The £30,000 fine and 5 match ban of Alex Ferguson seemingly shows that the FA wont let managers get away with the overly harsh public criticism of referees in the media. But does this mean that the Football Association will be taking a firmer stance on the guidelines outlined in their Respect campaign.
Im sorry but the answer is no.
The Respect campaign is designed to prevent the unruly aggressive and sometimes yobish behaviour that we sometimes see in topflight football, from tickling down and souring the youth game. The guidelines for the campaign are in detail at http://www.thefa.com/Leagues/Respect/NewsAndFeatures/2009/RespectGuidesSep09 and fall into 5 categories including guidelines for referees, players and managers.
The idea is one that in principle could turn around the attitude of many “villains” of the game. The referees hand book states:
Respect is designed to support this skill, and to support the referee’s key role in controlling a match.
As mentioned above, referees should continue to talk to individual players as necessary. However when harassment, abuse or challenging behaviour is exhibited referees are asked to use their powers under Law 12 (Law 12 states the actions and situations that warrant either yellow or red cards and can be found online at http://www.football-league.co.uk/page/LawsofFootball/0,,10794~507515,00.html)
It continues discuss team captains and their roles on the field as the voice of their players on the pitch:
1. Only the captain can openly ask for
clarification of a referee’s decision.
This includes the period before,
during and after a match.
2. If any other player challenges the
referee, asks questions or harasses
the referee about decisions made,
they should first be given a public
warning. This is providing a player
has not committed an offence
which clearly falls under Law 12.
3. If a player, including the captain,
openly harasses or challenges the
referee, they should be cautioned
and shown a yellow card.
4. If a player, including the captain,
continues to harass or question
decisions made by the referee,
then a second yellow card should
be shown and the player sent from
the field of play.
5. The referee records the names
of all players receiving a caution
or being sent off, as per usual.
All such incidents are reported
to the appropriate authorities
on conclusion of the match.
Most importantly of all the handbook outlines, in detail, unwanted behaviour that should be cautioned by the referees in regard to players actions towards referees:
Harassment:
• Running towards the referee in an
aggressive manner.
• Players surrounding the referee to
protest a decision.
• Repeatedly asking questions about
decisions in an attempt to influence
the referee or undermine his/her
responsibilities.
Challenging:
• Passing comment to other players
about a referee’s decision-making.
• Repeatedly moaning at the referee
about decisions.
• Gestures that obviously are made
in a derogatory manner, such as a
shaking of the head or waving of
the hand.
Under these guidelines Chris Foy could have booked half the players at Old Trafford last Saturday. In fact most matches, if played under these guidelines, could end up with 11 or 12 cautions. But would players, managers and fans sit silently..... No and I have no doubt that a referee that ran a match under these guidelines would be dropped from to flight football.
So the FA must choose. They can either continue to watch managers and players swamping and criticising officials on and off the pitch and thus watch this behaviour trickle down to youth football, or they can ask referees to be strong, and manage the game how they want it to be managed and deal with the initial outcry from those involved and passionate about the sport, hoping that over time these drastic changes will bring respect and authority back to the man in black.
The choice is simple, stay the course. The Respect campaign is a long run project that may (if at all) will be implemented gradually. To try and change the game so drastically, even for a positive outcome, would be too drastic and too wild to implement properly. The FA wont want to deal with that many cautions and bans, and referees wont be strong enough to deal with angry players and managers (if they were they would already have begun to implement such guidelines)
Its a good idea, Respect, but it wont be implemented fully (ironically due to the total lack of respect that many have for the guidelines of the campaign). It should be kept as an idea, or as a private agenda of the FA to be brought into the game over time, otherwise it will just be a meaningless concept, a beacon of false hope for better behaviour from players and managers.
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