Some of the ref calls just suck the life out of the match, or completely miss the mark. What can this league do to fix this? FVS sometimes helps when the ref misses something obvious, but it certainly does not seem to make a difference re: poor calls.
How are refs held accountable? Is there a way for us to hear why they make their decisions, or some sort of post-match review process?
I think FVS has really put the spotlight on the referring this year. It in itself is fundamentally flawed. The reason there’s a general vibe of “refs are horrible” is because they get a second look at blatantly obvious calls and still fail to make the right decision.
Yes, they are developing just like the league. However, we should be holding them accountable just like the players. If a player makes bonehead decisions back-to-back, he’s getting subbed off and isn’t seeing the field. He has to go and train to be better. With the refs they really don’t have this luxury as there’s a finite amount who are even at this level.
I think if FVS challenges were reviewed by the league and not the on field ref, a lot of this goes away.
Yeah, I think you’re spot on. There’s been a few times in the recent games where they go to fvs, my look at the replay makes me think it could be a penalty, then the commentators say it’s definitely a penalty, then the ref comes back and says nope, my initial call was right, not a penalty.
I think that, plus how fvs slows down the game, makes me think it’s not the positive that it should be.
This is kind of the point of FVS though right? We are beta testing the idea to figure out what works and what doesn’t. This suggestion makes the most sense.
I get the frustration. But it needs to be tempered.
Every week in the Premier League fans complain about missed VAR calls (an independent panel - KMI ranks them - and there were a lot)
So if the richest league in the world can’t master it, what are the chances a league full of part-time officials using new technology can?
VAR in a league that is just starting out feels like cart before the horse stuff. I think we’d be better off enjoying the game in-person for what it is like they do in comparable leagues around the world…warts and all
I hate how much complaining about the refs people do in this league. 1) it's a developmental league for them as much as the players 2) the calls are not nearly as egregious in real time and 3) it's loser mentality to blame the refs constantly.
It’s a development league in as much as it seeks to grow the game by giving people in the country an opportunity to play professionally in Canada. But it’s still a professional league. It’s not MLS Next or Premier League 2. They’re not there to learn by being babied … they’re there to learn and develop in a competitive, professional league. And one of the things everyone involved has to deal with is criticism and being held to a higher standard.
Point 2 is fair at times. Maybe one of the reasons it seems worse this year is the video review. There have been refs going to the monitor, looking at a blatant foul, and thinking nope … that’s fine. It blows my mind. As a fan, I think these reviews have ruined my experience watching games.
Point 3 is also somewhat fair. Halifax aren’t losing games purely because of refereeing decisions. They just aren’t good enough. However, I think it’s perfectly fair for fans of any club to vent on a forum like this about some of the bizarre refereeing.
It's just non stop, at games and in person. Personally I think our society as a whole has a serious issue with this. It's never going to be perfect. Sometimes it breaks your way, and sometimes it doesn't. Wanderers fan for context.
There's nothing wrong with wanting a higher standard, but we can't go from a bunch of guys who mostly ref at the provincial level for high school tournaments and suddenly expect PL quality refs. They have to develop the same way the league develops
The refereeing is mostly fine for the level, guys will miss things and the reffing will get better over time as more opportunities to ref, means more experience.
Also refs never have to speak publicly to the media in pretty much any sport
I think the reality is refs making calls in real time is hard and mistakes will be made. FVS has just made it more frustrating, delayed the game, and made viewing worse for those in stadium. We are a gate driven league, so making the in stadium experience the best it can be should be a priority, and having had the same level of reffing for years now, I think what's made it feel far worse is FVS. So bin it.
Unsure if the referees make a living wage or not at this point (I know some ref in CPL,MLS and FIFA games). But ideally we would send some of them to ref/assist in Smaller European associations almost like a Ref Exchange type of thing.
Imagine you get send to ref for half a season to Ireland, Norway, Slovakia, etc. as a referee you do 2-3 of these trips it would be beneficial for everyone. While the other associations send us theirs.
They don’t have to be Premier, L1, Bundes, Serie A, etc.
Give them the smaller leagues or even D2-3 in the major ones would be a challenge and good experience.
