Football Australia reveal A-Leagues’ referee restructure amid hit back over sensational quit claim

Suggestions of poor officiating being the reason behind an A-League captain quitting mid-season have been slammed. But referees have still been told their jobs are on the line.

The A-Leagues’ referees have been warned jobs are on the line and only the best will survive with a restructure on the horizon.

However, Football Australia head of referees Jon Moss has defended his team’s performance this season in the wake of suggestion their poor standards led to a club captain’s decision to quit mid-season.

Macarthur Bulls FC captain Valere Germain sensationally quit the A-League’s and took up a contract with a Japanese club this week.

While the official statement from the club listed Germain’s reason as wanting to pursue other opportunities, club chairman Gino Marra also laid blame with match officials, claiming part of the reason Germain left was the poor standards of refereeing.

Moss said he has been in constant contact with all clubs since his arrival in October last year.

“We have constant feedback and the feedback right across the board from all clubs has been that they are very happy with the way that we are refereeing and what we’re trying to stamp out of the game,” Moss said.

Star import Juan Mata talks to referee Alex King. Picture: Getty

Statistics up to Round 19 found that of the 972 VAR reviews in the men’s competition 99.27 per cent of the decisions were deemed to be correct.

Of the seven incorrect decisions – five should have had an on field review and two shouldn’t have involved VAR at all.

At the start of the season Moss promised to reduce referee involvement and allow the game to flow more – a request from clubs and fans.

The number of red cards handed out in the men’s game has dropped by 47 per cent from 19-10. While yellow cards are down 21 per cent from 480 to 379.

Moss, a former English Premier League referee, said there was always room for improvement.

“I think we have a lot of really good officials in Australia, we have officials with a lot of potential,” Moss said.

“They’ve done over 50 international games, we’ve got two candidates for the World Cup which is unusual and we’re coming to the final stages of (Asian) Champions League and our match officials are being represented either in the chair as VARS or on the field.

“Can we get better – undoubtedly. That’s why I’m here, that’s why we’ve got all these coaches on board because we are not satisfied with where we are now and we want to get better.

“We’ll continue to try and develop our match officials to make them the best in the world.”

Referee Casey Reibelt talks to the players during the FIFA Women's World Cup. Picture: Getty

This season referees were provided with increased coaching and feedback sessions but ahead of the next season Moss confirmed there would be a restructure.

“We’ve let our officials know through consultation that at the end of the season we’re going to reduce our list and only the best officials will be on that list, both male and female,” Moss said.

“Some people will lose their place on the elite list and will move on to the Australian Championship.

“Some of the clubs asked if there was accountability for the referees and of course there is. Each referee is marked during the season, we have a merit list, the top 12 people on that merit list will be the people that referee in the A-Leagues.”

This means there will be 12 elite referees for the men’s league, 12 for the women’s and each will have 18 assistant referees.

Referee Ben Abraham flashes a red card. Picture: Getty

The list before this season started included 27 assistant referees for the men’s competition and 23 for the women’s.

Moss said the addition of the new Australian Championship, a 16-team, eight-week long competition, featuring NPL clubs, provided an extra training ground for officials.

“It is groundbreaking for us referees because before you went from grassroots to NPL and then your next transition was into the A-League,” Moss said.

“For me this Australian Championship is going to be a completely different style of referee, this is where you’re going to earn all your management skills, you’re going to be able to show authority in that league and we’ll be able to see who can actually referee before we move them up into the A-League.”

Originally published as Football Australia reveal A-Leagues’ referee restructure amid hit back over sensational quit claim