Hot media topic of the week: The Ref.

The Tuesday of this week, the ref was announced for today’s game between Man Utd and Chelsea at Old Trafford. Howard Webb was chosen as the official in the middle of the park and Sky Sports News greeted the news by “reminding” people of Webb’s past decisions, meaning red cards and individual “mistakes”. To me, SSN is at times like a tabloid paper with its own TV channel (considering SKY and The Sun are owned by Rupert Murdoch) and this focus on the refs past decisions are just an indication of the amount of scrutiny officials are under. Saying the ref got something wrong and going through the chant of “You don’t know what you’re doing” is one thing but to try and systematically undermine the guy in the press before the match has even kicked off is a dangerous step. However on the flipside of saying that, there are refs out there who seek the limelight and canter round the pitch as if they are a show pony (Hint: Uriah Rennie). Refs that try and make a spectacle of themselves deserve criticism. It is however those refs that go about their duty and then when they are given a match are criticised or have the attention of the media thrust upon them, then there is a problem. Even up to kick off today, the question was put to players and managers about Howard Webb. What do you think? Will he be able to cope?

While watching BBC London’s news broadcast on Friday, they showed a press conference from Frank Lampard. He was asked the question about the ref. He said that the ref should not be disrespected and that he was there to do a job. He then went on to say that Webb was not a good ref and he would prefer someone else. Thanks for the contradiction. Even his other manager, Steve McClaren said before kick off that Webb was a good official.

This is not a rant posting against Lampard so getting off that point, the game today was not the cleanest of games and in my opinion but the ref handled the game well. Tension never boiled over in mass pushing and the ref made sure players never crowded him by sending away those who were not involved in incidents. Speaking of crowding the ref, in yesterday’s game between Sheffield United and West Ham (have to add, Sheffield’s lack of a cutting edge saved us at times), a decision went against Sheffield in the second half. The players were not too happy and four players started to approach the ref. He blew his whistle straight away and booked the two players closest to him. It was not a straight away thing and the ref let the players come to him rather then him approaching the players. Now I think he dealt with the matter in the correct way and I don’t type that because I am a West Ham fan. This is the way it should be every time.

It’s a shame really refs have become a centre of attention again.