“And, meanwhile, referees enjoy the mystique of their office far too much to want to change anything. Football’s culture is structured to provide an unending series of confrontations between referees and players, between authority and subject, and it is a situation that is nurtured and maintained by the vanities and fallibilities of both sides. There is an option for sanity, but football prefers madness.”

I don’t quite agree with what he says about rugby: “…the players and officials are not on opposing sides, they are both knowingly trying to create a contest, a spectacle, sport.” Though there’s not as much bitching about officials as there is in football, it’s still there, especially if the referee is from the opposite hemisphere. It’s true that players often appear remarkably forgiving of cheating or violent conduct committed against them. But I reckon it’s as much because it’s politic to do so. I think of the ‘Hand of Back’*: the reaction from Munster’s players was “Sure I’d have done the same meself”. Just like football, except the players are more open about it.

Anyway, how committed are top-class athletes in any sport to “creating a spectacle”, really? Anyone watching the Six Nations recently — or your average Premier League game, come to that — would doubt that idea.

* I’m a peaceable kind of guy, but Austin Healey needs a slap.

Of course, with 22 players trying to subvert the rules (or at least push them to their very limits) it becomes far harder to implement the laws correctly – it’s something of a distraction.

But while the players’ motives may involve getting one over a referee, the referee’s motives are in theory purer.

On a less philosophical level, I think the whole antipathy towards referees would be fixed if backchat, arguing, threatening, diving, and all its cousins were actually punished, be it in the moment or retrospectively. If the referee has only limited power to punish such infractions, what incentive is there for a player to stop trying it? If there consistent and meaningful bans for any such behaviour, you’d see several red cards in the first couple of weeks, and then managers might start instructing players to be a little more mindful of behaving themselves.

There was an interesting article on this by Simon Barnes, too, which you’ve probably come across already, but if not:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/columnists/simon_barnes/article6244418.ece

Hey, don’t dish it if you can’t take it …