Does the Drysdale charge exemplify the recent change in footballing culture?

Football is getting soft.

I cannot count the number of times I have heard that phrase. In a pub, in a stadium or at the local park. It is a sentiment shared by many that the glory days of football, and indeed footballers, is history.

We see Mo Salah fall to the floor in the same way Disney princesses fall in love, with but the brush of a hand. Harry Kane has decided that giving defenders piggybacks on the pitch and promptly collapsing to the floor in tears is the best use of his enormous talent. Adama Traore, despite being “built like a brick s***house” (Rob Holding’s words), finds himself on the floor more often than a UFC fighter with crippling vertigo. 

Penalties, and red cards, by the way, are given for accidental clips of heels; a tap on the shoulder; the glance of an eye or even a perfectly good tackle. When you see the constant debate over whether or not Bukayo Saka should have a penalty because he tripped over a piece of turf against Leeds United it is hard not to wince, but then you see the one that Liverpool won against Manchester City and you understand it.

We have become victims of the context of the time that we live in.

I am guilty of it too, I admit it wholeheartedly. I backed the decision for Liverpool to have that penalty. “There was contact there, you can’t be doing that and get away with it” was what I said at the time. I have argued that Kane risking serious injury to his opponents by hiding under them waiting for contact was merely clever gamesmanship, I even find it hard to suppress my glee whenever I see Luke Ayling do his renowned “Ayling flop” and win a free-kick from nothing. But when we see punishment handed out to young players like Kieran Coates for perfectly timed, full-blooded tackles, it is clear how much the game has really changed.

By teaching young players that those kind of tackles are a bad thing, we are undermining the careers of so many footballing greats. Gone is the abrasive discipline of Franz Beckenbauer, Roy Keane and Patrick Viera would have their red card totals doubled. These players would not be legends, they would be ill-disciplined disappointments in the modern game and nothing sums up the way the game has changed more than Darren Drysdale’s recent charge for moving his head slightly in the direction of Ipswich Town’s Alan Judge.

Referees used to be the unequivocal figure of authority on a football pitch. They knew the laws of the game perfectly, would make a decision based on their view of a situation and their own common sense and, largely, would not be swayed from their decision come hell or high water. The players were free to question the decisions of a referee but, take it too far and there would be clear consequences.

The reason that the authority of these referees was so unquestionable is simply due to the fact that it was near-impossible to prove them wrong. Players and managers and fans might have a different view but replays were limited in number and angle, so a referee’s word remained scripture.

As the media-centric revolution has occurred across football, we have steadily seen a decline in the confidence and authority of referees up and down the leagues and this is because there is now the technology to definitively prove a referee wrong. They are seen as fallible and are no longer the silent, controlling figure who holds the fate of the game in their hands. It is now a sport to manipulate them, capitalise on their humanity and take advantage to win games when, in reality, it is only making the situation worse.

It was happening to such an extent that retrospective bans on diving were introduced, then VAR, but now we have entered such a period of indecisiveness that we have no idea what actually constitutes a foul anymore. 

Chris Kavanaugh was criticised in Saturday’s Merseyside derby for giving a penalty to Everton because Dominic Calvert-Lewin mistakenly fell over the head of Trent Alexander-Arnold. That is mental enough in itself, but the really strange aspect is that Kavanaugh did make the wrong decision. Not in giving the penalty, by the laws of the game it was a foul, but by not dismissing Alexander-Arnold for not making a genuine attempt for the ball. David Luiz fell victim to this rule mere weeks ago and now we have an identical situation punished in an entirely different manner.

The rules have become so complex and formulaic that there is no room for common sense anymore. Subjectivity is, and always was, key to football. One referee can see a foul and blow for a penalty, the other can see a dive in the same situation but at least they were human decisions, based on knowledge and understanding. The game seemed simple back then when one referee, with the help of their linesmen, controlled the match without widespread scrutiny.

Today, the referee has been pushed unceremoniously from the pedestal of respect that carried the profession into the 2000s and told that they will not be complimented for a job well done but will get death threats to themselves and their family if a red card isn’t given, regardless of whether or not the law was followed in that situation.

Players no longer trust the referees to make decisions, they no longer respect their ability to do so correctly and that is where Alan Judge’s reaction stemmed from. Screaming at a referee is not something that would have happened in days gone by and Drysdale should have dismissed him, but the referee was riled. It is not easy to rile an RAF Sergeant and yet that is what Judge had done. Drysdale was clearly tired from arguing with players every minute of every game of his refereeing career and, correctly I might add, would not stand to be spoken to in such a disrespectful manner.

What is vital here is that the ref was not backed up. Judge was not forced to make an apology, nor was he fined or suspended. Drysdale has been charged with improper conduct and again, one cannot argue that he should have reacted the way that he did, but it is a case of the pot finally bubbling over. If the FA doesn’t trust referees to make the right decisions then why should the players?

It is the responsibility now of the PGMOL to talk to the FA and demand that the micromanagement of the officials must be withdrawn. Trust in referees must be reinstated across the game if we are to ever see a genuinely well-officiated football match again. Let them use their common sense because you can be damn sure that they know more about the great game of football than those responsible for writing the laws.

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