Football / Soccer / Calcio / Futebol / Fußball

The problem with previous footballers becoming referees is their age and the time in order to become proficient.

Being a footballer doesn’t mean you’ll be a great referee any more than being a footballer makes you a great manager - and I’d argue the link to the latter would be far stronger.

The biggest difficulty with refereeing is the nuances of game management. Most people can have reasonable foul detection, but the very greatest referees have superb player and game management. That takes years to refine.

Footballers retiring at 32-36 don’t have long to gain experience. It can take 10-15 years for an SG1 official to make it.

Of course, we can fast track former footballers, and they do have a head start on many other referees starting out, but they also need to unlearn a career’s mistaken and wrongful understanding and application of law.

I’m all for it, and it will work for some, but this is no silver bullet. The problem isn’t referee decision making - it’s how fans and pundits want the game to be refereed in a way that the Law simply doesn’t apply. It being a former footballer making the same decisions won’t change that.