Referees have a hard job.
They have to officiate the game, hand out discipline, and ensure things don’t get out of hand. Referees also have to enforce rules and be fair and unbiased in their assessment of the game.
Referees also receive a great deal of abuse from fans, often more so than players, coaches, and management. Those three groups often have strong words for officials. For fans, no one thinks much of the referees until they do something wrong. Nobody really says, “I think the ref did well officiating.” Instead, it is: “Wow, the referee was so bad! Our team were robbed of a win” or something like that.
It is a common sentiment across hockey, football, basketball, baseball (a sport that has umpires and not referees) and of course, soccer.
Tim Ford’s disaster
Last Saturday, there was a great example of poor officiating and fans getting upset over it.
The Vancouver Whitecaps lost 2-1 to the San Jose Earthquakes at PayPal Park. The story of the game was not Preston Judd’s stoppage-time winner. Nor was it Josef Martinez’s converted penalty or Brian White’s 100th career goal. No, the story was about referee Tim Ford.
Ford gave Edier Ocampo two soft yellows. They were just bumps, especially the second one. That was soft as Charmin. As a result, Vancouver played a large chunk of the game down to 10 men.
Ford made things worse by giving away a penalty. It looked like a ghost tripped San Jose’s Vitor Costa in the box. Maybe Ford had a special ability to see ghosts like Jamie Conklin does in Stephen King’s crime/horror novel, Later.
Not only that, but Ford and the fourth official determined that there would be 11 minutes of stoppage time. Where did that come from? We’ll never know. Maybe Ford was nostalgic for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
Whitecaps players were furious at Ford, and so were their fans. Of course, Ford has a notorious history with the Whitecaps as he officiated the infamous 2023 first-round playoff game against LAFC. In that game, Ford gave away a soft penalty, missed several fouls in the box, which should’ve been penalties for Vancouver and bumped into Alessandro Schöpf as he was trying to take a potential game-tying shot.
Then-head coach Vanni Sartini was the most furious, and Ford gave him a red card. After the match, Sartini joked to the media that he would be the prime suspect if the police found Ford floating lifeless and face down in False Creek. The eccentric Italian was fined $200,000, suspended for the first six games of the 2024 season (later reduced to four) and was sent to do mandatory counselling.
As for Ocampo last Saturday, it was announced that his red card has been rescinded and he is allowed to play Vancouver’s next MLS match at home to the Houston Dynamo. His fine for “failing to leave the field in a timely manner” was also rescinded.
Ok, that’s cool. But what about Ford? Since he decided to be the centre of attention in San Jose, the Whitecaps lost the momentum they were building before Ocampo got sent off. The Colombian full-back being sent off ruined the rhythm Vancouver had. Anyone who says the ‘Caps were robbed is right.
Ford’s officiating was an absolute disgrace. He got a lot wrong. It was one of the worst displays from a referee in MLS this season and in the recent memory of soccer and sports. Plus, this was not the first time Ford displayed his incompetence, and he hasn’t done this with just Vancouver.
He sure loves to be the centre of attention, like a kid who wants to blow the birthday candles out of another kid’s cake. Look at his stats from just this season. (!) This is astonishing. Games are about the players and their accomplishments, not the referees. But of course, Ford wanted it to be about him.
Sartini and the Whitecaps aren’t the only ones to call out Ford. New England Revolution head coach Caleb Porter blasted Ford after a game last season.
When people from multiple organizations and a large number of fans are calling out a referee, that means he or she isn’t doing a good job.
Referees deserve to be held accountable, like anyone else
At any job, what happens when someone isn’t doing a good job? Well, they get a talking to from their higher-ups. If it happens once, fine, that person can learn from it. If it happens multiple times? That person gets fired.
In England, PGMOL demotes referees from the English Premier League to the Championship if they have a poorly officiated game. One example is Anthony Taylor, who got demoted to the Championship in 2023 after he gave away a penalty which shouldn’t have been called to Newcastle United in their 2-2 draw against Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Taylor has not been well-liked by Premier League fans, players and managers across England and Europe. Former Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel heavily criticized Taylor after a heated 2-2 draw with Tottenham Hotspur at Stamford Bridge in 2022 and said his entire team, as well as the fans, believed Taylor had it out for Chelsea.
So, Ford should get demoted to the USL for the time being, like Taylor did in 2023, right? Well, that is the logical thing to do. However, MLS, PRO Referees, and logic don’t often go together.
To make things worse, an anonymous fan on Twitter found Ford’s wife’s Instagram and let’s just say it was not a good look and a clear conflict of interest.
Referees are not supposed to support any team. That obviously shows bias and conflict of interest. Any referee who shows support or bias for any team is doing their league and sport a disservice. Ford isn’t wearing any LAFC gear or colours in the posts, his family are. His family are allowed to support LAFC as they please, but the caption “Tim’s happy place” is a massive red flag.
Ford’s wife seemed to have privatized her Instagram account after these photos surfaced. PRO Referees looked into the photos and concluded that Ford wasn’t wearing LAFC gear; they would re-evaluate some of their processes.
“We are re-evaluating our processes about what constitutes a connection with a club,” said a PRO Referees Spokesperson to Jeff Carlisle of ESPN.
So it seems Ford is getting off scot-free for now. Is that surprising? Yes. Is it disappointing? Yes. Patrick Johnston of The Province also reported on Tuesday that MLS referees are going to get a refresher on ethics after Ford’s debacle.
There will also be conspiracy theories about whether or not Ford has an agenda against the Whitecaps. Whether that is true or not will remain unknown. What was seen last Saturday was another display of incompetence, and accountability should have been served.
Ford should never officiate a Whitecaps game again
Ford 100% deserves the criticism he got. He made multiple mistakes that many people saw.
However, he should not have been put in the position to officiate the Whitecaps game in San Jose in the first place. After his notorious playoff game in 2023 between Vancouver and LAFC, he should never have been allowed to officiate a game involving the Whitecaps. Last Saturday’s display of incompetence further strengthened that case.
Sure, Ford could’ve avoided all the criticisms if he had done his job properly. But allowing him to officiate a match involving a team with which he has a bad history is on PRO Referees and even MLS itself.
Given the fact that social media revealed that Ford is a California native and he and his family attend LAFC games, it adds fuel to the fire. He shouldn’t be allowed to officiate games that involve LAFC or any of the California clubs, for that matter.
It is fine for Ford and his family to attend games at BMO Stadium on his off days as a way to bond. But they must not show their bias and be careful about what is posted on social media.
Johnston notes in his article linked off that there must be a policy where referees must not officiate matches within the region they live in, as European leagues have some sort of policy like that. It would be best for the league, teams and the officials. That way, the perception of bias can be nullified.
Again, referees have a hard job, but that doesn’t mean they should be immune to accountability and be disciplined themselves.
