Whistling from the gut

Andy D'Urso believes the men in black will have to rely on their famous instinct to stop the divers. Phil Shaw talks to a Premiership referee who is aware that any resulting abuse is just part of the job

For all their fortnightly get-togethers, seminars on conflict management, high-tech analysis of flashpoints, fitness tests, fatness tests, eyesight checks and pay rises, Andy D'Urso admits Premiership referees will tackle the curse of "simulation" during the coming campaign by using "gut instinct".

The Essex whistler, who still works part-time in a bank despite the formation of a "select group" of full-time referees a year ago, insists that match officials "got that one pretty much right last season, with one or two exceptions". Since then we have had a World Cup scarred by episodes such as Francesco Totti's debatable dismissal for diving, yet D'Urso remains confident that the snap decisions he and his colleagues make are on balance good and getting better.

"The referee in that match [Italy v South Korea] made the judgement from his position," said D'Urso, whose surname betrays Italian ancestry although he confesses to being an avid England fan. "He can only see it from one angle whereas other people can analyse it from 20 different angles. You could ask 100 referees (about the Totti incident) and get a 50-50 split.

"When you blow for simulation you're accusing a player of cheating, or 'attempting to deceive' in our terminology. So if you think you're going to penalise someone for diving you've got to be 100 per cent certain. Diving irritates opposing players and can lead to confrontation and escalating problems, so if it does happen you've got to be close at hand.

"Towards the end of last season I felt we were getting it right. There will always be occasions when you don't. But if you analyse it overall, they are few and far between."

D'Urso acknowledges, however, that such decisions, like those which come into the red-card category of serious foul play and illegally denying an opponent a scoring opportunity, come, of necessity, "from the gut". If that sounds somewhat unscientific, state-of-the-ark even, he balances the statement by arguing that the élite corps of referees have gained in fitness over the 12 months of the professional era and no longer carry anything resembling a gut.

"Our fitness levels have improved greatly, and they needed to because the pace of the game has got quicker," he said, subconsciously patting a flat stomach during a break in one of the joint training sessions at Lilleshall National Sports Centre. "Changes like the backpass rule mean the ball is in play far more. I think we're closer to incidents because we're in better shape. That proximity means we're better able to make the correct decision."

D'Urso gained unwanted prominence two and half years ago when, in his debut season in the Premiership, he was pursued by abusive Manchester United players after awarding a penalty against Jaap Stam (an experience he will not discuss beyond maintaining that it made him "a better person and a stronger referee"). Last season, he provoked the wrath of David O'Leary when he controversially sent off Leeds United's Alan Smith for elbowing a Cardiff player in a combustible FA Cup tie.

Unsurprisingly in such circumstances, he stops short of claiming that the referees now feel closer to the players, even though as a teenager he was in the same Romford Royals team as two players who would go on to represent England, Tony Cottee and Paul Parker.

"I wouldn't say we're closer, though it's not a them-and-us situation, and I think there's a lot more respect for us because of the changes made last summer. When we go out as a team of four (with two assistants and the fourth official) before a Premiership fixture, players and their fitness coaches actually turn round to see what we're doing. It looks professional."

An old adage asserts that a good official is one that goes unnoticed during a game, let alone before it. D'Urso – who, unlike some contemporaries, reads press criticism of himself but feels able to "shut it off" – begs to differ. "Sometimes you have to make decisions that get you noticed," he said, echoing the World Cup final referee, Pierluigi Collina. "You can't hide from them.

"Refereeing is about doing a job in accordance with the laws. It's also about man-management and communication. Do those three pretty well and you'll go a long way." Literally in D'Urso's case, for he joined the Fifa international list last season. Accompanying Graham Poll to the Champions' League meeting of Roma and Real Madrid as fourth official, the occasion proved unforgettable. No one had any stomach for lambasting the officials that night – it was 11 September.

Poll, of course, endured an awkward World Cup, being vilified by Italian players and media alike after another of the Azzurri's dubious defeats, against Croatia. That has not dulled D'Urso's appetite to add to his tally of under-21 internationals, Uefa and Intertoto Cup ties, but first he returns to the domestic fray with an appetising opener – Sunday's meeting of Aston Villa and Liverpool.