ABCs of MLS officiating - LOL

Appalling, Atrocious, Apoplectic. Referees have rarely had the respect of fans, but increasingly the current state of refereeing affairs in MLS is so appalling that they no longer have the respect of the players or the coaches.  This week’s result after the road trip to RSL was a tough one for Quakes fans to swallow after referee David Ganter awarded an atrocious game changing penalty for a dive, and initially red carded the wrong player (Brad Ring) for the ‘tackle’.  Quakes captain Chris Wondolowski went apoplectic, arguing the case for his men, but after consultation with his assistant after the initial call, Ganter then red carded Bobby Burling.  At this point replays had shown conclusively that neither Burling nor Ring had touched Saborio, and even the home newspaper agrees it was a dive, which opened the floodgates for the 4-0 victory to RSL. Sure, I would rather win than lose, but I’d much rather lose to RSL than to the referee.   

Believability, Burling, Blind (these are words with a B this time; kudos if you know which song this comes from).   This was David Ganter’s seventh game as an MLS referee; in the first six he had already awarded two red cards, so now he is three for seven – I guess we shouldn’t have been too surprised then.  His believability will surely be under scrutiny, and we can only hope that the MLS mentor program will show him how to improve his field positioning to make such crucial calls.  The assistant was in no position to make the call in this situation as Burling was hidden from his view by Saborio, and Ganter himself was blinded by Ring.  This is the sort of ineffectual officiating that recently led RSL’s coach, Jason Kreis, to propose to his Revs counterpart Stevie Nichol that they walk out of their game in protest at the officiating. 

Credibility, Consistency, Confidence. The biggest hurdle to credibility of MLS referees is consistency.  Not only does a referee need to apply the rules consistently throughout a game (absolutely my biggest exasperation) but I also perceive a lack of consistency from game to game.  MLS has the reputation among players who have played in Europe as a free for all, with only egregious fouls being called.  This results in a physical game and only serves to promote overly dramatic writhing on the grass in order to draw the call.  I also believe it might have been one reason the USMNT suffered a spate of red cards once they got to the Confederations and World Cups, where the international FIFA referees were more fastidious.  MLS will only become a truly professional league, when everyone's confident that the players don’t have to re-calibrate their game each time they play. 

So there you have the ABC of this week’s MLS game in RSL where the Quakes were SOL - not much LOL for this fan.  In the coming week we’ll see how the league addresses the letter D - for diving.  Bring your game jerseys next week Quakes fans, there might be a few spaces on the bench. I’ll bet Busch’s run in with Jason Kreis after the game, and his friendly wave to the referee after the penalty (not all fingers extended), will be rewarded with a day off.