‎Do referee officials always have a fair advantage?

[YOSHIE]

‎Do referee officials always have a fair advantage? 

As far as I know, becoming a soccer referee is not easy, let alone a World League referee, to become a referee they are bound by a code of ethics, promises and oaths, without being allowed to accept bribes or interference from any party.

Referees must have sportsmanship and neutrality as well as objective and professional qualities in every match, all of this must be upheld by a referee, especially referees in international leagues such as the European League, England, World Cup and so on, a referee really has to be fair and neutral without intimidating one of the teams.

For referees, what the OP means is that if the referee sides with one of the teams, it is clear that the referee has violated the code of ethics and oath, what's more, there is an element of personal gain, whether it be certain factors, it has been proven that VAR technology shows the actual results that occurred. I am sure that if the referee violates the code of ethics and oath, if it is carried out for the first time, perhaps this match will be the last match he officiates in the football league.

[bhadz]

This is common thinking in our local league with the sport of basketball. Fans are calling it as a cooking show whenever the referees are calling not based on what it should be. They're giving favoritism and sometimes, the fans are right with it. Can't blame those fans that are calling out the referees when they should do their part and chose not to do it. And so, they're accused by being paid by the team they are favoring.

In local leagues, I feel the referees can be easily bribed to favour a team more than the other team because you would see the obvious reaction of the referee while the match is on and if you can not catch it, just rewatch the match and you will figure it out. In international leagues I do feel that there's also some partial judgement by the ref but not as much as it is on locals and we can tell that locals can be easily corrupt but international is hard to get through. But if the refs staked on the game secretly we can not tell and that might also influence their decision.

Yes, that's the same for almost every country that has their sports and everyone can think of how easy it is referees can be bribed to have favorable calls. But we can only speculate about that and they're innocent unless proven guilty and we've got proofs to provide. In the major and international leagues, I think it also happens but behind the doors, we'll never know if deals are happening for the referees. So, it is what we can only give as an opinion because sometimes the games are emotional and the teams we support are losing because of those bad decisions of calling.

[SPIDERMAN008]

The referees have their own code of conduct in which they must not play outside this policies guiding them, if they want to have good records and also be well noticed for excellence, this is all about their own career also, they wouldn't want to risk it for anything that does not even concern them, so why should there be fair advantage over one and against the other when they all have equal chances for winning or survival.

I agree with you. In fact, those who are appointed as referees in such big and important matches of football always perform their professional duties. There is no chance for mistakes here. Sometimes mistakes happen, but they are never intentional mistakes. I believe this. In the past, many incidents have happened due to the unintentional mistakes of the referee, but now it has been possible to reduce them a lot through VAR technology. If a more advanced version is brought in the future, then the referee and everyone involved in the match management will be able to demonstrate more impartiality.

[Dr.Osh]

It's no longer a secret but it has become a common view that referees favor one team only, usually in fierce derby matches, although not all referees are like that, but it cannot be denied that many referee decisions only benefit one party, I think maybe the referee is betting LOL

[promise444c5]

Apart from giving an advantage to both sides during a match, a ref could actually be biased sometimes.
But, in most cases they take advantage of the rules or overlook it for their fav side . It could be in the aspect of card issuing, fouls leading to free kicks or penalties, offsides, and so on.
They can’t make  any unnecessary calls though, as they still have to play according to the rules.

[Floxynice]

The referees have their own code of conduct in which they must not play outside this policies guiding them, if they want to have good records and also be well noticed for excellence, this is all about their own career also, they wouldn't want to risk it for anything that does not even concern them, so why should there be fair advantage over one and against the other when they all have equal chances for winning or survival.

I agree with you. In fact, those who are appointed as referees in such big and important matches of football always perform their professional duties. There is no chance for mistakes here. Sometimes mistakes happen, but they are never intentional mistakes. I believe this. In the past, many incidents have happened due to the unintentional mistakes of the referee, but now it has been possible to reduce them a lot through VAR technology. If a more advanced version is brought in the future, then the referee and everyone involved in the match management will be able to demonstrate more impartiality.

In big leagues, we shouldn't be expecting errors from the referees because the environment is more intense. The referees who are obviously professionals understand that they are under very intense scrutiny from the viewers and regulators who are actively watching. The regulations ar tight and there are technologies available to make the job easier for the referees.

The situation is different in small leagues where some referees take advantage of some lapses in the league. The referees might not be well trained like we would see in bigger leagues and there might not be available technologies to make the job smooth and fair. Lots of things may go wrong that we the spectators will spot obvious errors that suggests that the referee is being unfair to a particular team.

[Spaceman1000$]

 
‎I have thought about this from top to bottom and I still come to a biased conclusion based on football and other major league tournaments I have seen live and how a particular team just seems to be spotless and the other one is the scapegoat, maybe due to less star players or because they are not as big or popular as the former.
‎
‎Refereeing as an officiate duty is supposed to be objective even with the initiative of VAR/relay technology to make it more efficient and accurate as possible, but we can't rule out the human psychology and systemic factors that can create a perceived advantage.
‎It is strictly forbidden for a referee to consciously favor any team as it could mean the end of the career of such a referee found wanting, still, a well documented scientific researched phenomenon, doesn't rule out the subconscious bias which can interfere in a referee's decision and create the perceived advantage I am talking about.
‎
‎I wanted to know if you have ever seen it the same way that indeed, referee officials have a fair advantage in any game or tournament which of course always favor their favorite team to win or you have a better opinion on the matter?
‎

In this modern era, referee's don glarely show their biasness, they do it technically, but i believe also the introduction of VAR has changed that greatly, because once an infractions has been made and the referee seem not to give it attention, the VAR assistant will immediately call the attention of the Ref, and he cannot ignore such call, because if he does, trust the FA to sanction that Ref because it will be recorded that his attention was called upon when serious infractions where made against a player and he choosed to ignore. Trust me a disciplinary action can be taken from there.

