Last week, just for curiosity and yoks, I started up a little Twitter campaign. I asked fans to contact Major League Soccer commissioner Don Garber, through his Twitter account, asking for a direct answer on the woeful state of MLS officiating.
Today – along with my “It’s Called Football” colleagues Ben Rycroft and Duane Rollins, and any other sympathetic bloggers who share our frustration and concern – we’re stepping this up considerably.
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If you don’t know, Twitter is an internet direct messaging system which offers public access to a large number of well-known popular figures. Garber’s account is @thesoccerdon.
Here’s today’s message:
@thesoccerdon We want better refereeing in MLS now - hold our refs publicly accountable for the calls they make #mls #refs
(That number-sign stuff at the end makes your post visible to anyone in the Twitterverse searching those topics.)
We’re going to do this every Friday in June. We want to apply some gentle, but conspicuous, pressure – from as many fans and directions as possible.
We know there’s no overnight solution in a league where the rulebook gets routinely thrown out at awkward, awful moments of almost every game. Players and coaches get fined when they complain – possibly even fired in the case of former Toronto FC coach John Carver.
But there’s no way to fine the fans, who are pretty much the ultimate source of income in a gate-driven league such as MLS.
So let’s see how far we can take this.
It takes about five seconds – and who knows what officiating atrocity it might help spare your favourite club down the road?
Onward!