have to have
(05:07):
a look at some research and see how that's the case.
But anyways, I thought of we do a bit of a run of the Club World
Cup and then we had the first trade of of the new season for
the NBAI addressed it on my emergency huddle as well.
Desmond Bain is going to OrlandoMagic for KCP coins, any four
first round picks and an unprotected pick.
(05:29):
And I had a chance to listen andlook at the picks.
They're not too bad. They will probably be outside
the lottery, but four first round unprotected picks for
Desmond Bain is quite crazy. And I don't see Orlando coming
into the lottery. And if that happens, then
Grizzlies have won this trade full on.
(05:50):
But Desmond Bayne is probably what they really need at the
moment. Orlando Magic they are lacking
1/3 option, especially guard scoring and someone that doesn't
necessarily need to handle the ball 24/7 as well.
He's very much a person that canhang around the corners, catch
and shoot, but also do a bit of playmaking if necessary as well.
(06:11):
So I don't know what his role isgoing to be with the Magic.
Whether they put him as a point guard, I don't think that's his
position anyway. I think he's better as A2 guard.
Having Jalen Suggs handle the ball with Franz Wagner with
Paula Bencura and then getting Desmond Bayne off the catch will
help them a lot. KCP.
They were hoping to get something out of him last
season, but he ended up being a massive bust for them.
(06:34):
So glad they were able to get rid of that contract as well.
And to take that contract, Guzzlies asked for four
unprotected first round picks, which is something they could
use for their future, maybe in potential trades looking
forward. Now they're in a position where
do they they keep these picks and keep Jar, keep Jar and Jaron
Jackson to kind of build a team there?
(06:55):
Or do they just full blown tank,get maybe six first round picks
for Jar or if Bain is getting out for four, then Jar
definitely can get traded out for six and the same with Jaron
Jackson. I think Jaron Jackson is
probably the more interesting piece.
I did mention on my reel that itcould be John Moran, whether
he's staying or going, being that he's sort of the franchise
player. But I think Jaron Jackson is
(07:16):
probably the more tradable assetin terms of what a lot of
competing teams need. I know there's a bit of circling
around potentially all the time.It's this team, but the Lakers
could definitely use someone like Jaron Jackson that can
protect the ring and also shoot.So look out for potential Jaron
Jackson trades and John Moran trains if it does happen.
But if not, we'll most likely see this team accumulate the
(07:38):
picks that they have and I guessjust work with what they've got.
So yeah, lots to lots to really can cover there.
It's just great to see trades. I love NBA trades.
So when they come through, goingto try address them and give my
opinions as well because they are always, they're always
really fun. And I kind of I kind of wish AFL
had a bit of a mid season trade to make it more interesting in
(07:58):
the AFL. But again, trades is just always
the fun part of sports for me. So just wanted to quickly
address those and without further ado, we'll get into the
topic today. And as you can tell by the
title, it is the art of bad calls and the hidden truth
behind these game changing decisions.
So this one's sort of been sitting with me for a while.
(08:19):
So I guess as a player that competes amateur in sports, I
have this like hate against refsat times.
And sometimes it can be very, very negative and really affect
the landscape of the game. But as we all know as fans and
as players, there is just this certain hate and like and like
(08:39):
anger we get to officiating and especially when it comes to bad
calls specifically. And when it comes to bad calls,
you obviously get those calls that eventually pretty much cost
you a game or it's a moment of the season if you're a fan, that
this match is really important. And then the refs find a way to
ruin it to make a terrible call as well.
(09:01):
So something that I kind of wanted to address, I'm not going
to act like I'm sort of an expert here about how refs go
and whatnot, but I want to give a bit of a both sided
perspective on this. So how a bad call can affect
A-Team or a fan, and also how a bad call can ultimately affect a
referee as well, 'cause in the end we do go on about how
(09:22):
athletes are humans and they don't really deserve the abuse,
but the refs are kind of in the same boat.
Do they really deserve the abusethey're getting?
I've actually found like I'm looking at it now, once that
that was pretty crazy. This is coming from football
related. So soccer, three in five
referees experience abuse every two matches.
(09:44):
So for every two games that theyget, three or five of them are
getting abused, which is, which is quite crazy.
Like there is a reason why no one grows up and, and says they
want to be a referee. They they turn up like hating
them or they just wouldn't be able to do the position.
And if we really look at and break it down, despite all the
abuse we give referees, we have to sort of respect the fact that
(10:06):
they have the balls to actually become a referee, whether
they're a failed sporting person, they have decided to
take this role that comes with alot of abuse and a lot of
scrutiny. If I look at baseball in a
perspective, there is a a big telling kind of start that there
is over 34 missed ball and strike calls.
(10:26):
So for those that don't know what ball and strike means, so
strike out is essentially if youpitch the ball, the batter
misses it and the player catchesit, that's obviously a strike.
And then a ball is like if the ball is not pitched in a certain
square, certain position, it's basically sort of like a foul
ball. But essentially if they you get
four of those, you get to first base for free and walk in and
(10:47):
it's up to the batter to really judge whether it's a ball or
not, if they leave it or not. But essentially 34,000 of those
calls combined in one season were missed called.
And that's on average, if you count baseball over 100 games,
it's about 14 per game. And this actually eventuated
into 55 games ending on this badblown call.
(11:08):
So a mistake, an incorrect ball strike call, 55 games were
impacted in that. And if you really think about
that holistically, that is a crazy amount really determined
by a referee's poor decision. Now, a referee I'm sure doesn't
want to make a poor decision, but they inevitably sometimes
will. But then there's got to be a
(11:30):
debate and a question whether they they are making too many
decisions wrong or if they're essentially always just
basically, if I'm trying to findthe word just wrong and not a
good ref, like I can't even findthe word.
But just like if I, if I take out the ref and in fact, that's
the human and I focus on, on theplaying and the, and the, and
(11:52):
the fan side, it's like you're grinding your whole season.
You're working so hard and then a referee, one missed call just
kind of cost you a game. Like isn't that frustrating?
Like it happens everywhere, happens in every single sport.
So like it's such a hard one because like you want to, you
want to understand the ref and know that they don't want to
make mistakes. But when they keep making
mistakes, like how can you not be frustrated, especially when
(12:15):
there is so much on the line as well.
But yeah, as I said, I'm not a psychologist, but just someone
that plays a bit of sport knows that when something unfair
happens, it's so hard to not feel as though you're getting
like you're getting unfair call there and, and, and there's
nothing needs to be addressed. And the worst thing is basically
(12:36):
when the referee doesn't even want to hear from you or want to
talk to you or explain things. Like for me, the referee can be
a hard position. But when I do something wrong or
I expect the referee to make a call and a decision, I just want
to know most of the time, why have they made that decision and
why have they decided that that was going to be that decision
that they made? Even one simple sentence, look,
(12:59):
this is not what I'm seeing is enough for me, But it's the ref
that don't talk to you or when you ask a question, tell you to
go away. It's sort of just makes you
frustrated more and it just feels as though that they're not
being in in in seeing the the position of the game.
