These observations and comments are based upon several years’ worth of watching MLS matches, upon this year’s detailed analysis of many matches as a coach/mentor in the new program of assessment at the professional level, and after many long conversations with referees active in Major League Soccer. The remarks about consequences for the national program are based upon my experience as a former Director of Instruction and member of the National Referee Committee, and now as a national instructor and national assessor. The estimate of effects upon the United States Soccer Federation as a whole are based upon my international experience, first as a referee of matches involving national teams from all the world’s confederations, and subsequently as an instructor in half-a-dozen different countries.

OBSERVATIONS:

Major League Soccer is encouraging and instructing referees to violate the Laws of the Game. The motivation for this appears to be an attempt to eliminate controversial decisions, and to protect star players from disciplinary action that would normally be taken by a referee fulfilling his/her duty to the game. Examples:

• Referees were told that "not every denial of a goal-scoring opportunity should result in a red card". This instruction is an obvious breach of the Laws of the Game, and a rejection of FIFA’s decision to change the nature of the game by eliminating these reprehensible fouls.
• Referees have been instructed to change the emphasis of decision-making in offside situations, when the score is heavily in favor of the attacking team. After giving the benefit of the doubt to attackers throughout the game, the officials must in these situations, now favor the defenders.
• Referees are advised to refrain from adding time lost when to continue with extra time might produce a late goal and thereby a controversial ending to the game. In the Laws of the Game, the referee is required to add time lost, the amount of which will be a matter for discretion.
• Referees are criticized when they take action against players who verbally abuse them. As is clearly seen on television broadcasts, assistant referees have been assailed with “puta” and worse, with no action taken, and in a recent case, when one player.not for the first time.went after the referee at the end of the game with "…fucking…" this and "…fucking . . ." that, clearly seen on tape, the official was complimented for his restraint when he issued only a yellow card. The administration of the MLS prefers that officials "work with players" (a euphemism for backing off) to prevent red cards. The effect of this policy is that players continue with such abuse year after year, when a week or two of resolute action by officials would eliminate the behavior, as is the case in other countries.
• In another, admittedly isolated case, a referee was criticized for not stopping play when the ball struck him, after which play continued and led to a goal being scored. That the Laws of the Game specify that play shall continue appears not to have been of interest, and seems to represent a prevailing attitude in the MLS administration: We will modify the Laws to suit what we imagine the American audience wants, or what our coaches and owners want.
• Referees are being second-guessed when they administer a second yellow card late in a game, as though the Laws of the Game are somehow to be suspended as the match draws to a close. The latest case was Brian Hall, in a game where an array of assessors, all present at the game, and all with professional and international experience, concluded he did the right thing. But it was not what the league officials, watching on television, wanted with playoffs approaching.
• Even on simple issues like the wearing of jewelry, the league equivocates. One week of enforcing the Laws of the Game, and the extravagant necklaces, hooped earrings and all the rest on display in the MLS would be history, as they are in any professional league outside the United States. But why won’t the MLS support referees who insist? We might not like the rule, but our contract with the rest of the world as members of FIFA, requires that our Federation enforce it. And the MLS enforce it too.

• Over the years, the National Referee Program has produced written material designed to standardize officiating nationwide, and more importantly, to make our work conform to the mores of refereeing worldwide."Advice to Referees . . ." and "Guide to Procedures . . ." are two such excellent documents that express our wish to be well-regarded and respected throughout the world.
• The most public display of our refereeing is in the weekly matches of the MLS, televised everywhere. In those matches, under pressure from the MLS administration, our referees are violating the very policies the National Referee program is trying to emphasize.
• Our international referees, constantly under observation by FIFA officials outside the U.S., are trying to sail between the proverbial rock and hard place, by attempting to mollify the MLS in order to keep getting the games they need to stay on the international panel, all the while knowing that in doing so they are violating their training, experience and sense of what is right for the game, thereby damaging their chances of progress internationally, not to mention offending their moral rectitude. Pavlov’s dogs, condemned to choose between the dictates of instinct, and the demands of their masters, had an easier time making decisions.
• Worse yet, referees around the country are asking: "Why should I do what you are telling me, when the referees in the MLS don’t do it?" That question, asked often enough, will destroy the very foundation of our instructional program at all levels of the game. Do we want our young players to behave like Mathis, Etcheverry, Meola? Do we want to return our game to the days when chopping down an opponent was the last line of defence? Do we want offside to be called on a whim, as it was in the days before our instructional program led the world in showing referees how Law XI should be called? Do we want to produce a generation of "political" referees without the backbone to do what is right for the game?

