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Set the referee free

Ken Jones
Thursday 07 January 1993 00:02 GMT
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IT WAS resolved on New Year's Day to make no resolutions whatever, but this doesn't rule out suggestions on how a thorny sporting issue might be improved in 1993. It is therefore proposed that from now on the authorities encourage football referees to undertake the revolutionary experiment of relying more on common sense and less on the letter of the law.

I have in mind an apparent breakdown of communication that was given fresh impetus this week when George Graham, the Arsenal manager, was charged with misconduct as the result of remarks made to the referee, Alf Buksh, following a ferociously contested match at Tottenham last month.

Leaving aside the effect this and other alleged misdemeanours (Ian Wright is up before a disciplinary commission today after being shown on television throwing a punch at David Howells of Tottenham in the same match) have had on Arsenal's reputation, it seems to me that things are getting ridiculously out of hand.

What has to be taken into account is that the Football Association, in its unblushing pursuit of profit through formation of a so far unedifying Premier League, is no longer able to maintain the referee's unchallengeable authority on the field that by tradition was a cornerstone of its government.

For example, it was, in the opinion of many, a quite pathetic concession to the insatiable demands of satellite television when the arbiter's black garb was exchanged for green, thus destroying an important impression of stern officialdom.

The message now filtering through is all too clear. It is, understandably, that there is less respect for referees and linesmen since they have been pulled into the television chorus line.

Graham is not the first vehemently to dispute a referee's decision, nor will he be the last, but one wonders what the splenetic Alan Hardaker, when secretary of the old Football League, would have made of the Arsenal manager's written request that Buksh should not be given another of their games. At a rough guess it would have got no further than the wastepaper basket.

From what I know of Graham, and that is going back almost 30 years, abuse of authority comes less readily to his mind than it does to others. Even allowing for the disfigurement of pressure, he is not given to public displays of temper tantrums.

This is not becoming an argument for the defence. But it seems only fair, however - especially in view of the current trend - to say that from here referees appear to be more sensitive than ever before.

A friend recently spent time in the company of a referee who has taken some criticism since the Premier League came into being. 'The problem is that we are not allowed any leeway,' the referee said. 'We have to operate strictly by the book. Common sense, the old virtue of man-management, no longer comes into it.'

Frequently you get the impression that if a footballer deserves a fair hearing it ought to be in a juvenile court. But clearly there are two sides to this issue. Trouble is that there will always be officials who pretend to infallibility, while those who go about their work quietly, seeking no ballyhoo for themselves or their office, are put down as do-nothings.

Leo Horn, an extremely large textile merchant from Amsterdam with an extravagant disposition, a judo black belt who distinguished himself in the Dutch resistance during the Second World War, could hardly be placed in the latter category, but he had a presence rarely apparent in today's referees.

I am thinking now of the 1962 European Cup final, an extraordinary match in which Benfica defeated Real Madrid 5-3 at the Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam. At a crucial stage in the proceedings Ferenc Puskas, who scored all three goals for the Spaniards, was fouled in the penalty area when taking a return pass from Alfredo di Stefano. Much to Real's disgust, Horn waved play on. A few minutes later he denied the Spaniards again, this time correctly. Enraged, they swarmed around Horn, who was not amused when Puskas disgustedly began spitting at the night sky. I later discovered that Puskas had picked up the referee's gold-plated whistle and hurled it into the crowd.

Bringing this up with Horn the following day, and taking great vanity into account, I asked why he chose not to punish Puskas. 'What you don't know,' he said, 'is that I threw the whistle at him.'

Such behaviour is not to be encouraged but the way things are going today's crop could learn a lot from Leo.

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