Touchline talk: Pro league gets the officials it deserves

Al Wahda coach Josef Hickersberger's criticism of the refereeing in his side's 2-2 draw with Al Ahli last weekend highlighted an issue which has been bubbling away within UAE football throughout the season so far.

The quality of officiating has been a constant topic with coaches - it has been a regular issue at the media conferences of Al Wasl coach Diego Maradona - and this was simply the latest example. The truth is that it is an easy option for an official to reach for his pocket and wave a card rather than try to manage situations and, in the case the Al Wahda coach was referring to, dismiss his captain Esmail Mattar rather than engage with him.

But that was just one incident. Have the officials really been so poor? Have they been more card-happy and willing to send off players than in the past? And what role do the players and coaches have in this issue?

Seeing red

I decided to get the record books out, look back at the equivalent period last season - the first six rounds of the Etisalat Pro League - and see if there really was something different happening this term.

In one respect the statistics are almost identical: in the first six rounds of the 2010/11 season there were 148 yellow cards shown compared to this season's 143 in two fewer matches.

But when you compare the number of sendings-off over the two periods then the figures jump alarmingly. Whereas last season only four players had been given their marching orders in the Pro League by this stage, this term that figure has risen to nine with Mattar's dismissal.

To my eyes at least the game does not appear to have become dirtier so the likeliest answer for the hike in early baths is that referees, who are observed by a UAE Football Association official at every match, have become less tolerant of what they see as indiscretions. But refereeing with an iron fist is not always in everyyone's best interests.

I watched Al Wasl's opening pre-season friendly with Kalba and was amazed when the referee sent off a Kalba player for a poorly-timed challenge after just 20 minutes. Given it was a friendly, the sensible approach would have been to trot over to the Kalba bench, ask for the player to be replaced and continue with 11 versus 11.

Instead the Kalba player was sent packing, the balance of the match, with 10 against 11, was ruined, and its usefulness to both sides severely restricted.

Play-acting

That is just one example of how common-sense officiating - albeit in a pre-season game - can help but the coaches and players themselves also have a part to play if they want the standard of refereeing to rise.

Anyone watching Pro League matches on a regular basis will become frustrated at the stop-start nature of games as players go down and stay down under challenges while their team-mates can be seen gesturing at officials, brandishing imaginary cards to try and get opponents booked or even sent off.

Such behaviour is not limited to UAE football. And sadly football is not rugby, where respect for officials is ingrained and dissent is punished with a penalty. But if players do play-act and misbehave on the field and referees make mistakes, then teams will have to accept they get the officials they deserve. And the sooner they clean up their own houses then the sooner it might be possible to deal with any shortcomings in the standard of refereeing.

A culture change like that is too much to ask for - but we can dream about it all the same.