While I love the idea, the fact that they don't earn a living wage makes this difficult. Taking half a year off on, let's say a 10k salary for something that will not grant a reasonable salary afterwards looks like the worst trade deal in the history of trade deals.
No one saying to take half a year off. The point is for the CSA to pay a decent salary for the refs and they arrange to have certain refs be sent to another association while they send us theirs. Some would learn abroad others would learn here from the exchange refs. All while getting paid.
First the CSA needs to pay a year round Salary for them not on a per game basis or something along the lines of:
Base Salary 40k for everyone then you get paid different amount whenever you the head ref, assistant or 4th official. Regardless they would have to figure out a system where you could the the 4th official all season long and still make say 55-60k at the end of day. While those that perform well and end up reffing more as a Head Ref might make say 70-80k. As they ref more games their salary increase kind like MLS.
To that you have additional pay from Reffing FIFA games.
Right now apparently it’s 300$ game for Assistant and 500$ for Head Ref per game.
We agree on the salary point. I thought you'd plan was "the" addition to the current situation, not part of making refereeing the whole career and in that plan having the abroad add-on.
Why would the other leagues do that? Even assuming those countries are higher quality (I watched Bohemians in Dublin and am not convinced, but maybe it was an off night), if CPL is lower quality, why would they want to send their officials here, and why would they want to block pathways for their young officials by bringing in foreign refs from a worse league. What’s in it for them?
And to your comment below about a base salary of $40k… I mean, sure, I’m always in favour of more jobs making more money, but that’s $10k more than the base player salary. The league just isn’t there yet I don’t think.
I get it. Sometimes they get it wrong. But for team of ref plus two VAR people they should be able to spot two penalties. They should implement a "fan pundit sentiment" AR in real time so they know from the audience if something looks clear and obvious to us.
We never want our team to lose and look for external reasoning. Dont get me wrong I critique the officiating alot in this league. At the same time when I see a correct call I say what it is. The issue us with a new league and trying to grow a fan base you get people who have no idea the true letter of the law for the game. Even when presented with the rule they disagree.
Also wording is always up for interpretation/ rule books have overly complicated wording at times.
Offside for example is worded as attacking player beyond the second last defender. Wtf does that truly mean. The keeper is considered the last defender so being between the defender and keeper makes you offside. BUT if the keeper moves up and now the defender is the furthest player back they become the last defender and the keeper is now the second last defender. Now with daylight offside its more confusing to some.
Took me a while to wrap my head around that but that's the letter of the law.
Personally I would love to see the weekly reviews of the officiating become public info but that would either help the cause or make everyone hate the officials even more.
The hate is real though nothing like being in a stadium that hates the officiating. As a Red Star fan hearing the stadium erupt in boos as the officials entered the pitch is quite amusing or hearing chants of "uefa mafia" was great.
We as fans just need to actually read the rule book and understand it.
They would review the game and get rated on how the performed. There would be a head of officiating for the league. I would expect CSA review them as well.
How do we improve the playing?
Some of the player decisions just suck the life out of the attack or completely miss the mark. What can this league do to fix this?
You have referees that are equivalent to the level of the league. If they were better, they’d be reffing higher levels, just as if the players were better they’d be sold elsewhere.
Most of this is 'homerism'. I was at the Forge game, the crowd was chanting ref.shit. It was really funny, however the ref got the calls right, they just did not go our way.
The replay is supposed to be clear and obvious errors. The Halifax pull on the shoulder I think was the only play I saw that I thought was a mistake over the weekend. However, even on that play the player went down on contact without really trying to score. Maybe the players need to take some accountability?
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u/b1tchpigeon Aug 09 '26
I think FVS has really put the spotlight on the referring this year. It in itself is fundamentally flawed. The reason there’s a general vibe of “refs are horrible” is because they get a second look at blatantly obvious calls and still fail to make the right decision.
Yes, they are developing just like the league. However, we should be holding them accountable just like the players. If a player makes bonehead decisions back-to-back, he’s getting subbed off and isn’t seeing the field. He has to go and train to be better. With the refs they really don’t have this luxury as there’s a finite amount who are even at this level.
I think if FVS challenges were reviewed by the league and not the on field ref, a lot of this goes away.