Why is there only one on-field referee in soccer?

Question

Officiating during the world cup has been awful. Although the refs are supposed to be the best in the world, fouls are called when they should'nt be or not called at all when they should. To me, the solution is obvious, place more officials on the actual playing field. Few sports have only one. Basketball has three. Baseball has four-and six for the playoffs. American football has seven. Athletes today are more fit and faster than those of yesterday. Its about time that the FIFA recognized this by increasing the number of officials. I think that it would lead to less diving, fewer fouls and a fairer game.

Answer 1

I don't think we need another referee on the field. Just allow video reviews for god's sake!! It is working fine in American Football. This will happed when FIFA decide they don't want to mess with match results as they did this time
cheers

Answer 2

Soccer Ref and Gazza give good answers. What you are describing is very rare, and you shouldn't worry too much about that happening to you. The only thing which can be done is terminate the match and send a full report to the league and state association. The USSF referee report form can be used for that. Do not try to break up the fight. Over the course of 28 years of officiating, I have had maybe a half dozen fights break out during games. None were ever on a mass confrontation level. Almost every one was in the U-16B age group, which many referees agree is the most difficult age group to control. I have also terminated a few younger age group games prior to things getting to a possible mass confrontation among the parents. There is usually a progression to those. First 1 or both coaches go wild, then the parents start to go wild as well. I terminate the match at that point. That has not happened to me in years, possibly because I now almost exclusively referee older teens.

Answer 3

Speaking from experience as a referee myself, one authoritative figure is essential to keep the game consistently refereed. Also, football (soccer) is a very pure sport- we don't need to complicate the game in order to solve a problem that really shouldn't be a huge issue in my opinion. Sure, more eyes following the game would make refereeing easier, however, the game would get too caught up in all these decisions.

Therefore, I think what we should really be looking at, in terms of a solution to a problem, is the enhancement of referee training and handling of a game. Of course there have been awful refs in this tournament, but there have also been great ones, which shows that a single on-the-field referee, with assistants, is capable of getting the job done well.

Answer 4

Not true. You need one single authority. In every game that you mentioned baseball, football there is still one HEAD UMPRIRE.
In baseball the field is extremely large. You have other things gong on. The field is 450 yards deep for gods sake in some cases. You need someone to call the plate, someone to check the bases if the player catches, someone for foul balls etc.
In football even if the ball is not played to a certain person, they are pulling each other, hitting each other, tacking.
In FOOTBALL (you call it soccer) there is the head referee on the pitch that folows the ball. For any other incidents, throw ins, of the ball tackles, far corners, offsides etc. there are two line judges. There is also a 4th umpire that oversees, checks the sidelines and assists in every aspect of the game.
Now. In American football there are 7 umpires, and instant rteply and they still miss calls,
In Baseball there are so many missed calls.