Onward! - Dear Don:

[Ben Knight]

Upset about that disallowed TFC goal last night?

Tell Don Garber!

http://onwardsoccer.com/2009/05/31/dear-don/

[Billy the kid]

I think the league is aware that their officiating is under a lot of scrutiny and that is why the commissioner has addressed it in one of his blogs. I'm sure the refs hear about it when they screw up. I don't think it's talked about publicly because they don't want to shine more light on the errors.

[BuSaPuNk]

Great article Ben. I compleley agree. I said the same thing at half, it could have been a different game in the second half if that goal stood.

[Auzzy]

There is actually a regular update from the US Soccer federation about referee issues. See http://www.ussoccer.com/referees/index.jsp.html

So some things are more public than I realized. Each week they have the "Referee Week in Review" where they highlight specific decisions, mostly from MLS, and also look forward to issues of concern that they want refs to consider. (They also have videos from the games, but I don't know what plugin you need on your computer to view those.) I would file some of these reviews under "covering their butts" but some are quite informative, and occasionally they do criticize specific ref decisions. Also, there is apparently an official (non-public) method for teams to give feedback & complain.

Lots of interesting stuff about handling the ball, "dangerous" fouls, etc. Also check out "2009 Referee Directives" where they have their interpretation of the Laws.

I definitely don't agree with all of the guidelines & decisions, but teams should be able to read this stuff & coach their players accordingly, to avoid some problems. Beyond that, there are still plain awful decisions, but I think this review process is better than nothing. Let's see if Serioux' non-goal is reviewed next week...

[Auzzy]

Check out US Soccer's Referee Programs at http://www.ussoccer.com/referees/index.jsp.html (http://www.ussoccer.com/referees/index.jsp.html)

Lots of interesting stuff there. If they get many complaints about the disallowed TFC goal, maybe that will push them to include it in next week's review. They do sometimes publicly criticize referee decisions. The 2009 Referee Directives from March 10th are also pretty interesting.

I don't agree with everything I read on that site, but I think it's better than nothing.

[dupont]

The bad refereeing probably wouldn't have mattered that game since TFC got outplayed throughout the game but I still think it's important for the refs to do better. We know all too well what it's like to get burned in the 90th minute of a game we should have won.