Keith Hackett was an iconic English referee – taking charge of the 1981 FA Cup final, the European Championships, countless English first division fixtures and even the 1988 Seoul Olympics. As a referee every decision is under fierce scrutiny, and you have to deal with a range of personalities. The likes of Paul Gascoigne, Vinnie Jones and Dennis Wise were three names that Hackett instantly recalled.
“With Gazza, if he was on the bench, he was like a rubber band. Getting wound up with every minute of the game took place. He used to get a yellow minutes after coming off the bench.
“One time he came off the bench and I went towards him and said ‘I can’t understand why your manager hasn’t picked you. Player of your quality? Don’t do anything daft will you?’ It worked.”
Each referee has different controlling mechanisms to try to stop any foul play.
“With Vinnie Jones, I once said to John Fascinu- ‘Can you calm Vinnie down a bit?’ He was quite dismissive about it as he thought it was my job to calm players. Later on in the game, I said thanks to him. Fascinu just said ‘thanks for what? I’ve done nothing.’ That simple dialogue just helped all parties.”
20th October 1990. Old Trafford. Manchester United vs Arsenal.
Fierce rivalries always create heated moments, but the chaos of ‘The Battle of Old Trafford’ is one unprecedented to English football. A 60th-minute challenge from Nigel Winterburn was nasty, but the brawl to follow was even worse. Twenty-one out of the twenty-two players were all involved in a mass scrap, with Arsenal’s goalkeeper David Seaman the only one to avoid the drama.
Hackett, refereeing the game, was faced with a tough decision. Should he send all 21 players off, or just the two who provoked it? Ultimately, the answer was neither. He instead favoured that all the players should stay on the field, only showing two yellow cards to Nigel Winterburn and Anders Limpar.
“If I walk one, I really could walk 20 and that’s not good for the spectators.”
Aside from a reeling degree of common sense, the importance of the game and the entertainment value for the fans was at the forefront of Keith’s mind.
“Was it good refereeing? Probably not. But I made that decision, I made that call.”
From that, a new criteria was written to help deal with mass confrontations.
What makes a good referee?
It takes years of hard work, studying and preparation for referees to reach the top level, carefully learning each protocol needed to take charge throughout a game.
Hackett said: “Refereeing is about having a thorough knowledge of the laws of the game, but you never stop learning. Every week, something is thrown up at you.
“It’s easy when you’re sitting with a book in front of you to find an answer, but out on the field of play if something happens, you’ve got to make a decision.
“Decision-making is a bit like driving a car. You learn your pedals, your gears and then you have to drive the car. The more you drive the car, the better you become at driving.”
The worst thing a referee can do, according to Hackett, is to be indecisive.
“Hesitancy in decision making is an inability to be able to sell something in a positive manner. If you hesitate, and the crowd sees, you’re putting doubt in their mind. So you’re a salesman. There are times you’ve just gotta make a decision.”
Despite retiring from officiating in 1991, Hackett is very much active on X , voicing his opinions over refereeing errors and VAR mistakes. He knows it’s a technology designed to ease pressures on the decision-making for referees, but in reality, it adds an extra level of scrutiny to every choice they make.
“It was definitely less demanding on the referee than it is now. I think we had it easy.”
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