Now, I understand that they probably cop a lot of abuse from
(13:20):
probably me. So it's very hard for them to
come up with a bit of a stigma and and I guess be desensitised
to that. So it comes to a point where
they just don't have the energy to really hear it.
But at the same time, it's just something that is being on my
pet peeve. What I get frustrated with is
them not being able to justify, explain the decisions and the
refs that tend to do that, I find that are really, really
(13:42):
good refs. When it comes to them getting
abused, it's not right, it's notfair.
They should not be getting abused at all.
They should be held more accountable for decisions, which
I'll get to a little later. But again, they should not be
abused to their level. We need to understand that in a
lot of games, especially in professional setting, there is a
(14:04):
lot of fans. If you're playing a home fan, if
you're in the home fans, they'realways going to be against you
whatever decision you make. The speed of the game is really
fast and it's so many things going on at the same time.
Like a normal sporting athlete, it takes a while for the
referees to get into the game and understand what's going on.
And I feel like that's the same as well for refs.
I mean, as in players it takes to get into the game, but it's
(14:25):
the same the same with referees.So when they do make incorrect
decisions, it might be because of that as well.
From some of the research that Ihave done and kind of looked
into, it is something that is very prevalent is that one bad
call does actually affect their confidence and their flows on
the game. And the way that they're kind of
receptive to that information can really change the outcome of
(14:47):
how how they referee a game. Now, that's on some cases, there
are certain referees that just think they're bigger than the
game and they do try to make it about them.
I look at Scott Foster in game four of the finals.
He did a terrible refereeing job, calling fouls and whatnot.
And it's just the way that he kind of went about it.
It just seemed as though that hewanted to make it about him.
But then there's a lot of referees that are new and
(15:08):
inexperienced that are really trying to learn and kind of get
a grasp on the game and, and they still cop unnecessary abuse
as well. What I will say though is that a
lot of players get scrutinised into the media and there is kind
of, I guess a performance or a stat sheet as to what and how
the referee is performing. I feel as though the referees
(15:28):
get very protected by the leagueand I sort of understand why
because there's obviously a needfor the referees to be there.
But it would be great to kind ofget a like the NBA does it
perfectly like a 2 minute report, but it'd be great to get
like a full referee stat padded report on their performances as
well. And you never know what could
happen. It could be the fact that they
feel discouraged or there can bea sort of competition to wanting
(15:50):
to be the best ref. The more accountability that is
placed on a referee making an incorrect decision, the more I
guess feeling that they want to to be better and also improve as
well. You never know.
And that's probably where we canphiltre out the terrible refs
from the good refs. Whereas the good refs are the
ones that want to improve and make decisions and look at their
stats and say, OK, I made this many non calls.
(16:12):
That person's made that many noncalls.
I need to get to this level to be a better ref than him.
And it becomes a bit of a competition to see who the best
refs are rather than the ones that are quote unquote most
experienced. The more accountability I think
that you put on refs, I think the better that the job will be
for them on the court because they're trying to do the best
that they can on the pitch. They don't really get
(16:33):
scrutinised in that way players do.
And then in the end of the day, if you're not good enough, you
don't play. And I think that should be the
same for refs. If you're not good enough as a
ref, you should not be a ref. And it feels like they don't get
accounted for for any mistakes they made.
The only way they do get accounted for is through abuse
and through fans, and it impactsfans a lot.
I look at, I've got the banner there, the New Orleans Saints,
(16:56):
the 2000 and I think 18 conference finals when there was
a four and down. I'm pretty sure on 1/5 down or
something where we actually got a no offensive pass interference
when it was a clear first down catch that costed the New
Orleans Saints on potentially making the Super Bowl and
potentially winning it. They were the favourites that
year to win it. And because of that no call in
(17:18):
the fourth quarter or incorrect call, it cost them a chance to
win a Super Bowl. And now it's been 7 years since
and the Saints have been nowherenear it.
You never really know what one decision can make the referee
costing that decision for the Saints to win a Super Bowl could
make them an attractive market, could have made them be like the
Kansas City Chiefs and win multiple in the future.
But we'll never know because of that referee decision.
(17:39):
So I'll a lot of people hold that as a real frustration in
their mind when when they're thinking about those things.
And it's just something to really consider as well.
The refs impact in a game. If they do make wrong decisions,
there is going to be backlash because it really effects
millions and millions of people,especially when their team is
getting costed in a certain gameor moment.
(18:01):
I'll get into a few more examples of that later, but I
just quickly wanted to talk about the make up call myth
about referees. And this is something that I've
found now to be extremely, extremely true.
So when a referee makes a incorrect decision, and I'll put
it in a in a football perspective, because it's
(18:22):
probably more easy for me to understand when there was
supposed to be like a certain foul that was that was played
and they didn't call the foul. They would make another makeup
call to I guess, reward you for the previous call, if that makes
sense. I've always thought that was
like a myth going up. But as I've just grown up into
it, it's so true. Like I'm going to repeat it
(18:43):
again. You yeah, we'll do a basketball
1. You you make a layup and the
referee doesn't call a foul on you.
And they knew that that was the incorrect decision.
They'll go and affect the opposite team by making an
incorrect decision to them as well.
So not only are you pissing off the first team for not giving
them a call, you're actually favouring them now in that
(19:04):
moment to give a makeup call forthat mistake that you made.
And ultimately you're affecting the other team as well.
Like does everyone know like about that?
Like, I don't think I'm the onlyone, but that's something that I
think refs also do subconsciously.
And again, it goes back to them just being human as well, but
they're really just trying to keep the pace in that in that
situation too. So it's just kind of wild
(19:26):
because you're not actually really playing the same Grant.
It's it's all tilted by just emotion and kind of the
perspective of player and all perspective of a referee as
well. And I did mention the crowds and
all that and it gets into everyone's head, but it is a
hard job, I have to say. It's such a hard job in AFL
though. I think AFL has the worst
(19:48):
officiating of all sports ever and everyone, we call them
umpires but everyone blames the umpires for this.
But I have to blame the AFL because the rules are so
inconsistent. You go.
Every every rule in AFL, that isthat is given is actually
extremely subjective. The way that you view holding
(20:09):
the ball and the way that I would view holding the ball
would be two completely different things depending on
the team we go for. The referees or umpires have to
make a decision based on how they interpret holding the ball
to be. The rule for holding the ball is
essentially if you hold the ballfor too long and you don't
release it correctly, whether it's a handball or a kick, they
will give a holding the ball. But then there are times where
(20:31):
as soon as someone gets tackled,the ball just gets dropped on
the ground. So there's always that thing
where is at an incorrect disposal is that a holding the
ball? Sometimes the player drags it in
and the referee or umpire won't keep holding the ball and in
another instance they will. So the lack of consistency in
that rule is something difficult.
It's same with the deliberate out of bounds as well.
There are times where people just tap it out and it's not
(20:53):
given and then there's times where you kick it and it's not
given and, and it's just, it's just, it's just really hard for
umpires to really fathom that. The non 15 is another crazy one.
