Assistant Referees: Present, Referee: Absent, Fourth Official: Unheard Of

Update with comments from the Chairman of the Referees Committee

In light of the below, the Chairman of the Referees Committee, Alan Sant, reached out to The Sporting Fan to provide the following clarifications. It is noted that the laws of the game only dictate that a single referee is required to officiate the match. In this regard, the presence of two or three officials is over and above the necessary requirement.

Furthermore, the level does not require a referee who is specialised, thus officials appointed have the baseline training to carry out the assistant refereeing duties, as well as the main official duties. As regards the presence of a fourth official, this is only required at the BOV Premier League level.

Original Article:

Saturday’s game between Mtarfa and San Gwann kicked off with a make-shift referee, and one assistant referee, as the expected referee jotted for the match was a no-show. Kick-off was delayed by close to half-an-hour until the decision was taken to go on with the match, with clubs understood to be on the fence about abandoning the game for fear of the implications on the postponement of the match and the awarding of its points. While the competition rule book puts plenty of authority in the referee’s hands, there are no clear criteria for what happens when the referee does not show up.

It is acknowledged that the referees present did their best in the situation, until another official arrived by half-time to complete the trio for the rest of the match. This, since the concept of having a fourth official is unheard of in the women’s game domestically. One wonders what happens should, for example, one of the officials feel ill during the match.

Needless to say, there’s no point even discussing the accuracy of the decisions related to throw-ins, offsides, free-kicks and the like. This when considering that there was only one assistant referee watching one half of the pitch for half of the match.

Furthermore, the third official that arrived was another assistant referee, resulting in three people who are not used to the nuances of being the main official, as opposed to the duties at the sidelines. As expected, the referee officiating the whole match was somewhat inexperienced in the duty of being the main official.

The same trio officiated the following match between Valletta and Lija Athletic, with the main officiating duties rotated between them. Inexperience continued to be evident with, for example, the positioning of the referee exposed many times, resulting in multiple restarts.

To put things into context, these matches involved four teams from the Assikura Women’s League. One team went into their match with the aim of extending a six-match unbeaten streak, two are in many ways completely new or highly revitalised teams who have been making strides throughout the season and looking to beat each other to the runner’s up spot, while the other went into the match seeking to convert their first points following internal changes in search of developing the team to a next level. Like all others, the four teams in question have been working toward their objectives throughout the season. After a week of preparing for their respective matches, as they head into the final three matches of the season, this is the situation that they are presented with.

In the situation, players, officials and supporters alike, opted to see the funny side in things, trying to make the best of the situation, as opposed to resorting to derogatory comments and abuse (for the majority). However, it is important to remember the point of competent refereeing is to ensure fair competition. It is inevitable that teams and supporters will attempt to influence the match in their favour, the point of having a referee is to guard against exactly that.

In light of this, one hopes the relevant authorities sort out the reason for why the official did not show up, that the competition rules are updated to handle such criteria. Most importantly, one hopes that work toward developing the correct number and quality of officials to an acceptable baseline, is receiving the utmost attention.

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