The Hyundai A-League has kicked off with big matches and the officials are striving for excellence.
Season seven of the Hyundai A-League has taken off with a major increase in crowds, television viewership and publicity with lots of challenging high-profile matches.
Clubs are investing heavily in the recruitment of players and the FFA is investing heavily in the promotion of the game.
Referees in the national competitions this year have been given specific areas to target. Referees play a very important part in the league’s success.
To assist us in achieving this, a set of Key Performance Indicators have been developed for all referees and assistant referees on the national competitions this year.
The match officials Key Performance Indicators are centred around three key areas:
1. Protecting the players safety
– Correctly and consistently applying the laws of the game
– Specific target areas
– Tackles that endanger the safety of an opponent, ie. tackles from behind, over the ball tackles
Elbowing
– Particularly where the expected result is a RED CARD
2. Protecting the games image
– Correctly dealing with Dissent from players
– Taking action to prevent melees
3. Better offside interpretation
– In the event of any doubt, giving the benefit of the doubt to the attacking side.
After three rounds and 15 matches the referees and assistant referees have achieved 82 per cent of their Key Performance Indicators.
An example of where a referee might not have achieved the season KPIs particularly in protecting the player-s safety this year would be in the 77th minute of the Adelaide United v Melbourne Victory match in Round 2. Click here to watch the video.
This is an example of serious foul play and the expected result was a red card.
Equally, an example of where the players safety was protected was in the 90th Minute of the Perth Glory v Wellington Phoenix match a player was correctly sent off for leading with his elbow however according to this seasons KPIs the player may have been sent off directly (as opposed to a 2nd caution). Click here to watch the video.