There is not a specific measurement on the pitch to
actually determine whether the ball is carried 15 metres or not
when kicking it. So it's really hard for for
umpires to really give the correct decision when all the
(21:15):
rules are kind of fought as well.
It doesn't mean that they're notmaking the right decisions, it
just means that it's a lot harder for them to kind of make
decisions when the rule is so objective.
But in saying that, when I go back to the accountability thing
and mentioning that this would be a very good example for the
AFL to run it because the AFL protect their umpires so much,
(21:36):
it's not even funny. And I think it's because low
key, they know that there's not many people that want to sit
there and say they want to be anAFL umpire.
But again, accountability is needed.
AFL players get a lot of abuse and umpires do too, but I feel
as though that AFL players are held more accountable and that's
what frustrates everyone there. So having to see how AFL is kind
(21:59):
of run with that is quite interesting and something I
noticed too. It is extremely, extremely
frustrating there and then we look at VAR and now VAR video
system refereeing. Everyone has mixed feelings of
it, whether we should keep the VAR or whether we've don't.
I think for me VAR is a tool that is essential and is very
(22:19):
good for the game. The problem is, regardless of
whether VAR is intact or not, itis just a tool to view and see
the the situation or the incident again.
And ultimately, it is still up to the referee to subjectively
put his opinion as to whether that will be a wrong call or
(22:42):
not. And when that's the case, even
if we see it 4-5 times on replay, the referee is going to
see how they're going to see it.And it just gives them another
chance for them to review the situation, whether it's correct
or not. It doesn't actually fix the
decision. It literally just gives them a
set of eyes when it comes to penalties for football and when
(23:04):
it comes for I guess fouls in basketball and even for football
and all other sports. What frustrates me about the VAR
is how they ticket to slow motion and slow motion is such a
different way of viewing something than viewing it
realistically. I understand that you want to
get the best view and understanding small frame rates
(23:26):
to really see if it's a foul or not.
But when you put the video in small motion, slow motion,
sorry, it takes out the actual real perspective view at real
time as to how it's seen, if that makes sense.
Like I can see a foul come through and in real time it
might not look like a foul. But if I put it in very, very,
very, very slow motion or very slow, you can really see whether
(23:50):
it's a foul or not. And OK, that might help, but at
the same time, it's not real time.
So VAR kind of tricks you in a way where they make it slow
motion for you to just see it's a foul.
So any small contact will look bigger because if you touch
yourself real slow, you'll see contact.
But how is the contact given? How hard is the contact
provided? Whereabouts is the ball exactly
(24:11):
when it's been contacted? Is a split second layer?
Is a split second early? These things sort of affect the
referee as well, and then they end up having to just second
guess their decisions as well. So ultimately, I think the way
that VAR could improve is by potentially just fixing the way
that the VAR is used. Probably focusing more on real
time, not so much focus on on how slow the recording is and
(24:34):
how how slow they want to go to really see it and also being
able to make a decision quicker.And, and no, OK, if that's not a
fail, that's it, we move on, that's it.
But there's always going to be arguments because it's going to
be like, oh, you have the camera, you should use it
better, but then that's going towaste time.
And then if you don't use it, they're going to be like, oh,
while how we're going to know exactly what it is.
(24:55):
So regardless, it's going to create controversies.
And having VIR again is a tool that I think is good enough.
And if it's used correctly, thenit's a great tool to be used.
I feel like in the World Cup, they use it really well in other
parts of Europe, but in the Premier League, terrible because
the refs there, they're not doing a good job and they're not
getting held accountable, unfortunately.
(25:15):
And then when you have a team ofreferees that like that, that
are there and they don't, are not able to convolute and like
find a decision, it also is is pretty frustrating as well.
So yeah, I think I'm going to, as you can probably tell, I'm
leaning towards like the dislikeof referees.
But I do understand that the job's hard and I would never
want to be a referee for that reason.
But again, there is so many waysthat the refs can improve in
(25:37):
that aspect, especially while they use their technology in
terms of AFL, their goalpost cameras suck.
They need to find a way to fix that.
I don't know, like what cameras they're using.
They're filming on potatoes. I don't even know.
But the fact that they're using those camera qualities when
they've there's so much better technology out there is
something that is a bit bizarre to me.
(25:57):
I'm going to, yeah, go down deepinto some games where a few that
stood out for me that I guess really showed poor refereeing.
And then and how this can be really, really frustrating,
there was a fifth down game. So for those that don't know
what 5th down is, essentially inNFL, when you get your 5th down,
you're actually supposed to transfer the ball over by a big
(26:18):
kick or they say punt. A game between Colorado and
Missouri back in Missouri back in 1990 showed that the referee
accidentally gave Colorado an extra down, a fifth down instead
of four. And they scored on that play and
won the game. And that meant that they ended
up being the national champions of the league.
(26:38):
So one bad decision, not being able to understand and recognise
that this was a fourth down, theball needs to be transferred
over or there needs to be a field kick attempt, really
costed Missouri the chance to towin a a championship.
And then you have to see, do youwonder why the fans and the
players get frustrated, the referees, when they ultimately
(26:58):
controlled the destiny of which team was the national champions?
You had Barcelona versus Chelseaback in 2009, Champions League 4
penalty shouts denied and all ofthem were blatant penalty calls.
Everyone lost it mentally. You had Ballack literally
borderline pushing the guy. He did the the most he could do
(27:19):
in not trying to get a card while still being abused at the
same time. Like he had his hands out and
bring in the video and his chestwas like hitting the referee but
he wasn't really touching him. But he could tell how frustrated
he was. You saw Dog Bar after the game
basically screaming out that it's a disgrace and the referee
doesn't get held accountable forthis.
And then you wonder why they getabused again.
(27:42):
It's not right. The abuse is not correct.
But the way what I'm trying to get at is that if they're held
more accountable for this, does the decisions fix?
Are the decisions improved? Sorry, do they get improved?
Will they be better? Because when we heard about the
referee, he continued his job. He continued doing what he was
(28:05):
doing and not really said anything.
Everyone just knew who he was. But there was no like any
accountability given to him. He also had this in 2003 of 23
with Luis Diaz scoring a goal with VAR, calling it a no goal.
And they basically confirmed that it wasn't.
And then they realised they messed it up after the the game
(28:25):
restarted and you could actuallyhear the audio in the VAR room
talking about this as well, which is was even more
embarrassing. So just something to look out
for too, that even when people are using VAR, they're not using
it correctly. And that was very much
demonstrated with Luis Diaz in that in that game as well.
So after all these kind of debates and then again, the
(28:48):
referees have a hard job, I always say this, I don't think
they're bad. I don't think that they rig
games. I just think it's a hard job.
And we have to kind of accept that as a as a community and as
a sporting team that ref bad calls, bad reference calls are
part of the game. And to be honest, this sort of
gives a bit of a discussion point and a debate as well and
makes kind of the game a little bit more interesting.
(29:11):
The real question is, so if you really want to improve them, can
there be a bit more support and training?
