Howard Webb hopes for a bit less controversy on Premier League return

Howard Webb returns to Premier League action for the first time since his bruising World Cup final at what should be a less controversial fixture, between West Bromwich Albion and Tottenham Hotspur tomorrow. At least the Yorkshire referee hopes so, since he believes the point of the FA's Respect campaign, which he insists is quietly making a difference, is that officials and their decisions should never become the main focus of attention after a game. "I personally prefer it when there is no debate about the referees," the 39-year-old said. "I went to watch a rugby league game the other week, and it was nice, not seeing any back-chat to refs, but it's not football. Rugby league and union are great sports but football has the biggest draw on people. "When the FA introduced their Respect programme in 2008 and the Premier League complemented that with Get On With The Game, it was important that a stance was made. We were in a position where 8,000 referees were walking away from grass-roots football every year, and only about that number were walking in. Numbers were falling, something had to be done. The abuse of referees which was leading to many walking away from game couldn't continue. The number of cards in the Premier League is now down, and on the field of play the relationship between myself and the players is better now than it ever has been – and it was never that bad. "You'd probably get that response from most of my colleagues. There is a genuine desire to work together. You still see incidents where respect isn't what it should be. You can still find players surrounding referees, trying to make them change their mind over decisions that are quite often correct. That's what you don't see in rugby, but I do think the situation is getting better in football, and the more referees are presented as people the more the level of mutual understanding will improve."That said, Webb is doubtful of the wisdom of post-match press conferences by officials, or appearances on Match of the Day. "Traditionally it is something we've not done but that doesn't mean it is right," he said. "I can see some of the benefits of football supporters seeing and hearing a ref close up. It would help them understand us as refs and also as people. I have had opportunity on occasions to speak on camera to explain decisions and sometimes mistakes, but one of the worries is that quite often when we are asked to comment it is be about controversy, sometimes it might even involve disciplinary sanction where sub judice comes into play. There's a concern it would be just about the negatives, so we've not gone down that route willingly." Many of the post-match controversies in the modern game are either created or magnified by the presence of cameras, often picking up what the referee has missed, but Webb believes officials have no need to fear their decisions being scrutinised after the event, especially the ones involving abuse or dissent from players, where the viewing public tend to be on their side. "Referees just need to have confidence to do their job with courage," he said. "Just do the job you are sent out to do. If you see an incident, there's a camera that will pick it up anyway. In terms of players abusing me or my assistants I would always be strong on supporting my team if a player runs from a distance. If they are already close by and they make a comment that it wasn't a good decision, in the heat of frustration, I can probably live with it. I have no desire to have games end up seven against seven and I understand the passion football creates. That's what makes it the game it is. But then is the frustration acceptable? Has it gone into dissent? If someone has run 30 yards to have a word from one yard then he has had 30 yards of thinking time. As professional people players should know the outcome. "They should have the self-restraint to think. But players all know by now they are going to get cautioned for taking a shirt off, yet even on a yellow card they'll still do it. That shows the emotion they are experiencing. Personally I don't mind that, but showing glasses to an assistant or waving their arms publicly undermines my authority and I'd do something. "Uefa are strong on players asking for a yellow card for others now too. In the Champions League that should never happen any more. It has been introduced into the Premier League as a word of advice that if you ask for a yellow card you might get a caution yourself." One area where Webb believes football could usefully borrow from rugby is in marching players back 10 yards for dissent, more if the process is repeated. Football in this country did adopt such a policy for a short time, only to see the wider game abandon the experiment, apparently because nations unfamiliar with rugby were struggling with the concept. "We tried it and then it was dropped, but I saw some benefits," Webb said. "Territory is not such an advantage in football as in rugby but it can be. If there was an element of flexibility where you could keep advancing the ball, then surely would that have an impact. IFAB made the decision that it wasn't right for football based on their research. The feeling was that it wouldn't be possible to implement worldwide, I think." One imagines a 10-yard rule would be easier to introduce worldwide than cameras within the goal frame, giant screen appeals, or whatever else is necessary to avoid repeats of the Thierry Henry/Frank Lampard injustices beamed around the globe. "Clearly what happened in South Africa [with Lampard] brought the issue acutely into people's focus," Webb said. "I understand Fifa will re-examine the possibility of introducing assistance, initially on the goal-line, but that will take time. I've an open mind to anything that makes my job easier, or makes me more credible, though it needs to fulfil certain criteria. It must be 100% accurate, reliable, almost instantaneous. "We are going into this year's Champions League season with additional referees behind the goals, and that's got to be a positive for me if I have two experienced people I trust. We are still using human opinion in these decisions, and while some goal-line technology might be the way forward, we are in 2010 and we don't have it. That suggests to me it is a difficult thing to introduce, without changing the nature of a game that is fast-flowing and high tempo. "The ball over the line call is difficult for referees and assistants who may not be right on the spot, and sometimes I feel in a less than privileged position by not having the opportunity to turn to technology, but that's where we are. Whatever we change, you can bet that in 100 years someone will still be sitting arguing about what to change next."