With the FA celebrating their 150th anniversary, so many years of change and hard work to better the sport threatens to be overshadowed by the problems still existing in the modern game - most notably with officiating.
It seems as if a weekend of games doesn't go by without a high-profile refereeing decision being incorrectly given or not-given at all. In the last few days, a number of bad tackles have been punished leniently by the respective officials and many are asking why there is no consistency with the decisions.
Referees very rarely give the reasoning of their decisions in the aftermath of a game, nor will they ever publicly admit to making a mistake.
Officials are protected by the FA and should managers or players greatly criticise their decisions during the match, they will risk being fined or banned for a few games.
The biggest problem is the ignorance referees display when defending their colleagues in the heat of high-profile mistakes. 'Refs are only human' is a common response, rather than trying to come up with ideas to aid the officials in the future.
Video replays are repeatedly talked about to help referees, but clearly some have different views on what offences constitute a red card and yellow card in the first place - which suggests they are not all on the same page.
There is a rulebook which states exactly what offences should be punished and what punitive measures should be taken as a result, but every referee seems to be subjective which is a problem that needs to be addressed.
By the letter of the law, there is no grey area when making decisions. It's black and white as written in the rulebook. Not enough is being done to further convince people that justice is being done to every offender.
Many are in disbelief that refereeing is still a problem in the modern game with all the technology available, but little change has been made to help the referees so is it any surprise that human error is once again determining the outcome of games? Will video technology help to eradicate such problems with consistency in officiating?
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