Can there be more accountabilityfor these referees?
In my opinion, can they have more accountability when they
make these mistakes? Do players and I guess coaches
that abuse referees or even fanshave a bit more empathy and
(29:35):
understand how tough the job is?Maybe they just need to probably
research more into referees or can there be a bit more coaching
to just fix that mental part? Do we have to understand how
much weight we put on a single moment and how big important
that is? Because I don't have the
answers. I don't really know how referees
(29:56):
can be fixed. I just know that it's a massive
problem and you can really see how one bad call can impact the
game in a sense. But at the same time, abuse and
stuff is not really going to change anything.
The only thing that's going to change is I guess whatever,
whatever a person, each person can do better.
(30:17):
Like who's in control of what? Can we understand that the rest
of human beings? Can the referees get more
accountability from the leagues?Can they also own up to their
mistakes and be a bit more humanat times?
Can some referees not be as arrogant as they are?
Can they be a little bit more understanding of the situation
and magnitude and can also players do the same?
It's, it's such a hard topic to talk about and we can layer it
(30:38):
in so many ways and really look at each perspective and whatnot.
But the fact that the matter is there is beauty and chaos
ultimately, as I mentioned before, referees, they create a
bit of chaos and it also gives abit of publicity and news and
stuff to go around. And in a weird way, it kind of
gets rid of the accountability from your team as well.
(30:59):
There's always someone to blame.But could you imagine we had
robotic referees and referees that just to the T made perfect
decisions all the time. AI just took over.
There was no referees and there would be just perfect decisions.
And imagine a robot refereeing your game and you wouldn't be
able to argue back at them because they don't have any
emotion and they know a human. I feel that the games, all
(31:23):
sporting games, would be extremely boring with accurate
AI referees because they would just over police the game.
Every single rule that they'll see, they'll interpret it right
because they're the robot, they're the AI, they know
everything. And it'll just remove that
emotion. Part of the game, which we well
and truly love and that's why wesupport the sports that we do,
is because of that emotion, our attachment to our teams and our
(31:45):
attachment to having community as well.
And referees play a big part in that.
Maybe not in the best ways, maybe not in ways where we are
pleased with what they do, but Ithink if it wasn't for having
referees, it would be a perfect game.
And we don't want our games to be perfect.
We want to embrace the imperfections of our game.
(32:05):
And that's what makes it relative to us humans as well.
Because we're not here to watch near perfection.
We're actually here to watch thebest human capabilities we have.
And that's through sports and how how our human capabilities
can be. And it's still not perfect.
And that's, I think there's a beauty in that.
And I think that's probably my take away from discussing this.
(32:27):
And as I've gotten into this conversation and as I've spoke
about refereeing, that's kind ofprobably the conclusion that
I've come in come up with, but I'll probably end up abusing A
referee again in the future. I'm going to try to take these
notes and tools. It's a bit of a learning for
myself and try to understand referees more as well.
(32:47):
And to any referee that is listening, I would love to have
you on as a guest and talk aboutthis a bit more, or maybe I'll
look to get a referee to talk about this topic a little bit
more. But I respect any referee that
is actually putting their hand up to officiate any sport.
And I think that's something that we should also appreciate
(33:07):
as a group of people that love and appreciate sports as well.
They they officiate our game. If it's not for them, the game
would probably go out of control.
And we're also given an opportunity to just vent to them
as well and and throw their frustrations.
So respect to any referees. I might not show it or prove it
and a lot of people don't, but Ithink deep down everyone
(33:29):
respects the job of a referee. But anyway, it's been your boy
Daniel. Another episode of The Huddle
Within in the books, again looking to do a bit of a
competition as I mentioned at the start of the episode.
So if you still hang around hereand you've listened to the whole
episode, thank you so much. Feel free to leave a five star
review as well. And again, if you guys have been
(33:50):
listening and you're in the background and you haven't put a
comment, feel free to do so. Don't be shy.
I'd love to know what my community wants and what people
want to listen to and what topics they want to discover.
At the moment I'm struggling to get a few guests.
I'm really trying to get some guests moving forward.
I do love interviewing people, so hopefully I can get a few
more down the line as well and put out some of that content as
(34:14):
well. I do sometimes find it difficult
to sort of talk about things alone, so it's always good to
get someone to bounce ideas off.But again, thank you very much
for tuning into this week's episode of The Huddle Within and
I will catch you guys next week.Cheers.
So that's a wrap for this week'sepisode of The Huddle Within
podcast. I appreciate you for tuning in
(34:34):
and being part of this communitywhere we go beyond the game and
into what really matters. If this episode resonated with
you, make sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share it
with someone who sees sports just the way that we do.
And hey, I'd love to hear from you.
Connect with me on my social medias, which will be linked
below. Send in your thoughts and even
be part of a future episode. Until next time, keep that
(34:55):
passion alive, stay in the huddle, and remember it's always
deeper than the game. Cheers.
Welcome to the Huddle Within podcast, where we go beyond the
surface to uncover the real impact of sports on our lives.
Whether it's lessons of resilience, the passion that
fuels us, or the stories that connect us all, This is where
the game gets personal. I am Daniel, a regular sports
fan just like you, and together we'll explore what sports truly
means beyond the surface. So step right into the Huddle
and let's get into it. What is going on, everybody?
(00:41):
And welcome to this week's episode of The Huddle Within
podcast. Once again, thank you very much
for tuning in today. As you can probably tell by the
quality of the camera, I've decided to opt into using my
iPhone. Bought myself a nice little
tripod for about 30 bucks on Amazon and thought I'd use that
to kind of give you the the landscape a little bit more
(01:04):
clearer. My old webcam that I use was
nice. It did a good service, but I
found that it wasn't giving me the quality that I sort of
wanted. So just trying now with this
iPhone, it's a little bit above my height, so excuse me if I'm
not really looking directly intoyour eyes like that because it
is quite high. But yeah, new camera, new look,
(01:26):
hopefully it's a lot more clearer for you guys as well.
We've made it to episode 18, which is pretty cool as well.
Started the podcast a little over three months ago, just at
the start of March. And now we've hit up to episode
18, which is quite awesome. So thank you guys for those that
have tuned into any of those 17 episodes.
(01:47):
I really appreciate it. And to this one as well, I also
appreciate that if you have beenlistening or if it's your first
time listening, it'd be great ifyou could leave a five star
review wherever you do get your podcasts, just so that more
people can view and and listen to this podcast and take in all
aspects of the deeper meaning ofsports, which is what I'm trying
(02:08):
to do on this podcast. A lot of solo episodes, but we
also have guests as well, as youprobably all know, feel the ones
that have viewed for a long timeas well.
And I know there's a few views from different parts of the
world, so feel free to engage with me and leave a comment
below on any of the episodes if you want to kind of join in.
I'm in the plans of doing like abit of a competition at the
(02:30):
moment. So if you guys are interested in
this, it will involve winning potentially some money.
Unfortunately, I'm not someone that has a lot of money at the
moment to hand out for free. You'll have to put in a small
stake, but I promise you it's not more than 5 bucks.
