Ahead of the 2024-25 A-Leagues season, Football Australia’s new Head of Referees Jon Moss speaks to aleagues.com.au about what fans can expect from match officials in the new campaign…
You bring so much experience in the game from your time in the Premier League and in Scotland. Can you explain your views and strategies on how the game should be refereed?
I think everyone likes a referee in the background.
And as a referee, you try to go unnoticed, that’s when the pundits say we’ve had a good game, but sometimes you have to stand up and be counted, because there are some difficult decisions to make.
For this season and going forward, we want to let the game breathe.
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We want to let a bit of physicality back into the game, while still protecting the players. So you’ll see the referees trying to manage situations, trying to bring the game to life, play good advantages. Then you’ll see VAR only intervening when it’s necessary to do so, when the referee is clearly wrong.
So we’re looking to give ownership of decision making back to the on-field referee, first of all, and then, the VAR only coming in when nine out of 10 people in a room would think that it’s a penalty kick or a red card.
In the past, I think VAR right around the world has been a little bit intrusive, and I think that has spoiled the spectator sport that people love in terms of football.
So we’re going to try and deliver a fast, exciting refereeing performance with the great skill that’s in the A-League Men, and then VAR comes in when everyone expects them to.
So, it’s about raising the bar on when the VAR intervenes?
I think VAR, not only in Australia, but around the world, they’ve been very technical. There is some contact there, therefore we must intervene.
If I touched you on the shoulder, you wouldn’t fall down. Similarly, if you think about when you play five-a-side or a contact sport, not every bit of contact on your foot or leg makes you fall over, so we’ll try and judge our involvement in that.
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We’ve got buy-in from the clubs we’ve spoken to, the stakeholders, like what we’re trying to achieve, and now it’s just for us to deliver that.
Obviously, I’ve only been here a short time. It’s going to be a period of adjustment, but I’m confident that the match officials are more than capable of doing that, and they seem to be right on board with where we’re trying to go.
What are key areas for referees and clubs this year? What will you focus on?
So the focus is on four things.
We want respect for match officials. I think that’s really important. So we’re going to be using the captain only at moments of conflict (system).
So let’s be clear about this. This doesn’t mean only the captain can speak to the referee during the match – the referee will speak to players as normal -, but in times of conflict where there’s maybe two or three players around contesting a decision, the captain will now take control of that, get his players away, and then it’ll be a one to one discussion around that.
In terms of law changes, we’ve got two law changes. One around handball, so you’ll probably see a lot less penalties given for handball, but also, if a ball hits a defender on the line and it’s a non-deliberate handball, that will now be a yellow card.
And the other thing is, encroachment around penalty kicks must be impactful. To the layman, that’s the best way of saying it – it must have an impact.
So that is, goalkeeper saves it, the attacker runs in, he’s in the area and scores, that’s impact. If the defender is inside the area when the penalty is taken and he clears the ball, that’s impactful. But the rest of it, keep out.
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What are the key initiatives the match officials are looking to bring forward this year?
In the league, we’ve got the new concussion sub protocols to go in. We’ve got some cooling breaks to take care of. But in terms of us, its business is normal.
We’re looking to be really proactive with the clubs. We’re looking to make sure that we listen to all the stakeholders, the fans as well, and we deliver performances that are in keeping with what the A-Leagues’ expects.
So you’ll see high quality decision making on the field of play, and you’ll see VAR only intervening when they deem it necessary to do so.
Following a trial of the in-stadia live VAR comms (also used in last year’s finals series), we’re going to be running that from round one this A-League Men season.
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We’ve done a bit of testing this week. We’ve still got a little bit of coaching to do with the match officials. The VARs are very clear about how to work the whole system.
I think what we’ll do is just strip it back to the most basic form. So, if the referee has to go to the screen, we’ll come have a look, we’ll have a dialogue with the VAR and then put in layman’s terms – so simply ‘number 12 has handled the ball, and it will be a penalty’ – very similar to how they use it in other sports.
It’s clear, concise, and easy for the football fan to understand what’s occurred.
We’re not going to try and complicate it. It seemed to work well at the end of last season, and we’re excited to roll it out.
There may be some glitches along the way, but the principles are there, and we hope that will add to the fan experience and they’ll at least be able to understand, even if they don’t agree with the outcome.
What are the updates on laws of the game heading into this season that fans should be aware of?
Just those two that we’ve discussed.
The handball changes to the law. (Last season) in the English Premier League, we had a number of penalties given for handball. So far there’s been not one penalty given (this season).
So it’s a more common sense approach to handball inside the area. You’re standing like this, the ball hits you on the arm, where are you supposed to put your arms?
Ball flicks up, your hands out; we’re not going to be penalising those, so you’ll see less penalties being awarded.
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That’s where our challenge is. We have video assistant referees and referees that work in the AFC, very technically based, but they’re moving now towards what we’re trying to achieve in the domestic game – and that is keeping out, making sure that you only intervene when everyone expects you to do so.
It’s that balance between letting a little bit go and a little bit of physicality, but still protecting the players.
What we showed on the pre-season visits to the clubs were a number of video clips where foot on foot contact generally will be a yellow card. Anything above the ankle, twist the ankle, impact into the shin, we’re more looking at a red card, if it’s got some force behind it.
All the clubs that we’ve been into so far in the A-Leagues have said that’s what we want – so that’s what we’re going to give them.
What can fans expect from you and your match officials this season?
I think we’ve got to be transparent. I think that’s important.
You’ve got to understand why we’ve made those decisions.
We’d like to share things with the media. We’d like to share things with the clubs. We’ve already opened that engagement, so that they can come, ask questions.
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We’ll explain decisions. When we’ve made a mistake, we’ll hold our hands up, so you see a more transparent approach to the VAR, but we’ll also be accountable, because I think that’s important.
So when we make mistakes, we’ll hold our hands up, and when we should have done better, we’ll also state that as well. But hopefully it’s a two-way street, so when we do well, we’re hoping that we’ll be able to celebrate that as well.
