Back Off!

Looks like FA chief Brian Barwick is running a pilot program - called "Respect" - which, among other things, is attempting to crack down on players' tendency to crowd referees. Soccernet has the full story here. The most important proposed change is a rule that would only allow the team captain to talk to refs about their decisions. I'm not sure how realistic that rule is, but I am a big fan of the gesture Barwick is making.

Ref intimidation has been a pet peeve of mine ever since I started following football. Ref crowding doesn't draw the same ire that diving or outright bribery does (see: Italy). Nor should it. Still, it can certainly influence the ref to call the game differently. To deny that would give referees far too much credit.

Laying hands on or crowding the ref is also pretty distasteful, and not just for the resemblance to prison shower beatings. It can make superstars seem petty (see: John Terry); and it can take the shine off of otherwise transcendent athletic feats (see: Cristiano Ronaldo). Is that really what we want on matchday?

Then again, I might feel differently about all this if I was a Chelski fan like Blue...