You have a chance to win potentially $500.00, so look out
for that. If you are interested, please
(02:51):
leave a comment below. I will probably put something up
on my Instagram or TikTok regarding that.
So yeah, have a look in below and watch this space because I
am very excited to kind of do this.
But the only way that I can do it is with obviously listeners
and people interested in wantingto put in an easy 5 bucks there.
I don't I don't make money off off the prize or anything.
(03:14):
I promise that it's simply just to get you guys a bit of a
reward for your hard work. If if you're a betting person as
well, just to have a bit of a gamble and potentially come out
with with some money there. So again, I won't reveal too
much here. I will reveal it on a on a real
coming by just depending on the traction that I get based on on
this episode as well. And before we kind of dive into
(03:37):
the episode, I thought I'd give a bit of background on some
Sporting News. So we obviously got the Club
World Cup starting from this time of recording.
There's probably a few games that that have happened, but
Auckland city just got smacked up 10 nil to Bayern Munich, and
it's just funny how Auckland's in it.
They're not the actual Auckland FC team from the A League,
they're just some random New Zealand team I think that plays
(04:00):
in their top level. I'm not really sure about the
New Zealand league itself, but the A League team doesn't
compete in this. So it's pretty much a bunch of
part time or full time workers that have football as a weekend
job. So they've just faced Bayern
Munich and got obliterated 10 nil, which was, yeah, quite a
not a shock, but probably quite a big exposure there for them.
(04:23):
Not in the right ways either. And then you had into Miami
drawing nil nil as well with Messi there.
What I think about the Club World Cup, honestly, I think
it's just them competing with UEFA with the Champions League,
but I will look out for it and kind of breakdown a few things
there moving forward. The favourite that I've got to
win it is probably Manchester City.
I know PSG just won the Champions League, but I think
(04:44):
that Man City are the strong favourites coming out of here.
And I'd love to know how the hell some teams have qualified
because I'm looking at Chelsea and I'm thinking how did they
qualify and how did a team like Liverpool not qualify when they
did win the Premier League as well?
So don't really know too much about that as well.
But again, we'll have to wait and see as to or I have to have
(05:07):
a look at some research and see how that's the case.
But anyways, I thought of we do a bit of a run of the Club World
Cup and then we had the first trade of of the new season for
the NBAI addressed it on my emergency huddle as well.
Desmond Bain is going to OrlandoMagic for KCP coins, any four
first round picks and an unprotected pick.
(05:29):
And I had a chance to listen andlook at the picks.
They're not too bad. They will probably be outside
the lottery, but four first round unprotected picks for
Desmond Bain is quite crazy. And I don't see Orlando coming
into the lottery. And if that happens, then
Grizzlies have won this trade full on.
(05:50):
But Desmond Bayne is probably what they really need at the
moment. Orlando Magic they are lacking
1/3 option, especially guard scoring and someone that doesn't
necessarily need to handle the ball 24/7 as well.
He's very much a person that canhang around the corners, catch
and shoot, but also do a bit of playmaking if necessary as well.
(06:11):
So I don't know what his role isgoing to be with the Magic.
Whether they put him as a point guard, I don't think that's his
position anyway. I think he's better as A2 guard.
Having Jalen Suggs handle the ball with Franz Wagner with
Paula Bencura and then getting Desmond Bayne off the catch will
help them a lot. KCP.
They were hoping to get something out of him last
season, but he ended up being a massive bust for them.
(06:34):
So glad they were able to get rid of that contract as well.
And to take that contract, Guzzlies asked for four
unprotected first round picks, which is something they could
use for their future, maybe in potential trades looking
forward. Now they're in a position where
do they they keep these picks and keep Jar, keep Jar and Jaron
Jackson to kind of build a team there?
(06:55):
Or do they just full blown tank,get maybe six first round picks
for Jar or if Bain is getting out for four, then Jar
definitely can get traded out for six and the same with Jaron
Jackson. I think Jaron Jackson is
probably the more interesting piece.
I did mention on my reel that itcould be John Moran, whether
he's staying or going, being that he's sort of the franchise
player. But I think Jaron Jackson is
(07:16):
probably the more tradable assetin terms of what a lot of
competing teams need. I know there's a bit of circling
around potentially all the time.It's this team, but the Lakers
could definitely use someone like Jaron Jackson that can
protect the ring and also shoot.So look out for potential Jaron
Jackson trades and John Moran trains if it does happen.
But if not, we'll most likely see this team accumulate the
(07:38):
picks that they have and I guessjust work with what they've got.
So yeah, lots to lots to really can cover there.
It's just great to see trades. I love NBA trades.
So when they come through, goingto try address them and give my
opinions as well because they are always, they're always
really fun. And I kind of I kind of wish AFL
had a bit of a mid season trade to make it more interesting in
(07:58):
the AFL. But again, trades is just always
the fun part of sports for me. So just wanted to quickly
address those and without further ado, we'll get into the
topic today. And as you can tell by the
title, it is the art of bad calls and the hidden truth
behind these game changing decisions.
So this one's sort of been sitting with me for a while.
(08:19):
So I guess as a player that competes amateur in sports, I
have this like hate against refsat times.
And sometimes it can be very, very negative and really affect
the landscape of the game. But as we all know as fans and
as players, there is just this certain hate and like and like
(08:39):
anger we get to officiating and especially when it comes to bad
calls specifically. And when it comes to bad calls,
you obviously get those calls that eventually pretty much cost
you a game or it's a moment of the season if you're a fan, that
this match is really important. And then the refs find a way to
ruin it to make a terrible call as well.
(09:01):
So something that I kind of wanted to address, I'm not going
to act like I'm sort of an expert here about how refs go
and whatnot, but I want to give a bit of a both sided
perspective on this. So how a bad call can affect
A-Team or a fan, and also how a bad call can ultimately affect a
referee as well, 'cause in the end we do go on about how
(09:22):
athletes are humans and they don't really deserve the abuse,
but the refs are kind of in the same boat.
Do they really deserve the abusethey're getting?
I've actually found like I'm looking at it now, once that
that was pretty crazy. This is coming from football
related. So soccer, three in five
referees experience abuse every two matches.
(09:44):
So for every two games that theyget, three or five of them are
getting abused, which is, which is quite crazy.
Like there is a reason why no one grows up and, and says they
want to be a referee. They they turn up like hating
them or they just wouldn't be able to do the position.
And if we really look at and break it down, despite all the
abuse we give referees, we have to sort of respect the fact that
(10:06):
they have the balls to actually become a referee, whether
they're a failed sporting person, they have decided to
take this role that comes with alot of abuse and a lot of
scrutiny. If I look at baseball in a
perspective, there is a a big telling kind of start that there
is over 34 missed ball and strike calls.
(10:26):
So for those that don't know what ball and strike means, so
strike out is essentially if youpitch the ball, the batter
misses it and the player catchesit, that's obviously a strike.
