This Is Guernsey

Guernsey referees’ officer Graham Skuse, left, with Premier League and 2004 Muratti final referee Howard Webb, who gave a talk to local officials this week. (Picture by Daniel Guerin, 0571628)

PREMIER League referee Howard Webb’s early fixtures at that exalted level were not supposed to be auspicious.

Featuring the likes of Fulham and Wolverhampton Wanderers, they were generally clashes in the lower half of the league. Yet Webb found himself making the news pages of the tabloids as well as featuring in the back pages after his first five games all finished 0-0.

‘The referee’s a blanker’ was The Sun’s headline. Goalless draws may sometimes be boring for the spectators, but the reality is anything but for the man in the middle.

‘Every referee knows that at 0-0 every decision is a big one – you can never relax. For that to happen was absolutely unbelievable.’

Talking to local officials as the latest on referees’ officer Graham Skuse’s hit list of speakers, Webb, 36, who is currently taking a sabbatical from his police career to develop his refereeing, revealed that he feels as keenly about the game and his own performance as any player.

And when his one and only appearance at the Carling Cup final in 2007 ended in a near riot on the pitch, with three dismissals in injury time, he felt the despair so much that he immediately took to the dressing room after having received his medal and, once there, hurled it against the wall.

And so referees can and will spend hours dissecting their performances on video and discussing them with their senior colleagues.

Webb said that setting and maintaining high standards was crucial.

‘We are refereeing probably the best league in the world and I think we play a small part in that. But those who play and those who pay are the most important people in the game.’

He might have surprised many with the revelation that referees are encouraged to think of two audiences – the players and crowd in the stadium and the sometimes millions watching on television. And the TV audience is seen as the more crucial.

‘We know that the TV cameras will prove us right and that things will be picked up by the camera,’ he said, ‘and so we are encouraged to see the TV game as more important.’

And, inevitably, discussion turned to the issue of player dissent.

Webb is encouraged by the progress he has seen.

‘When we look back at history, this will be seen as a watershed season,’ he said.

‘I hope we don’t lose the momentum we have gained. But generally speaking the relationship between the players and the officials is good.’

Article posted on 30th April, 2008 - 2.29pm