In the just-concluded 16th round of the Chinese Super League, penalty disputes continued to emerge.
In Shanghai Seaport's 3-1 win over Wuhan Sanzhen, referee Maning showed Wuhan Sanzhen players 3 yellows and 2 reds within 4 minutes of the first half. In the first half, Kalon fell to the ground during a confrontation with Wang Yi. After a 4-minute VAR confirmation, the referee confirmed that defender Wang Yi pulled Caron. Although Oscar's penalty kick was saved, this penalty still caused controversy, especially when a similar scene appeared in Shanghai Seaport's penalty area a few minutes before this penalty, but the referee did not respond.
In addition, Renhang was suspected of elbowing an opposing player in defense. Manning showed him a second yellow card, but he wasn't penalized the first time the yellow turned to red. He didn't know whether he forgot to show the red card or forgot that Ren Hang had already carried a yellow card before.
Manning (name)
In the "relegation battle" of Nantong Zhiyun's 1-1 draw with Dalian Ren, Nantong Zhiyun's Romario passed to Guihong after half-time. The latter continuously beat the opponent's guards to break through the goal, and the assistant referee signaled the first offside. After listening to VAR's advice, referee Mai Maiti Jiang judged the ball offside after two minutes. However, it was clear from the long view that Guihong was still in his own half at the moment Romario played the ball. According to the rules, he was not offside.
This is just a microcosm of the refereeing controversies in the Chinese Super League this season. In the previous 15 rounds of the league, many referees were penalized internally by the FA for errors and omissions. However, in contrast, the clubs' right to complain was removed before the start of the season. The CFA's explanation for this was that "the club commenting measure is against the spirit related to refereeing penalties associated with international soccer. FIFA has always prohibited players from protesting or complaining about controversial penalties. Even if there are obvious mistakes and omissions, the organizers will impose internal penalties on the responsible referees involved, but the exact results will not be made public and the scores will not be corrected."
Chinese professional soccer referees have repeatedly been on the tip of the public opinion, which is the result of multiple factors. On the one hand, the irregular schedule of professional matches in the first three years not only affects the players' condition, but also the referees'; on the other hand, the Chinese Super League is one of the first leagues in the world to use VAR technology, but Chinese referees' mastery of the technology is not optimistic, and misjudgments are often made after the intervention of VAR. On the contrary, the pace of the game became fragmented due to the frequent intervention of VAR, which did not avoid penalty disputes. In addition, it is difficult for both teams to see "intent" in the same match.
This season, clubs have no complaints mechanism, and club officials and players are often fined by the FA for comments made on social media. However, the abolition of the complaints mechanism does not mean that the FA can "cover their ears". On the contrary, they need to take more measures to check and correct themselves and improve themselves. Punishing the wrong referees is not about punishing themselves, but about easing the emotions of clubs and fans through communication channels. Opaque internal sanctions are therefore powerful in this regard.
The practice of the English Premier League and the German Bundesliga this season may be worthy of reference. After a penalty dispute has arisen, the league officials will face the public as soon as possible, give the correct criteria for the penalty, and characterize the correctness or incorrectness of the penalty. If it is confirmed to be a major misjudgment, the referee will be publicly criticized and punished, and the relevant organization will also apologize.
For example, the Premier League Refereeing Company, which was responsible for refereeing matters in the Premier League last season, publicly apologized more than a dozen times because of the referees' wrong decisions. Although a public apology will not change the outcome of the game, nor can it make up for the loss of the club caused by the wrong decision, it can to some extent make up for the referee's relationship with the fans and clubs. In the long run, a more transparent and open "return to work" or even punishment will give the governing body more incentive to improve its management level, and not only will it not damage the prestige of the entire refereeing industry, but it will also enhance the outside world's confidence in and expectations of the refereeing body's continuous improvement, which is in fact no different from the purpose of FIFA.
It is worth mentioning that the Chinese Super League tournament management has taken a step in this direction: Nantong Zhiyun and Dalian People's game after the end of the referee management overnight review, according to the material of all parties to judge the second assistant referee offside error, and on the 13th to the Nantong Zhiyun club apology, commitment to further improve the referee's level of penalties, to avoid major errors and omissions. Although this apology is still "internal" in form, but at least reflects the space of healthy communication between the league participants and managers, but also to a certain extent reflects the league managers are eager to improve the will.
The return of home and away matches in China's professional leagues and the rising popularity of stadiums and ratings are sure to put more pressure on referees and league managers. However, this pressure is a "happy pressure". Soccer practitioners and managers should cherish the popularity of the Chinese professional league, continuously improve their business and management skills, improve the league environment, and rebrand Chinese professional soccer in a fair and transparent way.
