Question Number: 22762

Other 1/27/2010

RE: 3 Adult

Jim Pace of Mt Gambier, SA australia asks...

Who has jurisdiction over a referee who may have done something wrong.

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

What do you mean by 'wrong'?

Wrong meaning 'I didn't agree with his call'? No one.

Wrong meaning 'The ref beat up one of the players'? I'd be calling the police.

Wrong meaning 'The ref misapplied the Laws of the Game'? The appeals/protest committee of the competition authority.

Wrong meaning 'The ref was way over his head in this game and lost control'? You could start with the referee assignor. If that gets you nowhere, try the referee heirarchy in your area. I don't know how AUS does it, but in the US we have positions such as State Referee Administer and State Referee Director of Instruction. Some states are divided into districts, each with an administrator.

Answer provided by Referee Jason Wright

Generally speaking, only the referee's association has jurisdiction over the referees.

I notice you stated you are a referee, thus I am framing this response assuming you are asking as a referee and not as a player/spectator/coach

If the complaint is from a colleague regarding misconduct, then a formal letter to the RA is the way to go (through their complaint resolution procedures).

If you believe the referee has made a grievous error in interpretation or law, or had other difficulties he needs assistance with, and you simply believe he needs some education, then you'll need to seek advice from your referee's association - often, just a phone call to your branch coach will do the job.

However, if you were at the match in a club-related capacity, then it may be best to address any complaint through the formal club channels - that is, directed to the Football Authority, through your club first. However, the typical complaint of 'the referee missed this handball, and ignored this really bad tackle even though our player got booked' are useless, and will likely cause ill feelings in the RA.

So think about what it is you're complaining about, and what you actually hope to achieive. The RA committee deal with enough players and clubs complaining about referees, they don't want other referees to be calling them up with the same complaints - so there will need to be something a bit more concrete to complain about, or have a particular aim such as education over this part of the law.

Ultimately, if it's a simple case of a referee getting a few decisions wrong, just let it go.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Referee Pace
My reading of your question is that there are two answers
1. If the referee made a mistake on a match decision that is protested then the jurisdiction to deal with this is the competition authority. So let's say that the referee made an incorrect decision by say awarding an IDFK in a penalty situation where it should have been a retake then the competition authority would decide what should happen.
2. If the referee has committed some form of misconduct then the body to which he /she receive his/her license to referee from would make the decision. So lets say a referee verbally abused officials at a club and a complaint was made then the referee's body would deal with that and take the necessary action against the referee which could include a fine or suspension or both.