If Robots Are Refs Who Will We Blame?

It's the 89th minute of the World Cup Final between the US and Japan.  The score is tied 3-3 and it has been a thrilling game.  The US is on the attack now with the ball being played wide to Szetela.  He takes a touch and fires a cross into Dempsey.  Dempsey controls the ball.  Takes a quick touch by the defender and TWEET!!!! Penalty!  The referee has blown a penalty in favor of the US!  The Japanese are furious and surrounding the ref complaining about the call.  The referee takes a step back and talks in Japanese, 1 of 48 languages he is fluent in, and reminds the Japanese that he does not make mistakes.  Only humans do that.

Who is this ref that talks to players in such a way?  What referee calls a penalty in the 89th minute of a tie game in the World Cup?  It is Referee Asimo and he is the center referee for the first robotic refereeing crew in the World Cup. 

There was much hype about the robot crew's release for the World Cup, and all teams were excited about the fact that their games would now be perfectly officiated right down to the letter of the law.  However, after the first game of the tournament between England and Brasil when Asimo issued 6 yellow cards at the start of the 2nd half because some of the players forgot to tuck in their jerseys, many people started to rethink their position on these little robotic rule enforcers.  Some of the yellow cards would go on to force 4 of the players to miss the third game and there will for sure be complaints to FIFA about the severe penalty, but you have to like how the ref is enforcing the rules right?

In fact a record of 142 yellow cards and 38 red cards were given out during the tournament by the robotic crew who was following the letter of the law.  Russia only fielded a team of 8 players in their quarter-final match due to all the suspensions they had acquired through yellow card accumulation.  After a couple of clumsy challenges and a few swear words the Russians were forced to forfeit when they were reduced to 6 players due to more red cards. 

The press conference after the game was interesting and we were able to find out how the ref could act in such a way in during a big game.

Reporter: How could you issue the yellow cards to players who were already in the books for such trivial offenses?  They were leaving their hearts and souls on that field.

Asimo: Don't you read the rules?  Don't the players know the rules?  I know the rules and they broke them so I gave them what they deserved.

Reporters: But isn't it harsh to force a team who started the game with 8 players to forfeit? 

Asimo: Maybe you did not hear me before or should I switch to a language that you can better understand?  They broke the rules and they were punished for it.  Whether there are 8 players or 11 players on the field it does not matter.  A rule is a rule.

Looking back at the tournament FIFA determined that Asimo and his crew did in fact get every call right the entire tournament.  But despite what seemed like flawless refereeing by the Asimo crew, the losing teams still complained.  Nobody predicted that would happen when such great measures were taken to ensure the teams all had a fair chance to win.  So FIFA had to file the robotic ref complaints along with the condition of the fields, the ball being bad, the sun was a bit too bright, the posts were not round enough, and all the other reasons why team's lost into the ever growing, but never changing, complaint log.  Since there have been so many complaints FIFA is thinking of allowing AsiGoal! and other robot players in the next World Cup to limit the complaining.

The Controversy

Everyone has been involved in games where the referee has "blown it" for your team.  The ref has cost you the game because of a bad call or a series of bad calls.  There is nothing more frustrating than losing the game in the final minutes because of a referees decision.  I am not saying that referees have no impact on a game, because they can have a major impact.  But, what most people realize, after they settle down, is that they probably could have done something to prevent the referee from ruining the game for them.  Some people may say it is a shame that Asimo's current top speed of only 6km/hr is not fast enough and we are still a ways off from perfection with our robotic refs. 

Before we begin using robots for referees, there are a couple of questions that I have:

-Would the robots take the emotion out of the game?  Officials are lightning rods for emotional outbursts.

-Would players, coaches, and fans still yell at the referee?  He is always right and you cannot belittle him.

-Will he have a button to calm everyone down?

-How will the Italian mob be able to buy the ref?  What will they threaten him with? 

Being involved in high school soccer I hear and see a lot of complaints about the referees all year long, but it really picks up at the Section and State Tournaments.  There are a lot of teams playing but it seems that it is a popular belief that the referees lose more games than teams do.  Are there bad calls?  Of course.  Are there bad decisions made by refs?  I've seen quite a few this fall.  But in spite of all of the things that referees do wrong or right I still have not seen one of them put the ball into the back of the net for a team.

It is very tough to work so hard during a game and then have a call go against you late and the other team capitalizes on it and scores the winning goal.  It can be heartbreaking.  But you (coaches and teams) put yourselves into that situation.  If you know a ref is bad you have to adjust and play according to his rules because those are the rules.  Even if you didn't foul the other team and he calls one anyways, you can bail the ref out by marking up properly and clearing the ball.  Even if there is a penalty kick called, your goalie can still save the ball.  

The main point is; if your team is good enough you will have a couple of chances to score during a game.  Whether or not you finish your chances determines if you win or lose.  Keeping possession of the ball is another good way to take the referee out of the game.  Work on your skills and keep the ball.  (Most refs will find it very tough to call a foul on the team who just completed their 15th consecutive pass in the opponents end.  Besides, even if he does call a foul the ball will be in your opponents half so it really shouldn't matter.)  But despite these options it will always be easier to complain than to take the blame.

One last point is that even if you could complain you always have to remember what Ron Bolton said;

Officials are the only guys who can rob you and then get a police escort out of the stadium. 

Author: Andy Kaasa