Eh, I think they are doing fine. I haven’t seen or heard of anything overly egregious yet. Except maybe giving that second yellow that should have been simulation for Suarez.
MLS Officiating: it's shit-tastic!
- Thread starter Midas Mulligan
- Start date
Eh, I think they are doing fine. I haven’t seen or heard of anything overly egregious yet. Except maybe giving that second yellow that should have been simulation for Suarez.
We haven't had anything egregious across two weeks of the season which is a better rate of avoiding non-sense than the usual Pro refs. To me, there is an arrogance to a number of the normal pro-refs that makes them quick with cards for low levels of dissent and less likely to overturn obvious errors on VAR. Having these new guys keeping a lower profile and just calling the game instead of making it about themselves has been refreshing.
Based on the comments I'm seeing, I wonder if MLS is just going to ride it out with these temp refs and if they end up being good enough over the long run, straight up replace the other refs...
Yeah the fact that things are going fine with these refs puts PRO in a pretty weak negotiating position, will be interesting to see how it plays out from here.
FYI PRO is not the union. It's confusing, and until this labor impasse I mistakenly thought PRO was a combined union/professional association/contracting agent that worked on behalf of the refs. The union is actually the PSRA - Professional Soccer Referees Association. PRO is a sort of pass through employer who I believe is the direct employer of the referees, but as a practical matter MLS seemes to call the shots on the labor negotiations for the MLS officials. Also PRO employs and supplies officials for other leagues and entites besides MLS.
So PRO's negotiation position - which is adverse to the union - is strengthened by the performance of the replacements.
Ah interesting, I did not know that at all. I did think it was odd that the refs shirt had PRO on it last night given that I mistakenly thought that was the union, but it makes a lot more sense now. Thanks for clarifying.
Yeah, this is what I meant when I said MLS. I meant PRO. If this continued, the PSRA is gonna have a really bad time negotiating with PRO. PRO just comes and says "well, these new guys are doing a better job than you, why should we take you back?" boom - all those refs are now out of jobs.
This might actually benefit in the long run as we might see refs actively tighten up their calls with more competition and risk associated with their comfy positions.
...All this assumes, of course, that the replacement refs don't crash and burn in the next few weeks.
Well they just got shwafta'd so it's inevitable now