And then a ball is like if the ball is not pitched in a certain
square, certain position, it's basically sort of like a foul
ball. But essentially if they you get
four of those, you get to first base for free and walk in and
(10:47):
it's up to the batter to really judge whether it's a ball or
not, if they leave it or not. But essentially 34,000 of those
calls combined in one season were missed called.
And that's on average, if you count baseball over 100 games,
it's about 14 per game. And this actually eventuated
into 55 games ending on this badblown call.
(11:08):
So a mistake, an incorrect ball strike call, 55 games were
impacted in that. And if you really think about
that holistically, that is a crazy amount really determined
by a referee's poor decision. Now, a referee I'm sure doesn't
want to make a poor decision, but they inevitably sometimes
will. But then there's got to be a
(11:30):
debate and a question whether they they are making too many
decisions wrong or if they're essentially always just
basically, if I'm trying to findthe word just wrong and not a
good ref, like I can't even findthe word.
But just like if I, if I take out the ref and in fact, that's
the human and I focus on, on theplaying and the, and the, and
(11:52):
the fan side, it's like you're grinding your whole season.
You're working so hard and then a referee, one missed call just
kind of cost you a game. Like isn't that frustrating?
Like it happens everywhere, happens in every single sport.
So like it's such a hard one because like you want to, you
want to understand the ref and know that they don't want to
make mistakes. But when they keep making
mistakes, like how can you not be frustrated, especially when
(12:15):
there is so much on the line as well.
But yeah, as I said, I'm not a psychologist, but just someone
that plays a bit of sport knows that when something unfair
happens, it's so hard to not feel as though you're getting
like you're getting unfair call there and, and, and there's
nothing needs to be addressed. And the worst thing is basically
(12:36):
when the referee doesn't even want to hear from you or want to
talk to you or explain things. Like for me, the referee can be
a hard position. But when I do something wrong or
I expect the referee to make a call and a decision, I just want
to know most of the time, why have they made that decision and
why have they decided that that was going to be that decision
that they made? Even one simple sentence, look,
(12:59):
this is not what I'm seeing is enough for me, But it's the ref
that don't talk to you or when you ask a question, tell you to
go away. It's sort of just makes you
frustrated more and it just feels as though that they're not
being in in in seeing the the position of the game.
Now, I understand that they probably cop a lot of abuse from
(13:20):
probably me. So it's very hard for them to
come up with a bit of a stigma and and I guess be desensitised
to that. So it comes to a point where
they just don't have the energy to really hear it.
But at the same time, it's just something that is being on my
pet peeve. What I get frustrated with is
them not being able to justify, explain the decisions and the
refs that tend to do that, I find that are really, really
(13:42):
good refs. When it comes to them getting
abused, it's not right, it's notfair.
They should not be getting abused at all.
They should be held more accountable for decisions, which
I'll get to a little later. But again, they should not be
abused to their level. We need to understand that in a
lot of games, especially in professional setting, there is a
(14:04):
lot of fans. If you're playing a home fan, if
you're in the home fans, they'realways going to be against you
whatever decision you make. The speed of the game is really
fast and it's so many things going on at the same time.
Like a normal sporting athlete, it takes a while for the
referees to get into the game and understand what's going on.
And I feel like that's the same as well for refs.
I mean, as in players it takes to get into the game, but it's
(14:25):
the same the same with referees.So when they do make incorrect
decisions, it might be because of that as well.
From some of the research that Ihave done and kind of looked
into, it is something that is very prevalent is that one bad
call does actually affect their confidence and their flows on
the game. And the way that they're kind of
receptive to that information can really change the outcome of
(14:47):
how how they referee a game. Now, that's on some cases, there
are certain referees that just think they're bigger than the
game and they do try to make it about them.
I look at Scott Foster in game four of the finals.
He did a terrible refereeing job, calling fouls and whatnot.
And it's just the way that he kind of went about it.
It just seemed as though that hewanted to make it about him.
But then there's a lot of referees that are new and
(15:08):
inexperienced that are really trying to learn and kind of get
a grasp on the game and, and they still cop unnecessary abuse
as well. What I will say though is that a
lot of players get scrutinised into the media and there is kind
of, I guess a performance or a stat sheet as to what and how
the referee is performing. I feel as though the referees
(15:28):
get very protected by the leagueand I sort of understand why
because there's obviously a needfor the referees to be there.
But it would be great to kind ofget a like the NBA does it
perfectly like a 2 minute report, but it'd be great to get
like a full referee stat padded report on their performances as
well. And you never know what could
happen. It could be the fact that they
feel discouraged or there can bea sort of competition to wanting
(15:50):
to be the best ref. The more accountability that is
placed on a referee making an incorrect decision, the more I
guess feeling that they want to to be better and also improve as
well. You never know.
And that's probably where we canphiltre out the terrible refs
from the good refs. Whereas the good refs are the
ones that want to improve and make decisions and look at their
stats and say, OK, I made this many non calls.
(16:12):
That person's made that many noncalls.
I need to get to this level to be a better ref than him.
And it becomes a bit of a competition to see who the best
refs are rather than the ones that are quote unquote most
experienced. The more accountability I think
that you put on refs, I think the better that the job will be
for them on the court because they're trying to do the best
that they can on the pitch. They don't really get
(16:33):
scrutinised in that way players do.
And then in the end of the day, if you're not good enough, you
don't play. And I think that should be the
same for refs. If you're not good enough as a
ref, you should not be a ref. And it feels like they don't get
accounted for for any mistakes they made.
The only way they do get accounted for is through abuse
and through fans, and it impactsfans a lot.
I look at, I've got the banner there, the New Orleans Saints,
(16:56):
the 2000 and I think 18 conference finals when there was
a four and down. I'm pretty sure on 1/5 down or
something where we actually got a no offensive pass interference
when it was a clear first down catch that costed the New
Orleans Saints on potentially making the Super Bowl and
potentially winning it. They were the favourites that
year to win it. And because of that no call in
(17:18):
the fourth quarter or incorrect call, it cost them a chance to
win a Super Bowl. And now it's been 7 years since
and the Saints have been nowherenear it.
You never really know what one decision can make the referee
costing that decision for the Saints to win a Super Bowl could
make them an attractive market, could have made them be like the
Kansas City Chiefs and win multiple in the future.
But we'll never know because of that referee decision.
(17:39):
So I'll a lot of people hold that as a real frustration in
their mind when when they're thinking about those things.
And it's just something to really consider as well.
The refs impact in a game. If they do make wrong decisions,
there is going to be backlash because it really effects
millions and millions of people,especially when their team is
getting costed in a certain gameor moment.
(18:01):
I'll get into a few more examples of that later, but I
just quickly wanted to talk about the make up call myth
about referees. And this is something that I've
found now to be extremely, extremely true.
So when a referee makes a incorrect decision, and I'll put
it in a in a football perspective, because it's
(18:22):
probably more easy for me to understand when there was
supposed to be like a certain foul that was that was played
and they didn't call the foul. They would make another makeup
call to I guess, reward you for the previous call, if that makes
sense. I've always thought that was
like a myth going up. But as I've just grown up into
it, it's so true. Like I'm going to repeat it
(18:43):
again. You yeah, we'll do a basketball
1. You you make a layup and the
referee doesn't call a foul on you.
