Save the Ref

20 June 2005



FIFA Rule Will Force Retirement on Soccer’s Greatest Referee

No one likes the officials of any game. They always seem to make questionable calls that favor the other side. It’s hard enough beating world-class competition without the ref helping the opposition. So when a referee is judged the best by the players and managers, he’s achieved something. FIFA, which blunders about trying to manage world soccer, supports an Italian federation rule that will get rid of Pierluigi Collina, certainly the best ref in Italy and perhaps the best on the planet and who may have worked his final game yesterday in Bologna, Italy. The reason for his forced retirement is simple – he’s 45 years old.

Mr. Collina got his FIFA badge in 1995 and has officiated at some of the most significant games in recent soccer history, e.g., the 1996 Olympic final between Nigeria and Argentina, the 1999 UEFA Champions League final between Manchester United FC and FC Bayern München in Barcelona, and the 2002 FIFA World Cup final between Brazil and Germany in Yokohama. The quality of the officiating at these levels must not only be flawless, but it must be believed to be flawless. He has been voted number one in the world no fewer than five times.

Now, it is a certainty that no referee at the age of 45 or more will be able to get up and down the field the way he did at 25. And soccer is particularly unforgiving as there is but one referee supported by two lines men. Basketball’s two officials in a playing area much smaller than a soccer pitch, baseball’s four umpires (six for the World Series) standing only 90 feet apart, and American football’s legion of officials look like over-policing compared to the single man in a World Cup Final.

At the same time, there is the issue of experience and the respect that officials of long standing can enjoy, no matter how grudging. An official deemed in advance to be competent by the players and coaches will better control the highly charged emotions of a major final. And given the violence in the stands that still occurs, that is a significant factor. Callow youth may be able to get up and down the pitch faster over 90 minutes, but there is something to be said for being able to anticipate where that running should take an official.

Most men are finished as referees before they hit 45. The knees and the wind don’t permit it. But to have a rule that forces an exceptional man out of work simply because the average man is past it makes no sense. The exceptional is precisely what is needed, and he should be allowed to officiate further. His legs will tell him when it is time to quit.


© Copyright 2005 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.
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