Sports refereeing has always been a controversial topic in the sports world. Referees undergo a lot of criticism for certain calls or miscalls during sporting events. Sometimes that criticism may not be necessary and just is simply futile, coming from biased fans who were negatively affected by a good call. But many times, criticism is necessary since many of these decisions made by referees can be questionable. A perfect example would be the recent Lions vs. Cowboys game, in which an offensive lineman for the Detroit Lions was deemed ineligible for catching the football because the referee said he had never checked in as eligible before the play. This would have been a completely normal and acceptable call if there wasn’t live television footage of that same lineman walking up to the referee and saying something, which probably was him checking in since there usually would be no other reason for a lineman to walk up to a referee before a play. That mistake by the referee ended up costing the Lions a very important win. The NFL demoted the refereeing crew for that game just a couple of hours after the game had ended and prohibited them from refereeing the playoffs, for at least this season, a rare sighting in the sports community, considering these leagues don’t ever really punish their officials like this, but that might have been a proper approach to such an impactful and horrible mistake. But in general, the NFL has struggled with refs in the past, especially this season, as multiple teams have suffered losses due to questionable calls or missing obvious penalties.
We are all human; everyone makes mistakes, and there are no exceptions. Referees making bad decisions or missing penalties is something that is bound to happen, but that also that is their job, so if someone is as inconsistent as some referees are, it does not look good for the league or the referees themselves. That leads to another issue in the sports world, which is the problem of sports betting. Sports betting itself isn’t an issue; many people find it fun to gamble while using their sports knowledge, but the involvement of players, coaches, and officials is. In 2007, there was a huge scandal in the NBA in which referee Tim Donaghy placed bets on games in which he officiated. That was an obvious problem because he, as an official, could negatively impact the game in order to fulfill his parlays. The scandal was so large that the FBI had to step in alongside the NBA and investigate the whole situation. Donaghy was then found guilty and sentenced to 15 months in prison. That is just one of the extremely rare cases in which a referee was actually caught, but this is still a problem in the dark side of the sports world to this day. Leagues need to address this issue more than they already do, considering this not only affects fans, players, and coaching staff but also the league itself, as people lose interest in a league that does not enforce its rules properly and isn’t trustworthy.
In today’s sports world, players are fined for every small mistake they make in the eyes of the big leagues, any overly flashy celebration, taunting comment, or even a social media comment. Another way to prevent referees from purposefully making bad calls or turning their backs on things is to apply these fines to referees as well. That way, even if they want to let their emotions take control or try to earn money from shady activities, they will have to pay a fine exactly like the players they are officiating. It is honestly a doable fix for these big leagues, considering referees are the least penalized people in the sports world, while players and coaches have to walk on a very thin line in order to not face punishments. Don’t get me wrong, I am not against referees at all; they are vital pieces of the sports world, but they have such an important role that big mistakes can change the outcome of a whole season. Officiating is a must for balance to exist in the sports world.
