Howard Webb states, “When you consider refereeing, confidence is a major factor.” “It requires mental discipline and tenacity to be effective. My responsibility is to ensure that referees enter their positions feeling confident and supported.”
The most successful referee of the Premier League era has returned to the English game after an absence of eight years. His job supervising referees in the United States had expired, and he had been in talks about returning home for some time, but Webb’s appointment as the first chief refereeing officer in the elite game has the air of a necessity since the men in black need all the assistance they can get.
In 2010, at the height of his officiating career, Webb oversaw the Champions League and World Cup finals within a month of one another. Before social media made accusations of prejudice fashionable, he was also labeled a hidden Manchester United devotee. So, both on and off the field, he has an understanding of how officiating operates.
Now, he will be expected to invest the funds allocated to him by the Premier League as part of its Elite Referee Development Plan and generate the anticipated returns.
Webb’s job experience in the United States has given him some ideas, but there are still significant obstacles that will not be easily overcome, most notably VAR. Webb describes himself as a “strong proponent” of video refereeing, an opinion he attributes to watching Thierry Henry handled the ball against the Republic of Ireland en route to the 2010 World Cup and missing Nigel de Jong’s kung fu kick on Xabi Alonso in the final.
He states, “That decision lives with me.” “I desired to get it properly, but I couldn’t view it correctly. Why not have the ability to immediately correct the issue in real-time?”
Webb understands the purpose of VAR: to provide peace of mind to officials, not to re-referee the game. “I must ensure uniformity around the question VARs have been instructed to ask: was [the referee’s decision] incorrect?” he says. But he also agrees that the technology’s very existence can have unintended repercussions.
He compares VAR to a safety net and referees to individuals walking a tightrope. The safety net might alter the referee’s attitude to a task and reduce their fear of making an error.
“Much of our work must involve ensuring that they walk the tightrope as if there were no safety net,” he explains. He also desires for referees to be more prepared to reject the advice of a VAR, particularly when they are summoned to the pitchside monitor, but he is aware that referees are listening to peers who may impart their counsel forcibly.
“I’ve never refereed with VAR, so I don’t know how it impacts your psychology as a referee,” he acknowledges.
The improvement of referees’ decision-making is a second significant obstacle. Webb thinks that standards have improved since he hung up his whistle in 2014, but that the speed and intricacy of top football have increased even more rapidly.
He also acknowledges that, regardless of what the numbers indicate, supporters do not typically feel any improvement. “The fact that there has been a shift and that I’ve been called in indicates that there is a desire to lift the bar even higher,” he says. There is an anticipation that they will improve.
Webb feels that continuous communication, along with an expanded recruitment effort and additional coaching for referees (with experienced Premier League officials Jon Moss and Martin Atkinson already hired for such roles), will be crucial to rectifying the situation.
In the United States, he made it a routine to link up referees and officials with broadcasters after each round of matches to debate difficult rulings. He feels this has both informed media coverage and dispelled the aura of mystery surrounding the sport.
He hopes to undertake a similar endeavor in England, but he recognizes that even this is not without risk. “You don’t want officials to become superstars,” he argues. “However, there is a distinct sentiment that perception [of refereeing] might be improved, as could the level of openness. And I believe that to be true.”
According to Webb, in the United States, where football is an upstart sport seeking to confront entrenched powers, the message about referees and VAR was “don’t destroy the idea.” Allow for criticism, yet support what the game was attempting to do. To rehabilitate officiating in England, a different mentality will be necessary.
Webb says, “I believe there is certainly less forgiveness here in general.” “Because the link with football is ingrained in this community, there is considerable resistance to change. Here, information is subject to a different level of examination compared to overseas.
When a desire for change meets the reality of English football, aspirations of transparency and openness are frequently derailed. However, Webb has already achieved success and endured arduous training before undertaking the impossible task of officiating.
In an era of pervasive media, he possesses the charisma and self-assurance necessary for a leading role in the game. If the objective is to convince the public that a questionable handball penalty judgment was not the result of a sophisticated conspiracy, he has as good a chance as anyone.
