Premier League Fans Demanding Overhaul to Rules and Referees

Brian Jones

02/04/2021 11:23 am EST

Fans of the Premier League are not happy with the rules and the referees. While this is not anything new when it comes to sports in general, Premier League fans are angry as they believe the officials are ruining the game. One fan went to Reddit and called out the officials for being inconsistent.

"There is no consistency from game to game, they hide behind the rulebook and no matter their decision they read the rules in a 'squint and tilt your head' fashion so the refs are always right," the fan wrote. "They are human and not infallible. They make mistakes, it just seems that the FA and the refs themselves don't want to admit that."

The fan went on to talk about recent incidents in matches and also mentioned that Video Assistant Referees (VAR) isn't the problem. This is the second year the Premier League is using a VAR "who is constantly monitoring the match but will be used only for 'clear and obvious errors' or 'serious missed incidents' in four match-changing situations." according to the Premier League's website. Those four situations are goals, penalty decisions, direct red card incidents and mistaken identity. Here's a look at fans venting about the Premier League rules and referees.

​

A former Premier League official shared his thoughts on the league. This got a lot of responses with one fan writing: "I'm a [Mancheter United] fan and we are pretty annoying but arsenal fans are on another level I get no one wants corrupted refs but you guys overreact to all your games almost whether a high or low."

​

Another Manchester United fan weighed in and was angry with the officiating during a recent match. He's also happy that his team is doing well as they are in second place in the table, three points behind Manchester City.

​

Fans have also weighed in on what needs to happen in order for things to get better. One fan wrote on Reddit: "Stop rewarding players when they look for penalties / free kicks. Tiny amounts of contact shouldn't justify flopping to the floor. It is embarrassing as a fan of the sport."

​

Another fan believes VAR should be used more. The person wrote: "There should be VAR for head holding incidents imo. If you go down holding your head, by the laws of the game the game must be stopped for you to get checked. This is therefore a strategy some players use to kind of tactically stop the game."

​

Flopping is a big problem in the Premier League. One fan wrote: "It honestly amazes me how many gullible people there are who defend the flopping from minimal amounts of contact. Tons of fans who have clearly never played before seem to genuinely believe those tiny bits of contact bring players to the ground and it's actually pretty funny."

​

Making referees announce their calls could make things better. One fan wrote: "The NBA now makes the officials announce their decisions after any replays and it is a really helpful change to their process to let fans hear it straight from the refs mouth instead of from a confused commentator trying to guess how they came to a decision."

​

One fan has no faith in the Premier League referees. The individual wrote: "No amount of rules changed will help if those who are enforcing the rules are incompetent. You could have the clearest, simplest, most concise rules of any league on the planet and Prem refs would still mess it up."

Disclosure: PopCulture. is owned by Paramount. Sign up for Paramount+ by clicking here.

Latest News