A major storyline of last night's game was the refereeing, which is unfortunate for a cup final. I listened to the game at work rather than watched it, so I can't confirm for sure that all the complaints against decisions are legitimate, but let's assume that the yellow for celebrating was ridiculous (Carding a player for running to the southside? You've never done that here before, Chenard), the one Montreal goal was kilometres offside, and at least half of the numerous foul appeals (pictured) were legitimate (I'll not contest the red, as I haven't heard too much uproar on that). In my eyes, that adds up to a poor performance.And I don't think that has anything to do with the fact that she's a woman. Female refs are just breaking into the game right now, and any time that someone tries to do something new, they are examined with a fine-toothed comb. I actually always want female refs to perform well because I can't see why women shouldn't be refs and would like to see them at the highest level.
That's why I cringe at poor female refereeing, because in the garrulous, drunken world of football fans, there is an element of sexism that persists. I've heard someone try to start a "She refs like she drives" chant (All credit to the Southside, though, that those chants don't usually catch on), and when I hear that I think "Man, when these guys think of female refs as a concept, all they are going to think of is this terrible one, and that's bad."
I am almost disappointed, but I'm not sure its right to specifically be disappointed with a women ref for being bad as though they were "letting down" other women refs. I don't feel as though I've let down men when I turn in a bad day at the pub kitchen, so why should a woman have to feel the same way?
She shouldn't, because do you know who is bad? Most refs. North and Central America are the greatest untapped resources of bad top-level refereeing in the world. We brought Jair Marrufo and Benito Archundia and Joel Aguilar onto the FIFA list, and there are more where that came from. It is that lineage of bad CONCACAF refs that we should identify in Carol Anne Chenard, and not anything to do with gender. Nobody sees Marrufo stop play for a water break and thinks "It's probably because he's a man."
I want referees to be good, but I know they aren't always good. I think it's important, though, that refs of both genders should be held to the same standard, even though that standard is currently depressingly low. We shouldn't expect them to be perfect just because they aren't what we are used to; we should evaluate them in the same way as other refs--yelling and all--because bad refs are everywhere, and it doesn't matter what gender they are.
Cross-posted to team-bates.com. Thanks very much to Sarah from Goalscoring Robot for helping edit this piece.
14 comments:
So, saying "she refs like she drives" is bad, but saying "where's your father, referee? you don't have one, you're a bastard, you're a bastard, referee?" is totally kosher?
I can never keep track of which blatant personal attacks are acceptable in a soccer chant and which ones make you worse than Hitler these days.
I must say as a player that female refs do not elicit respect from any of my teammates
Than your teammates are idiots.
"kilometres offside" ???? Dude did you even watch the replay?? Before writing something get your facts straight!!! Sounds like sour grapes to me......
PS No, im not an Impact fan
And yet John Carver said she was the best ref he saw last year after she handled the NCC games (or something to that effect).
So maybe she just had an off-night.
Another pathetic one-sided opinionated viewpoint on the performances of referees. If you want to have credibility in your argument, at least watch the game and understand the laws of football. My guess is that you fall into the 90% plus category who don't understand laws that have been implemented by FIFA.
Watched her critically for a long time. She's a great ref. Nothing is worse than a sideline ref without any context. Go watch a kids soccer game and listen to parents who've never seen a game yell at the ref. Same thing here.
I'm a whitecaps fan and IMO the only questionable call all night was the yellow for celebrating. The goal was not offside, Nash deserved his red, and the referee's judgement when calling fouls was no better or worse than any other referee. The ref certainly didn't lose the game for us, we did that ourselves.
Yes get yur facts straight. The referee is commanded by FIFA to caution players for such things as over celebrating a goal. The red card was an obvious over the ball tackle that would be a tragedy if it wasn't a red card. She did not affect the outcome of the game and so did a good job. What level of officiating do you have to crticisie this top level referee? We are trying to get more females involved in officiating and this ridiculous article does little to help us.
She let play both sides too much. She always refs like that, so, it was to be expected. The yellow for celebrating was a zealous call (it wasn't deserved at all in my opinion). The same can't be said about Nash's red.
Duane, next time, watch the game before criticizing.
Sorry, in my comment, above, I stated Duane as the article's writer, but it was Andrew. Sorry about it Duane.
Andrew, next time, watch the game before criticizing.
Ive seen her ref several times before and shes a great ref, sounds like some sour fans and an off night may be the situation.
FIFA is always giving new guidelines and instructions to referees which never see the light of the public, coaches and players. Such "additions" to the rules should be made fully public for at least a year before they are put into effect.
Its funny Mr Bates .. seeing all these comments questioning your ability to write a fair piece of journalism.. The silence is deafening from you !!
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