Let's hear what's said on football pitches – using referees' mics

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/oct/30/football-referees-mics-mark-clattenburg

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Who in their right minds would want to be a referee? There is absolutely no excuse for abuse in sport, racist or otherwise, whether it's from players, managers and coaching staff, referees, commentators or fans. That should be the consensual starting point. But for just about everyone involved in football, the ref is considered fair game, not for the most part picked on because of their race, or gender, but rather their professionalism, their eyesight, and of course whether their parents are married or not.

The allegations that Mark Clattenburg used racist language against two Chelsea players during the Chelsea v Manchester United game last Sunday followed a torrent of criticism for the decisions he made during the match, which appeared to swing the advantage United's way. These allegations need to be investigated properly. But outside this particular case, as we approach the 150th anniversary of the founding of football's first governing body, the Football Association, we need to rethink the rules of football, and thus how it is refereed.

Paid a fraction of the money the players will be earning just to sit on the subs bench, referees are never likely to approach the financial security of most managers' dismissal packages and unable to enjoy the partisanship of fandom or the all-expenses-paid lifestyle of the commentators and match reporters. The ref, with one or two exceptions in the entire history of world football, is accorded little or no respect and precious few obvious rewards either. Only at the top level will they even earn a full-time wage, for the rest they are part of the hidden army of voluntary labour which keeps football functioning in this country, unpaid.

The Premier League of course soaks up almost all the media coverage, the super-rich financiers and the big-money sponsors. But on any Saturday, or more likely Sunday, the game is played as it always was. Each and every one of those games from Sunday league level upwards depend on the men, or women, in black giving up their time and for the abuse received, an indecent chunk of their self-respect. The trickle-down effect from Premier League misbehaviour is pretty much all negative, with the worst news of all the abuse and disrespect for the rules and officials of the game now infecting youth and children's football too.

A rethink on refereeing at elite level would involve tackling the innate conservatism of the game, not simply improving the accuracy of crucial decisions, which is what goal-line technology would surely provide, but also finding ways to arrest the inexorable decline of fair play on the pitch too. Give the power back to the referee to dish out punishments to fit the offence. Why not a rugby union-style sin bin? Award a penalty for a red card offence wherever the foul is committed on the pitch? A fifth official with video recording to enable post-match penalties for any offences missed by the ref during the game? All three would decisively shift the balance of power away from the rule-breakers towards those who uphold, and play by, the rules.

Ironically, the technology for perhaps the most effective rule change to clean up football is already in place and could be crucial either to clear Clattenburg's name, or condemn him. Referees in football have microphones in order to communicate with their fourth official but, unlike in rugby where fans can purchase a matchday radio to listen in to the ref, nobody else has access to these conversations.

The suspicion after the John Terry affair and Wayne Rooney's foul-mouthed expletives to camera is that if we could listen in, the much-prized and hugely lucrative sponsorships and endorsements would be removed almost instantly. More broadly the role model status the game likes to wrap itself in would be stripped naked. Football left to either change and embrace the responsibilities of its extraordinarily broad appeal or to narrow its popularity, and decline. All it might take is to switch on the ref's mic for public consumption. If its good enough for the egg-chasers, isn't it time the people's game earned our freedom of information too?