Tottenham Hotspur head coach Martin Ho has said the standard of refereeing in the Women’s Super League “has got worse”.
Ho’s side lost 2-1 in the north London derby on Saturday after Arsenal were awarded a controversial second-half penalty which proved to be the winning goal.
In the 56th minute referee Phoebe Cross deemed Ella Morris to be guilty of handball after team-mate Cathinka Tandberg’s clearance struck her arm. Alessia Russo duly converted from the spot.
The Premier League and WSL are following new guidance this season in line with International Football Association Board (IFAB), the independent guardians of football rules.
They state: “A handball offence is not committed when a player: is hit on the hand/arm by the ball which has been played by a team-mate (unless the ball goes directly into the opponents’ goal or the player scores immediately afterwards, in which case a direct free kick is awarded to the other team).”
Speaking in his post-match press conference, Ho said: “They (the officials) can’t give me an explanation. I think it’s got worse, the refereeing has got worse than it was last year.
“My interpretation of the rule is if your team-mate hits it and your teammate is one yard away, time and distance is taken into account and it’s not a penalty. That’s my understanding of it. That’s what we were told at the start of the season in the referee meeting.
“I said I would come and speak to them after the gane because I want to understand it, I want to understand what they’re seeing. Then I can accept a decision that is there. When that decides a games, it’s frustrating because it’s not within the laws of the game.
“They have a hard enough job, I get it but in big games like this, when it is decided on things like that and I thought the inconsistency throughout the game was the same.”
Ho called for WSL referees, none of whom are full-time, to receive more support and questioned why former FIFA official Lisa Benn, in his words, “an elite referee” as fourth official instead of the on-pitch referee. Neither VAR nor goal-line technology is implemented in the WSL.
“They need more support, more training because when you look at most decisions there’s a lot of controversy in a lot of games,” he said. “We get two bookings in the first half but we have players being dragged back by the shirt by Arsenal players and we don’t get anything. That’s probably the frustrating part.”
In October, The Guardian reported that the top-flight would have to wait another two and a half years before they had full-time referees but clubs had agreed to increased investment regarding officials’ education.
Pro Ref, the official body overseeing match officials across English professional football, was approached for comment by The Athletic, whileWSL Football did not reply by the time of publciation.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
Arsenal WFC, Tottenham Hotspur FCW, Women's Soccer
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