Last week the UEFA Referees Committee held its annual summer seminar for its top referees and assistant referees. The Malta FA’s representative was Ingmar Spiteri, an official on the FIFA Assistant referees list.


UEFA has decided to clamp down hard on dissent and the harassment of referees on the field of play. In fact they have issued a specific set of instructions to their officials on duty in all EUFA organized competitions. Their main aims are to allow referees to have less mental pressure when controlling a match. Mind you these instructions were really already derived from the rules as they technically fall under the word ‘dissent’ but as these have been occurring more regularly with referees doing little or nothing about them, UEFA felt they had to spell them out.


A very common occurance at football matches is when a player who has been fouled gets up and visually waves an imaginary card at the referee thus asking him to book his opponent. Mind you this gesture could also be done by any other player on the field. An immediate caution is the new instruction for UEFA referees. Something else which we see a lot of is dissent by means of a gesture such as waving your hand at the referee showing him you disagree with his decision or even running towards him to show that the official should not have penalised you.

The crowding of a referee has also been included in the new instructions with a recommendation that if any other player besides the one who started the crowding commits an offence he should also be booked. Naturally players must be careful as if a player has already been cautioned and he commits one of these offences he will be automatically shown a red card and sent for an early shower.

It is true that UEFA have issued these instructions to be applied in all matches they organize but it is something which the referee should do automatically in any match. In Malta we have a specific sign that the referee must give if he is crowded. He lift both arms into the air and both teams must retreat into their respective penalty areas. So you see this proves that UEFA felt, perhaps even after certain incidents in the last FIFA World in Germany, that  some of its senior referees are not on top of their form  and are accepting harassment and consequently pressure to act or not to act as the case may be. Correct decisions are demanded by players and supporters alike but player must understand that the referee and his assistants must be left to officiate without having any undue pressure put upon them.