Babbel hits out at A-League refereeing standard

Wanderers coach Markus Babbel will escape sanction despite claiming refereeing standards are not good enough.

Brendan Hamill questions referee Kurt Ams after being penalised for a tackle on Andy Keogh on Sunday. Picture: Getty Images.

Western Sydney Wanderers coach Markus Babbel will escape sanction despite claiming refereeing standards in the A-League are not good enough and that Football Federation Australia would be “f...ing blind” if they don’t accept that.

Angry after watching his makeshift side’s 4-3 loss on Sunday night to leaders Perth Glory off the back of two contentious decisions, the German called on journalists to expose the poor quality of the officiating this season while suggesting any complaints from him to the head body would be pointless.

With the Wanderers leading 2-0, Glory appeared to get the rub of the green when substitute Diego Castro scored in the 70th minute. There were claims that Jason Davidson was offside and had interfered in the lead up to the goal.

However, the most controversial decision was the penalty awarded to the home side in the 86th minute with the scores locked 3-3. Referee Kurt Ams ruled Wanderers captain Brendan Hamill brought down his opposite Andy Keogh in the penalty area, allowing Juande’s spot kick to seal a remarkable comeback for Glory, who scored four goals in the space of 16 minutes.

The consensus from both sides of the fence was that the penalty was “soft”. A-League boss Greg O’Rourke told The Australian there were no issues with Castro’s goal but wasn’t as adamant about the penalty. “No-one believes it was a clear cut penalty. The conversation I had with the referees was that it was soft,” O’Rourke said. “Kurt believes it was a penalty. He said to me he believes Hamill instigated the dragging, his word, but then Keogh exaggerated it.”

But Babbel and the Wanderers fans were very clear that it should never have been awarded.

“If I say what I think, what is in me then, then I get a fine or get banned,” Babbel said. “So there is no point talking. You are the journalists, you have the chance to say something because this is not professional-like.

“The quality ... I see all the games, not just our games, it is not good enough. That’s it.

“Everyone needs to talk about the problem. This is what I don’t understand. Now we have the help of the VAR, but even they do so many mistakes. This is very hard to accept.”

Asked if he will raise the issue with FFA, the German hit out again. “If they don’t see it there, they are f...ing blind. They have to see it because the quality is not good enough,” he added. “I know it’s not an easy job, don’t understand me wrong, but if you decide to do it, then you have to know, it’s similar to my job, to the players, we get criticised. And now is for me, too many mistakes.

“And you can see it, but I don’t know what’s going on in their heads, they’re making decisions — you can’t understand this and it’s very hard to accept and they also have to improve.

“We have to improve, I have to improve, but they also have to improve. And this is now a good time for you, for all the experts in the league to talk about it because if you’re not talking about it, nothing will change.”

While O’Rourke jumped to the defence of the referees, he said he had no qualms with Babbel’s comments as he deemed them “within the boundaries” of fair comment, though, it should be pointed out that Frank Farina, while coach at Sydney FC a number of season back, was fined $10,000 for saying “three blind mice could see that was offside”.

“Markus was in the heat of the moment in a presser,” O’Rourke said. “But, he did not call into account the integrity of the referees or personalise his comments towards them.

“In terms of the refereeing standards, we have three full-time refs and nine others that are part time and there is no doubt we need more fulltime referees because having referees with 9 to 5 jobs is not optimal.

“But, it takes money, not just for wages but to invest in programs.”