The referee was clearly wrong but still praised, V.League must learn from the Premier League

The way VPF and VFF responded to criticisms from some teams about refereeing has raised many questions for the public. There has not been any satisfactory answer, even touching on the right issue.

VPF announcement No. 15 generally mentioned that "some players and club officials do not fully understand the provisions of the Law, the principles in applying VAR... leading to excessive actions, attitudes, and statements reacting to the referee during and after the match". However, this document absolutely does not mention whether the referee is right or wrong.

Recently, Thanh Hoa Club said they have not even received a response from the complaint from... last season.

Referee Le Vu Linh controversially showed a red card and expelled coach Popov.

The statement of the Head of the Referee Board, Dang Thanh Ha, was even more hesitant: "The important decisions that affected the outcome of the match were all correct." The specific situation and how the analysis was done to reach such a conclusion were not mentioned.

Viewers watching the match between Binh Duong and Ha Tinh were not given an explanation as to why the ball touched Bui Vi Hao's hand in the penalty area but neither the referee nor VAR awarded a penalty. This incident was similar to Marc Cucurella's handball in the EURO 2024 quarter-final between Spain and Germany. UEFA initially explained that the referee's analysis was correct, but two months later came to the opposite conclusion, admitting his mistake.

When learning from the models of the world's leading football leagues, perhaps Vietnamese football managers should also study the processes and solutions related to the refereeing issue. The Premier League - the most attractive tournament on the planet - is also notorious for its "black shirt kings", but at least when an incident occurs, the parties involved give a clear and fair answer.

Ho Chi Minh City Club 2-2 Thanh Hoa.

The Premier League Organizing Committee - the equivalent of VPF - protects the interests of football teams by setting up a committee to review key match situations (Key Match Incidents, abbreviated as KMI).

The group includes representatives of the organizing committee, representatives of the Professional Game Officials' Association (PGMOL, the refereeing governing body in English football) and three former players and coaches. They are responsible for analyzing situations, evaluating referee decisions and the operation of VAR.

KMI will conclude the correctness of the referee's decisions, classify the errors based on the level and forward the report to PGMOL as well as the relevant clubs. For very serious errors, PGMOL will usually publish a public notice.

Recently, the tournament organizers and PGMOL also launched a special program about referee decisions. Howard Webb - Head of the PGMOL refereeing committee - went live to analyze the situations and give his assessment.

Vietnamese football also needs such a model, instead of leaving it to the Referee Board to "both play football and blow the whistle". Establishing an independent committee from the Referee Board to monitor and evaluate the performance of the team that "weighs and balances" the matches can be an effective measure for VPF to protect the interests of the football teams - who are also their shareholders.

In addition, having more than one unit publicly analyze and conclude professionally on all controversial situations will increase the criticism, publicity and transparency of the tournament. Not only the teams but also the fans need to receive satisfactory answers from the referees' controversial situations.

Xiao Ming

Source: https://vtcnews.vn/trong-tai-sai-ranh-ranh-van-duoc-khen-dung-v-league-phai-hoc-ngoai-hang-anh-ar926900.html