Cricket row a worry for the refs too

Accountability is important in

all walks of life and after the incredible

decision of the ICC to drop

umpire Steve Bucknor from the third

Test between Australia and India it

appears that adjudicators are rightly

subject to it.

Bucknor certainly did

not have the best of games in the

second Test but was still due to

stand in Perth until the tourists

made their objections to the ICC.

The fact that Billy Bowden has

been drafted in to replace Bucknor

leaves officials of all sports with a

very uneasy feeling.

Accountability is not only necessary

but also desirable from the arbiters'

viewpoint. Being made a scapegoat is

not and certainly a game's ruling

body reacting to pressure from one of

the participating teams cannot be

right.

These tactics are often employed to

cover a shortcoming or wrongdoing

of the objecting party. A football boss

will often rant at a ref after a defeat

in the hope that his selection policy

or tactics will not be blamed for the

defeat.

This season we have seen Barclays

Premier League referees and

assistants 'rested' following highprofile

mistakes, justified in the

interests of accountability. In some

cases this has been done publicly,

which I cannot see as beneficial to

the future performance levels of the

official concerned.

But it has not been claimed that

clubs have tried to influence referees'

chief Keith Hackett into giving them the official they want or, more likely,

do not want. That is the case with

cricket this week with the ICC succumbing

to the tourists' demands for

Bucknor's removal.

Let's hope that this is not happening

in football, although I would be

surprised to see either Mark Clattenburg

at Goodison Park or Rob Styles

at Anfield in the near future.

The standard of umpiring at the

top level appears to be on the decline

and I am sure that one of the reasons

is technology. I am amazed to see

well-placed umpires calling for a TV

review of a run out when it is clear

the batsman has not made his

ground. They are uncertain and

unwilling to make a decision as there

is a failsafe to refer to. But it is the

knowledge that you must make those

close calls which keeps you sharp

and able to get the majority right.

If video replays were introduced

into football, then refs would, quite

naturally, refer to them more often,

no doubt with some player insistence.

This would lead to the game

becoming more stop-start and losing

the pace which fans find so attractive.

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