And they knew that that was the incorrect decision.
They'll go and affect the opposite team by making an
incorrect decision to them as well.
So not only are you pissing off the first team for not giving
them a call, you're actually favouring them now in that
(19:04):
moment to give a makeup call forthat mistake that you made.
And ultimately you're affecting the other team as well.
Like does everyone know like about that?
Like, I don't think I'm the onlyone, but that's something that I
think refs also do subconsciously.
And again, it goes back to them just being human as well, but
they're really just trying to keep the pace in that in that
situation too. So it's just kind of wild
(19:26):
because you're not actually really playing the same Grant.
It's it's all tilted by just emotion and kind of the
perspective of player and all perspective of a referee as
well. And I did mention the crowds and
all that and it gets into everyone's head, but it is a
hard job, I have to say. It's such a hard job in AFL
though. I think AFL has the worst
(19:48):
officiating of all sports ever and everyone, we call them
umpires but everyone blames the umpires for this.
But I have to blame the AFL because the rules are so
inconsistent. You go.
Every every rule in AFL, that isthat is given is actually
extremely subjective. The way that you view holding
(20:09):
the ball and the way that I would view holding the ball
would be two completely different things depending on
the team we go for. The referees or umpires have to
make a decision based on how they interpret holding the ball
to be. The rule for holding the ball is
essentially if you hold the ballfor too long and you don't
release it correctly, whether it's a handball or a kick, they
will give a holding the ball. But then there are times where
(20:31):
as soon as someone gets tackled,the ball just gets dropped on
the ground. So there's always that thing
where is at an incorrect disposal is that a holding the
ball? Sometimes the player drags it in
and the referee or umpire won't keep holding the ball and in
another instance they will. So the lack of consistency in
that rule is something difficult.
It's same with the deliberate out of bounds as well.
There are times where people just tap it out and it's not
(20:53):
given and then there's times where you kick it and it's not
given and, and it's just, it's just, it's just really hard for
umpires to really fathom that. The non 15 is another crazy one.
There is not a specific measurement on the pitch to
actually determine whether the ball is carried 15 metres or not
when kicking it. So it's really hard for for
umpires to really give the correct decision when all the
(21:15):
rules are kind of fought as well.
It doesn't mean that they're notmaking the right decisions, it
just means that it's a lot harder for them to kind of make
decisions when the rule is so objective.
But in saying that, when I go back to the accountability thing
and mentioning that this would be a very good example for the
AFL to run it because the AFL protect their umpires so much,
(21:36):
it's not even funny. And I think it's because low
key, they know that there's not many people that want to sit
there and say they want to be anAFL umpire.
But again, accountability is needed.
AFL players get a lot of abuse and umpires do too, but I feel
as though that AFL players are held more accountable and that's
what frustrates everyone there. So having to see how AFL is kind
(21:59):
of run with that is quite interesting and something I
noticed too. It is extremely, extremely
frustrating there and then we look at VAR and now VAR video
system refereeing. Everyone has mixed feelings of
it, whether we should keep the VAR or whether we've don't.
I think for me VAR is a tool that is essential and is very
(22:19):
good for the game. The problem is, regardless of
whether VAR is intact or not, itis just a tool to view and see
the the situation or the incident again.
And ultimately, it is still up to the referee to subjectively
put his opinion as to whether that will be a wrong call or
(22:42):
not. And when that's the case, even
if we see it 4-5 times on replay, the referee is going to
see how they're going to see it.And it just gives them another
chance for them to review the situation, whether it's correct
or not. It doesn't actually fix the
decision. It literally just gives them a
set of eyes when it comes to penalties for football and when
(23:04):
it comes for I guess fouls in basketball and even for football
and all other sports. What frustrates me about the VAR
is how they ticket to slow motion and slow motion is such a
different way of viewing something than viewing it
realistically. I understand that you want to
get the best view and understanding small frame rates
(23:26):
to really see if it's a foul or not.
But when you put the video in small motion, slow motion,
sorry, it takes out the actual real perspective view at real
time as to how it's seen, if that makes sense.
Like I can see a foul come through and in real time it
might not look like a foul. But if I put it in very, very,
very, very slow motion or very slow, you can really see whether
(23:50):
it's a foul or not. And OK, that might help, but at
the same time, it's not real time.
So VAR kind of tricks you in a way where they make it slow
motion for you to just see it's a foul.
So any small contact will look bigger because if you touch
yourself real slow, you'll see contact.
But how is the contact given? How hard is the contact
provided? Whereabouts is the ball exactly
(24:11):
when it's been contacted? Is a split second layer?
Is a split second early? These things sort of affect the
referee as well, and then they end up having to just second
guess their decisions as well. So ultimately, I think the way
that VAR could improve is by potentially just fixing the way
that the VAR is used. Probably focusing more on real
time, not so much focus on on how slow the recording is and
(24:34):
how how slow they want to go to really see it and also being
able to make a decision quicker.And, and no, OK, if that's not a
fail, that's it, we move on, that's it.
But there's always going to be arguments because it's going to
be like, oh, you have the camera, you should use it
better, but then that's going towaste time.
And then if you don't use it, they're going to be like, oh,
while how we're going to know exactly what it is.
(24:55):
So regardless, it's going to create controversies.
And having VIR again is a tool that I think is good enough.
And if it's used correctly, thenit's a great tool to be used.
I feel like in the World Cup, they use it really well in other
parts of Europe, but in the Premier League, terrible because
the refs there, they're not doing a good job and they're not
getting held accountable, unfortunately.
(25:15):
And then when you have a team ofreferees that like that, that
are there and they don't, are not able to convolute and like
find a decision, it also is is pretty frustrating as well.
So yeah, I think I'm going to, as you can probably tell, I'm
leaning towards like the dislikeof referees.
But I do understand that the job's hard and I would never
want to be a referee for that reason.
But again, there is so many waysthat the refs can improve in
(25:37):
that aspect, especially while they use their technology in
terms of AFL, their goalpost cameras suck.
They need to find a way to fix that.
I don't know, like what cameras they're using.
They're filming on potatoes. I don't even know.
But the fact that they're using those camera qualities when
they've there's so much better technology out there is
something that is a bit bizarre to me.
(25:57):
I'm going to, yeah, go down deepinto some games where a few that
stood out for me that I guess really showed poor refereeing.
And then and how this can be really, really frustrating,
there was a fifth down game. So for those that don't know
what 5th down is, essentially inNFL, when you get your 5th down,
you're actually supposed to transfer the ball over by a big
(26:18):
kick or they say punt. A game between Colorado and
Missouri back in Missouri back in 1990 showed that the referee
accidentally gave Colorado an extra down, a fifth down instead
of four. And they scored on that play and
won the game. And that meant that they ended
up being the national champions of the league.
