The referees see themselves well prepared for the coming season – and yet know that there will be trouble again.
The referees have sweated as much as the professionals in their preparation. Two practical and two theoretical sessions were on the daily programme during the one-week training camp in Herzogenaurach. But despite all the drudgery, the referees know even before the start of the Bundesliga that there will be trouble again in the upcoming season.
“We will never be able to fulfil the general longing for black-and-white scenes,” said video referee boss Jochen Drees, referring to the seemingly inevitable discussions in the coming months: “The rules are not as simple as we want them to be. It is complex and complicated in the details.”
The scenes discussed at the workshop in Frankfurt/Main leave no doubt that especially the interpretations and discretionary leeway in the handball question will again cause numerous debates – although the referees will still be touring the clubs until the end of August to explain the rules in detail to all involved.
During the training sessions that have already been held, the professionals learned what they will be facing in the future. The most important change is that there will be tougher penalties for rough fouls. More sending-offs are programmed. “However, this is not due to the referee, but to the behaviour of the players,” said Peter Sippel, the sporting director of the Bundesliga referees: “Basically, the players mostly know their limits. We had the fewest red cards in Europe last season.”
The professionals are “only” threatened with a yellow for delay of game – but the players will probably also see this colour more often due to a more consistent interpretation of the rules. The same applies to excessive complaints or outbursts of emotion on the sidelines – both of which are to be punished more severely by the 24 designated first division referees.
However, as a result of the hullabaloo surrounding the refereeing performances in the games between Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund last season, it has not yet been finally decided who will be deployed in top matches in the future. “That also depends on how the season develops,” said Sippel, whose flagship protégé Felix Brych is entering what is presumably his last season: “The circle of top match referees will expand with those who have proven themselves.”
According to the referees, it would also be a good thing if the fans in the stadiums could see the same images as the TV viewers when the VAR decisions are made. “We have been making this request for two or three years. I hope there will be some traction now,” expressed Drees, who is putting pressure on the clubs and the German Football League (DFL): “The visual info is the crucial one.”
The referees will perhaps have access to additional visual assistance in the season after next. The introduction of semi-automatic offside recognition decided by the world governing body FIFA for the World Cup finals in Qatar will also be used in the Bundesliga in the medium term.
“If the technology works perfectly, I don’t think you can close your mind to it,” said Drees. Drees mentioned the 2023/24 season as a possible date for its introduction, “perhaps even a little later, because it is also a question of cost”.