EFFECTS UPON THE UNITED STATES SOCCER FEDERATION:

• For any nation , the national professional league is the flagship of the soccer fleet. It shows the most sophisticated standard of play, the most skilful players, the best refereeing and a high level of entertainment provided by an athletic contest properly controlled within the world’s set of rules. For any fan, it is entertainment at its best, but it is first and foremost an athletic contest operating within a set of rules. Those rules.The Laws of the Game.are a contract with FIFA and the rest of the world, that we will play this great game as it is played the world over. We have no right to change them, and whenever we do, the soccer world sees and wonders why. Our reputation suffers.
• Players in the MLS are being granted unsporting privileges that are not available in any other nation’s professional league. All season long I have watched Mathis berate referees, Etcheverry take control of a game away from the referee, Los Angeles systematically cheat the clock without interference (and with no comment from the league), Beasley and Donovan get butchered regularly, Meola insult referees in the foulest way after matches, coaches behave as though in bedlam. The acceptance of misconduct is pervasive and explained by many of the referees as confusion and a matter of survival arising from contradictory instructions they are being given before, during and after matches. The Federation says one thing, but the officials know they must bow to the dictates of the league if they wish to continue in the MLS, and possibly thence step up to the international panel. Five of our present FIFA referees have said the same thing in conversations I have had with them this season. Is there any other country where the national football association does not control the officiating, and does not determine disciplinary measures against players? It is manifestly impossible for employees of a league to take appropriate action against the players under contract to the people who pay those league employees. I hear Santayana’s voice loud and clear: We have not learned from the mistakes of the North American Soccer League, and we will be condemned to repeat its history.

  I am sure that administrators and coaches in the MLS believe that what they are doing is the right thing for the survival of the league. Keep the stars on the field every week, eliminate controversial decisions, preserve "balance" in a match, don’t make an issue of dissent, don’t make trouble, and the spectators and sponsors will want to stay. Those of us with a great depth and breadth of international experience know otherwise: People the world over enjoy the sport as a competitive, properly-controlled display of skill, athleticism and strategy. Build them this edifice, and they will come.

  It is easy to understand that coaches want all their players on the field every week; their job depends upon it. But let them ensure their employment by managing the players, not by compromising the referees. A couple of weeks ago, a coach in the Premiership in England fined one of his own players after he was sent off for a foul tackle. “I have no qualms about the sending off. I will fine Danny the maximum allowed [two weeks' wages] because I think it was a stupid thing to do,” said the manager. Can we imagine that in the MLS? One of our coaches believed that a referee was excessive in giving a yellow card to Meola after he used foul and insulting language after the game. That player had previously done the same thing to Heron and to Valenzuela. Three coaches verbally abused and insulted Brian Hall after a game in which he did what was right, but not what the league had encouraged. The MLS has created the atmosphere in which a world-class referee whose recent performance in the World Cup was noted and admired around the planet, was abused by supposedly professional coaches in his own country. The league would prefer Brian be excluded, along with other right-minded referees who do what the Laws of the Game require.

SUGGESTIONS FOR CHANGE:

• Insist that control of assignment and education of MLS referees be the task of the instructional and assessment staff of the United States Soccer Federation, and not employees and consultants for the league.
• Prepare a program of education for owners and managers of clubs, explaining the benefits of a well-controlled professional league, the example it sets for the rest of the soccer community, and how it can contribute to the continued growth of the sport in the U.S.
• Use the National Referee testing session and regional courses to immerse the referees in everything that will be required of them in professional and international soccer. Set a uniform standard for them to aspire to and adhere to, and thereby set an example for referees in all levels of play.
• Conduct training to increase the cadre of assessors for the professional league.

FINAL COMMENTS:

This is no more than a summary statement. I can document and elaborate upon everything herein, and am fully prepared to assist with the implementation of any of my suggestions.