(26:38):
So one bad decision, not being able to understand and recognise
that this was a fourth down, theball needs to be transferred
over or there needs to be a field kick attempt, really
costed Missouri the chance to towin a a championship.
And then you have to see, do youwonder why the fans and the
players get frustrated, the referees, when they ultimately
(26:58):
controlled the destiny of which team was the national champions?
You had Barcelona versus Chelseaback in 2009, Champions League 4
penalty shouts denied and all ofthem were blatant penalty calls.
Everyone lost it mentally. You had Ballack literally
borderline pushing the guy. He did the the most he could do
(27:19):
in not trying to get a card while still being abused at the
same time. Like he had his hands out and
bring in the video and his chestwas like hitting the referee but
he wasn't really touching him. But he could tell how frustrated
he was. You saw Dog Bar after the game
basically screaming out that it's a disgrace and the referee
doesn't get held accountable forthis.
And then you wonder why they getabused again.
(27:42):
It's not right. The abuse is not correct.
But the way what I'm trying to get at is that if they're held
more accountable for this, does the decisions fix?
Are the decisions improved? Sorry, do they get improved?
Will they be better? Because when we heard about the
referee, he continued his job. He continued doing what he was
(28:05):
doing and not really said anything.
Everyone just knew who he was. But there was no like any
accountability given to him. He also had this in 2003 of 23
with Luis Diaz scoring a goal with VAR, calling it a no goal.
And they basically confirmed that it wasn't.
And then they realised they messed it up after the the game
(28:25):
restarted and you could actuallyhear the audio in the VAR room
talking about this as well, which is was even more
embarrassing. So just something to look out
for too, that even when people are using VAR, they're not using
it correctly. And that was very much
demonstrated with Luis Diaz in that in that game as well.
So after all these kind of debates and then again, the
(28:48):
referees have a hard job, I always say this, I don't think
they're bad. I don't think that they rig
games. I just think it's a hard job.
And we have to kind of accept that as a as a community and as
a sporting team that ref bad calls, bad reference calls are
part of the game. And to be honest, this sort of
gives a bit of a discussion point and a debate as well and
makes kind of the game a little bit more interesting.
(29:11):
The real question is, so if you really want to improve them, can
there be a bit more support and training?
Can there be more accountabilityfor these referees?
In my opinion, can they have more accountability when they
make these mistakes? Do players and I guess coaches
that abuse referees or even fanshave a bit more empathy and
(29:35):
understand how tough the job is?Maybe they just need to probably
research more into referees or can there be a bit more coaching
to just fix that mental part? Do we have to understand how
much weight we put on a single moment and how big important
that is? Because I don't have the
answers. I don't really know how referees
(29:56):
can be fixed. I just know that it's a massive
problem and you can really see how one bad call can impact the
game in a sense. But at the same time, abuse and
stuff is not really going to change anything.
The only thing that's going to change is I guess whatever,
whatever a person, each person can do better.
(30:17):
Like who's in control of what? Can we understand that the rest
of human beings? Can the referees get more
accountability from the leagues?Can they also own up to their
mistakes and be a bit more humanat times?
Can some referees not be as arrogant as they are?
Can they be a little bit more understanding of the situation
and magnitude and can also players do the same?
It's, it's such a hard topic to talk about and we can layer it
(30:38):
in so many ways and really look at each perspective and whatnot.
But the fact that the matter is there is beauty and chaos
ultimately, as I mentioned before, referees, they create a
bit of chaos and it also gives abit of publicity and news and
stuff to go around. And in a weird way, it kind of
gets rid of the accountability from your team as well.
(30:59):
There's always someone to blame.But could you imagine we had
robotic referees and referees that just to the T made perfect
decisions all the time. AI just took over.
There was no referees and there would be just perfect decisions.
And imagine a robot refereeing your game and you wouldn't be
able to argue back at them because they don't have any
emotion and they know a human. I feel that the games, all
(31:23):
sporting games, would be extremely boring with accurate
AI referees because they would just over police the game.
Every single rule that they'll see, they'll interpret it right
because they're the robot, they're the AI, they know
everything. And it'll just remove that
emotion. Part of the game, which we well
and truly love and that's why wesupport the sports that we do,
is because of that emotion, our attachment to our teams and our
(31:45):
attachment to having community as well.
And referees play a big part in that.
Maybe not in the best ways, maybe not in ways where we are
pleased with what they do, but Ithink if it wasn't for having
referees, it would be a perfect game.
And we don't want our games to be perfect.
We want to embrace the imperfections of our game.
(32:05):
And that's what makes it relative to us humans as well.
Because we're not here to watch near perfection.
We're actually here to watch thebest human capabilities we have.
And that's through sports and how how our human capabilities
can be. And it's still not perfect.
And that's, I think there's a beauty in that.
And I think that's probably my take away from discussing this.
(32:27):
And as I've gotten into this conversation and as I've spoke
about refereeing, that's kind ofprobably the conclusion that
I've come in come up with, but I'll probably end up abusing A
referee again in the future. I'm going to try to take these
notes and tools. It's a bit of a learning for
myself and try to understand referees more as well.
(32:47):
And to any referee that is listening, I would love to have
you on as a guest and talk aboutthis a bit more, or maybe I'll
look to get a referee to talk about this topic a little bit
more. But I respect any referee that
is actually putting their hand up to officiate any sport.
And I think that's something that we should also appreciate
(33:07):
as a group of people that love and appreciate sports as well.
They they officiate our game. If it's not for them, the game
would probably go out of control.
And we're also given an opportunity to just vent to them
as well and and throw their frustrations.
So respect to any referees. I might not show it or prove it
and a lot of people don't, but Ithink deep down everyone
(33:29):
respects the job of a referee. But anyway, it's been your boy
Daniel. Another episode of The Huddle
Within in the books, again looking to do a bit of a
competition as I mentioned at the start of the episode.
So if you still hang around hereand you've listened to the whole
episode, thank you so much. Feel free to leave a five star
review as well. And again, if you guys have been
(33:50):
listening and you're in the background and you haven't put a
comment, feel free to do so. Don't be shy.
I'd love to know what my community wants and what people
want to listen to and what topics they want to discover.
At the moment I'm struggling to get a few guests.
I'm really trying to get some guests moving forward.
I do love interviewing people, so hopefully I can get a few
more down the line as well and put out some of that content as
(34:14):
well. I do sometimes find it difficult
to sort of talk about things alone, so it's always good to
get someone to bounce ideas off.But again, thank you very much
for tuning into this week's episode of The Huddle Within and
I will catch you guys next week.Cheers.
So that's a wrap for this week'sepisode of The Huddle Within
podcast. I appreciate you for tuning in
(34:34):
and being part of this communitywhere we go beyond the game and
into what really matters. If this episode resonated with
you, make sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share it
with someone who sees sports just the way that we do.
And hey, I'd love to hear from you.
Connect with me on my social medias, which will be linked
below. Send in your thoughts and even
be part of a future episode. Until next time, keep that
(34:55):
passion alive, stay in the huddle, and remember it's always
deeper than the game. Cheers.
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