Gaffe-riddled A—League refs told they’re the best ever

A-League boss Greg O’Rourke says Director of Referees Ben Wilson is under no pressure.

Contentious ones.

A-League boss Greg O’Rourke has thrown his support behind an embattled Ben Wilson, declaring the director of referees is under no pressure and that the standard of officiating is the best it has been since the national competition started in 2005.

O’Rourke’s comments will come as a surprise given the A-League continues to be embroiled in refereeing controversies following the latest round of matches that saw issues in at least three games, one of which led to Adelaide United’s normally placid Gui Amor falling foul of Football Federation Australia’s regulations. Amor was last night automatically banned from the sidelines for at least one week and must face a tribunal hearing to decide whether the punishment is increased after he was sent to the stands during his side’s 3-1 loss to Glory last Friday.

He is the fourth coach in just seven weeks to find himself in hot water, joining Melbourne Victory boss Kevin Muscat, Perth Glory’s Kenny Lowe and Western Sydney’s Tony Popovic.

Muscat was fined $5000 for comments he made following an FFA Cup match, Lowe was banned from the sidelines for two weeks after being sent to the stands by the referee at halftime of a match and Popovic is awaiting his sanction for comments made in a television interview after a game.

O’Rourke, who opted to “take the leadership responsibility” rather than expose Wilson to media questioning yesterday, admitted there had been 11 “clear key match decisions” that referees had got wrong up until last weekend’s round of matches.

But he claimed that when measured against previous seasons “there’s actually a better ratio at 81 per cent (of correct calls) than has been for preceding four years”.

“Clearly, we’ve made a few mistakes. The thing I’ve noticed is the amount of reporting and amplifying of the mistakes,” O’Rourke said. “We analyse this stuff weekly, so of the 30 games up to last weekend, there were 11 errors we say we got wrong.”

O’Rourke said that Wilson, who has now been at the helm of the referees for four years, was not under pressure.

“I have spoken to him,” said O’Rourke. “What I said was that the best way to focus on this is to hold the referees accountable for the decisions they get wrong but also to encourage them to be as good as they can be.

“Ben’s view is that, outside of one or two key match decisions that have been clearly wrong this season, the standard of refereeing is as good as it has been in the last five years. All in all, we believe the standard of refereeing is the best we have had in the A-League and we will continue on and improve it.”

FFA took the bold step of appointing three fulltime professional referees last season, but it does not appear to have helped. Two of those referees, Jarred Gillett and Shaun Evans, who was promoted to that status this season, have been involved in some of those crucial mistakes.

O’Rourke confirmed that Evans has been “rested” as well as assigned to fourth official duties during the first seven rounds following his errors. He admitted they have “worked hard with Shaun and others” to get some of the mistakes out of their game.

O’Rourke confirmed he has spoken to some coaches about the refereeing and will speak to others.