The Loneliness of the Europa League Extra Assistant Referee

By: Daryl | September 17th, 2009

Today was the start of the Europa League, and the full debut of UEFA’s experiment with goal-line referees, one of whom is pictured above looking rather lonely during tonight’s CSKA Sofia vs Fulham Group E game (which ended 1-1, since you asked).

The big idea is that the two new goal-line assistants (one at each end) will provide an extra set of eyes for everything that happens in the penalty area, which will (theoretically) come in handy for decisions like awarding penalty kicks, deciding whether the ball crossed the line and so on.

It’s not a terrible idea. Especially because referees are so often criticized for not being in the right place to get a proper view of what happens in the box.

But while watching Everton’s 4-0 win over AEK Athens today, it struck me how little the extra assistant refs were involved. When the ball is at the other end, the poor guy has no role to fulfill. He can’t chat to the opposition goalkeeper or turn around and chat to the crowd, so he just had to stand there and hope the ball comes back down his end. And given the one sided nature of Everton’s win, there were long stretches with one extra assistant ref doing exactly that. Maybe they should let them bring books or something?

Not that I’m against it. It’s an idea at least worth trying, and will definitely be interesting to see how the Europa League refereeing experiment plays out this season, and whether the goal-line refs end up influencing any games. Or if anyone even notices that they’re there.

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Category: World Football

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Dustin

"If in real time you can’t tell then may be that’s why we need instant video replays"

You can't do this because if you do soccer will be slow and boring and SUCK. Also Soccer is supposed to be a game you can play anywhere, you should be able to replicate what happens at the highest levels to the lowest levels.

Also if you're a martial arts referee than kicks to the head are exactly what you're looking for. Maybe we should have FIFAs go through a martial arts referee training course so they can learn more about that kinda stuff and anticipate it.

Refs make mistakes, the way to fix that is more and better training, not ruining the game with constant replays.
Phil M.

why dont they just hook up a camera?!?!?
vlad

ty
Daryl

Nice find Vlad. Will write up a full post to feature that video today.
Theo

i agree tony but fifa doesnt want to bring in any new technology
Luka

LOOK @ VLAD'S LINK - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v....

So much for the 5 referees...
sscouser

Dustin, if that's the case then we need a ref on every square yard. Look at the video again and see how far the ref was from the incident. If in real time you can't tell then may be that's why we need instant video replays and not these assistant referees. Remember the Serena incident? Will these assistant refs help?

I am a ref by profession, not soccer but Martial Arts.
Dustin

"Look at this “Ade Stamp” video. The ref was right there but he claims that he didn’t see the incident. Really?"

Ever reffed a game sscouser? Sometimes in real time you really can't tell, angles and timing mean everything.
Tony

Its worth a shot i suppose and i guess the ugly sister of the CL is probably the best place to try it. You have to give them the benefit of the doubt.
A different thought however, i've always thought in a tennis match when a player serves and it goes wide, there is a sensor that causes a 'beep' isn't there, surely it could be used in football when the ball crosses the line, it sends a signal through to the ref's earpiece.
I assume if the goal line ref see's a potential shot being taken from outside the 18, he'll be looking at the goal line, what if that shot goes narrowly wide and kareems of the poor blokes face.
I guess hence the 6th referee.
sscouser

As long as these are not "professional" referees it is just a waste of resources.

Look at this "Ade Stamp" video. The ref was right there but he claims that he didn't see the incident. Really?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...
Mike

I think it's worth pointing out, as I did to my Celtic friends, that if there was an assistant ref at the Celtic - Arsenal match, he most likely would've had a crystal clear look at Eduardo's dive.

Maybe it's worth it, maybe it's not. Maybe only in big games. I don't see this being extremely popular worldwide. 6 refs is a bit much.
Thomas

Hey, you're still getting paid to watch a football match. Sounds pretty wonderful to me.
vlad

let me grab your attention to the cfr cluj copenhaga match (which ended 2-0). ball was layed back on the edge of the penalty area for a player to shoot he did... he hit the crosbar and it went in and out, but completly in the goal. the score was already 2-0 and it was a cfr cluj player who hit the crosbar. what good is it to have 2 more referes behind the goal posts if they dont do anything? watch?v=YHXMaJrR3Jo at minute 7:00 even the romanian commentator says theirs no point for another two refers if they dont see anyhting.
Dustin

"Based on some penalty calls and non-calls this evening the extra referee helps exactly 0%."

Really? Well that'll probably happen every game then, we better scrap the idea just to be safe.
Jan

Based on some penalty calls and non-calls this evening the extra referee helps exactly 0%.
SD

Well its maybe a position for new referees starting out where they can grab some experience before moving up the referee food chain.
Cerberus

Well, it's one of those things where if it's successful, you shouldn't really notice their contributions because they'll be preventing the sort of big error that gets media attention.

But yeah, it's probably not too exciting of a job owing the limited scope of your focus.