Footage of referee Jarred Gillett mic’d up during a recent Hyundai A-League clash has gone viral, with the unique concept drawing positive feedback around the globe.
There was a fascinating glimpse into what it is like to referee in the top flight as Gillett was wired up to a microphone for the clash between Brisbane Roar and Western Sydney Wanderers in Round 21 of the Hyundai A-League.
Gillett, who is heading to England to continue his refereeing career as well as his studies, had the mic on for the full 90 minutes, with the footage and audio released by Fox Sports.
International rights holder BT Sport has also posted the video, attracting the attention of hundreds of thousands of fans around the world. At the time of writing, there have been more than 800,000 views of the fascinating footage, and approaching 6,000 retweets, taking the Hyundai A-League to football folk across the planet.
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And it makes for some intriguing listening with the experienced whistleblower – a five-time Hyundai A-League Referee of the Year – heard clarifying decisions with players as well as his conversations with the VAR.
And there was plenty of love for how things played out, with Gillett earning a heap of praise for the way he handled the match.
I wish @premierleague refs and @EFL refs were this good. No arrogance and just calmly explaining decisions. Brilliant
— ML5️⃣ (@MLines05) March 19, 2019
https://twitter.com/Geo9nine/status/1108099164414582784
I love the transparency of the Australian league, they are miles in front of us with technology and it works, you see everything as the officials do and facts are facts every decision is reviewed from all angles & quickly resolved. #FIFA should use Ozzies as a template, quickly.
— Stuart (@stuboywhu) March 19, 2019
https://twitter.com/fabs2305/status/1108085229850365953
Great innings in the @ALeague and the best referee I've ever played with on a pitch 👏👏👏 https://t.co/hGxIEtyEos
— ErikPaartalu (@ErikPaartalu) March 20, 2019
Big thanks to @BenWilsonFFA and Jarred for allowing this.
Brilliant insight for us fans into how a game is managed.
Hopefully down the track we’ll be able to hear live chat between ref and VAR to make sense of it all (out of FFA’s hands, at the moment prohibited by rulemakers) https://t.co/WWGk4qyPAN— Adam Peacock (@adampeacock3) March 20, 2019
I personally like this. Very few players arguing or surrounding the ref as "he's in charge" not them….👍
— Dave Morgan (@davidmorgan359) March 19, 2019
Excellent. Hard to see any downside to this
— Daniel Crowe (@albagubrath) March 19, 2019
That is brilliant.
Would love that to come to all football.
Open. Transparent.
I think ref's would get a lot more respect from fans.
— chris parkes (@parksey1972) March 19, 2019
