The Power Referees Hold in Today’s Sports
A group of referees standing right before officiating a game. Aaron Sholl va Flickr
Refereeing has always been somewhat of a contentious job in the world of sports. Being able to decide how different parts of a game are played out can be a crucial and often daunting task.
However, over the last few weeks, the discourse surrounding referees and their sway within sports has caused a lot of controversy, due to the fact that they can decide the outcome of games through their decisions. Referees have come particularly under fire on a few occasions in the last few weeks in soccer and football.
In the soccer world, a game between English giants Liverpool and Tottenham played on Sept. 30 was decided almost entirely by foul referee play. In the first half of the game, Forward Luis Diaz was called offside after scoring what would have been the first goal of the game.
Diaz was clearly onside after the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) Darren England checked the offside technology. However, due to the fact that the referees have the final say in the matter, he called it offside and took away Liverpool’s goal.
Offside has been something that causes outrage from fans, mainly due to the fact that it is often mis-called, despite having state-of-the-art technology. That is because referees are able to override it and make the decision that they think is correct, whether it be from information from the VAR or on-field reviews.
The fact that Liverpool went on to lose the match 2-1 only made the controversy surrounding the decision worse. After the match, the Professional Games Match Officials Limited (PGMOL), the body of referees responsible for English football, released a statement saying there was a “significant human error” involved.
Whether they believe that or not, fans and commentators continue to be a spectacle of the power of both the on-field official and the video assistant referee.
In American football, referees have always held a lot of power, however over the past decade or so, it’s gotten arguably way worse. Referees in football today have more power and responsibility than ever, and more so than almost any sport, can decide the outcome of games with their officiating.
This is mainly the case when it comes to the reigning Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs.
The Chiefs have snuck out four straight wins over the first five weeks of the season, after losing their season opener. All but one of those four straight wins came down to the wire and had significant referee implications in each.
If you go on X (formerly Twitter) at any point during a Chiefs game, you will find someone talking about the referees being in the Chiefs’ back pocket. But when it seems as though referees are giving the Chiefs favorable, sometimes unwarranted calls, it poses the question: when should we draw a line in the sand?
The Chiefs have won two Superbowls in the Patrick Mahomes era, one that has lasted around 6 years. Due to his sheer dominance and the Chiefs’ success, the consensus is that the Chiefs are being protected by the league because Mahomes and the Chiefs are the face of it.
A perception of referees going easy on the Chiefs was brought into the spotlight during Superbowl LVII this past February. With the game tied at 35, Mahomes missed his receiver on a third-and-8 in Eagles territory, facing a possible 4th down. However, the refs threw a flag and there was a holding call on Eagles cornerback, James Bradberry.
In simpler terms, the Eagles were called for a penalty, and the Chiefs were given four more tries to go for the touchdown. The Chiefs would ultimately go on to win the Super Bowl 38-35.
Many have argued that the Chiefs get so many calls because they are the newest dynasty in the NFL, and because Roger Goodell, the commissioner, wants to keep their high ratings, he will do everything in his power to keep the Chiefs on top of the NFL mountain for as long as possible.
The same thing happened with the Patriots. Everyone got so sick of the Patriot’s supremacy over the league that the referees were scrutinized way more, due to many believing the NFL has an agenda that keeping the Pats as the giants they were helped boost ratings.
The sayings “the scriptwriters are back at it” or “the script has been leaked for this season” have become popular, especially among Gen-Z, but questioning the validity of professional sports and only wanting parity as a fan means that these goofy sayings have some sort of genuineness to them, fans who only want to watch sports in its purest form.
Although referees can decide the outcome of games, it is up to us to keep them in check and make sure that professional sports don’t lose sight of what comes first, that being the fans.