Is there a ban? When did that idiocy happen? Steve Baines was a pro' for Chesterfield and he refereed in EFL league games. What level classifies as pro'? Northern Premier? Isthmian? Southern Central? North East Counties - plenty of them get part-time payments. That disqualifies almost all senior football, only those in what is idiotically classified as Junior Football qualify to ref, and very few of those good at even that level go on to referee. So every ref' you see was a shit footballer?
You don't HAVE to have been a good footballer to be a good ref, but it will help. Martin Atkinson was a good ref' and he started I think at 16, I guess because he wasn't as good at the game as he would have liked. But he understood the game. He clearly could read the game even if he wasn't great at keepie-uppies. He very rarely was hit by the ball or got in the way of the game. Yet apparently top refs now regularly find themselves in the way. He could read what was happening and what would happen next and they can't.
One area where they particularly need a former player is in the VAR room. A prime mover behind VAR, David Elleray, was a rugby player and Geography Master at Harrow. The one good result of his refereeing career was the development and implementation of goal-line technology, which was surely his recompense for having prevented Chesterfield reaching the cup final.
If the rules and refereeing them don't make sense to expert players and former players there IS something very wrong.
I have never built a bridge or even studied the technology, so don't let me try to build one. SIMPLES as the Meercat says.
If a member of an uncontacted tribe wanders out of the Amazon rainforest and is put on a plane to England, in the FA's view he is a better bet to referee a professional football game than someone who played the game at a high level? Yeah that one should work well.
One of the best Rugby League referees was Billy Thompson. He didn't play the game. He was a former professional footballer (for Gillingham I think).
You don't HAVE to have been a good footballer to be a good ref, but it will help. Martin Atkinson was a good ref' and he started I think at 16, I guess because he wasn't as good at the game as he would have liked. But he understood the game. He clearly could read the game even if he wasn't great at keepie-uppies. He very rarely was hit by the ball or got in the way of the game. Yet apparently top refs now regularly find themselves in the way. He could read what was happening and what would happen next and they can't.
One area where they particularly need a former player is in the VAR room. A prime mover behind VAR, David Elleray, was a rugby player and Geography Master at Harrow. The one good result of his refereeing career was the development and implementation of goal-line technology, which was surely his recompense for having prevented Chesterfield reaching the cup final.
If the rules and refereeing them don't make sense to expert players and former players there IS something very wrong.
I have never built a bridge or even studied the technology, so don't let me try to build one. SIMPLES as the Meercat says.
If a member of an uncontacted tribe wanders out of the Amazon rainforest and is put on a plane to England, in the FA's view he is a better bet to referee a professional football game than someone who played the game at a high level? Yeah that one should work well.
One of the best Rugby League referees was Billy Thompson. He didn't play the game. He was a former professional footballer (for Gillingham I think).