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How to stop referees being involved with the club they support

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red cardThe fall out from Kevin Friend being withdrawn from refereeing Stoke v Spurs on Monday has prompted further debate over which teams referees support.

Declaring support for a club doesn’t seem to be a taboo subject in England with no eyebrows raised to find out that officials have a liking for a particular club.

Rather than keep matters quiet the PGMOL (Professional Game Match Officials Limited who appoint officials) are open and upfront about the issued.

“At the beginning of every season the referees’ background information is audited,” Keith Hackett of the PGMOL told the BBC.

“They complete a form that includes who they support, the history of if they’ve played the game and with the addresses where they are residing.

“That gives you a picture that comes into use when you’re appointing. It’s about ensuring, for example, you wouldn’t appoint a Sheffield-based ref for a Sheffield team.”

The rules only came into place recently with former referee Mark Halsey speaking out about refereeing matches involving QPR, the club that he grew up supporting.

“I lived 35 miles away from Loftus Road,” Halsey explained. “I refereed one win and one loss and I thought ‘I can’t do this again’. I never told them initially because it was back in the 1990s and things like that were only just starting to happen.

“I had to declare it because I felt like celebrating when they won but once you’ve crossed the white line you’re the ref and you always remained professional.”

CLICK HERE to read the BBC article in full.

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