[Asiska02]

It's no longer a secret but it has become a common view that referees favor one team only, usually in fierce derby matches, although not all referees are like that, but it cannot be denied that many referee decisions only benefit one party, I think maybe the referee is betting LOL

The referee’s are not betting because if they do, they’ll risk being penalized for it. But most times the officiating of some referees always makes it look like they are one sided and are favoring one team over the other. To some extent, they may actually be in support of one team over the other and they get favour from them more in a match but with the way the game of football is designed, if there is no proof beyond reasonable doubt, they’re never penalized for their actions. More scrutiny needs to be taken on some referee after officiating some matches because it usually looks partial.

[viljy]

Subconsciously, the referee, like any other person, may have his own sympathies. Of course, this can influence his decisions. The degree of this influence is determined by the personal morality of each particular referee. Refereeing can be biased and it must be taken as an inevitability. In addition, in order to draw such conclusions, you need to be objective and have solid evidence. That is, first you need to be critical of your own opinion about the rightness or wrongness of the referee, and most fans are incapable of this (otherwise, every second one could be appointed as a referee...)

[Dave1]

Subconsciously, the referee, like any other person, may have his own sympathies. Of course, this can influence his decisions. The degree of this influence is determined by the personal morality of each particular referee. Refereeing can be biased and it must be taken as an inevitability. In addition, in order to draw such conclusions, you need to be objective and have solid evidence. That is, first you need to be critical of your own opinion about the rightness or wrongness of the referee, and most fans are incapable of this (otherwise, every second one could be appointed as a referee...)

They are human after all, but they need to control their emotions too because as the other man in the game, they need to call it fair and not favor one team over another. But then again, there will be games that we might see them calling against the other team and we can't help but accused them of being biased. But that is the only proof we got, as it really hard, we can only speculate about that.

And then if we based on history of any sports, there will always be biased, like home cook decision in Olympics before and then referees favoring other teams because he has a bet on that game that he himself is involved.

[michellee]

Even a referee to consciously not favor any team as it, they can do that. It needs professionalism to works on duty well and not breaking their integrity. If they can be honest and works professional in the field, they will not do something that can affects to their career.

They follows the guidelines and not favor any team even if the team come from the same place. They don't want to ruin what they've build so only professional in their job and neutral to all team that match.

[crwth]

Well, we cannot assure much of it because they are people, referees could have a bias, or any imbalance in a game, that's why I'm all for the automation of calls and have those automated detectors for matches, so there would be a fair fight and no bias towards any team.

I mean, a lot of people get into biases because of the incentives that people may have, like being offered something. That's just some of the corruption that is being done.

[Marvelockg]

‎I wanted to know if you have ever seen it the same way that indeed, referee officials have a fair advantage in any game or tournament which of course always favor their favorite team to win or you have a better opinion on the matter?

It's only in games that are kind of local and below standard that the referee can influence games to a certain way. In standard games, the referee tries as much as he can to be neutral because what ever he does In a game is actually recorded and if there's any sense of bias in his mode of officiating, he risk being sanctioned and his license withdrawn from him.

Whatever bias a referee has towards a team can't be openly expressed by him otherwise it will be challenged without waiting any longer. With VAR and the knowledge that after a game, there's a body that can still look into the infield decision that you make, no referee in his right sense will show an outright level of bias on a game.

[davis196]

 
‎I have thought about this from top to bottom and I still come to a biased conclusion based on football and other major league tournaments I have seen live and how a particular team just seems to be spotless and the other one is the scapegoat, maybe due to less star players or because they are not as big or popular as the former.
‎
‎Refereeing as an officiate duty is supposed to be objective even with the initiative of VAR/relay technology to make it more efficient and accurate as possible, but we can't rule out the human psychology and systemic factors that can create a perceived advantage.
‎It is strictly forbidden for a referee to consciously favor any team as it could mean the end of the career of such a referee found wanting, still, a well documented scientific researched phenomenon, doesn't rule out the subconscious bias which can interfere in a referee's decision and create the perceived advantage I am talking about.
‎
‎I wanted to know if you have ever seen it the same way that indeed, referee officials have a fair advantage in any game or tournament which of course always favor their favorite team to win or you have a better opinion on the matter?
‎

I've seen this a thousand times. Maybe the referee is rooting for the stronger team or maybe we are just biased. It's like when Barcelona is playing against a weaker team and a Barcelona player gets kicked inside the penalty field and the referee gives penalty for Barcelona, all the Barcelona haters would keep insisting that the referee was bribed by Barcelona or the referee is simply wanting Barcelona to win. What if the penalty situation was legit and the referee had to give a penalty for Barcelona? Most football fans would always be biased and rooting for one team and hating on another. VAR didn't make things better. The referee still has the final decision. Most referees are humans and humans make mistakes all the time.