In a league that is trying to make its mark on the world stage, the A-League has a huge refereeing problem. It is all well and good to have players such as Alessandro Del Piero, Emile Heskey, and Shinji Ono playing in our country. This will raise the profile of the league, and push other players to join in the future. However, if the standard of refereeing remains as poor as it has been in the past few weeks, players will want away, instead of wanting to come to Australia. No one wants to play in a league where the referees are worse than amateurs. The referees in the A-League are not full-time, but that is just part of the problem. The other part is the interpretation of the laws that they, and the country’s governing body, have. For example, the incident between Ben Williams and Patrick Kisnorbo at the weekend shows the difference between European refs and Australian refs. The “challenge” that Kisnorbo made on Matt Simon may have been a foul to the letter of the law, but it would NEVER have been given in England, Italy, Spain, or in a FIFA tournament. Instead of trying to manufacture [...]