MLS Referee Diversity

Alexi Lalas said something on his Mutant Gene Podcast that got me thinking. He was talking about the referees in MLS, and stated that the refs are no better, and no worse, than referees in other leagues. This I completely agree with. Then he referred to the "diversity" of the referees in the league. I don't know whether he meant culturally, ethnically, or stylistically, but it intrigued me.


In MLS, I see referees with names and surnames that appear to have non-Anglo origins. Also, the referees are not all white.




Alan Kelly is from Ireland. Robert Sibiga is from Poland. Silviu Petrescu is from Romania. Baldomero Toledo was born in Mexico. Jair Marrufo's father was a Mexican referee. I could not find the place of Edvin Jurisevic's birth, but one website said he came to the U.S. as an exchange student. Baboucarr Jallow (who has not yet been center official of an MLS match but has been 4th official) is Gambian.




EDIT: It was reported on ESPN2 during the U.S. Open Cup match that Edvin Jurisevic is Croatian born. His Wikipedia page seems to back that up.


There are additional referees on the PRO Referees website that have a claim to ethnic diversity, even though they appear to be American born. For example, Marcos DeOliveira is American/Brazilian. And Nima Saghafi is American/Persian.




The United States is often referred to as the Melting Pot because of this country's broad cultural diversity. But even talking about the United States doesn't do the diversity of MLS justice. MLS has three teams that play in Canada, and have a handful of referees from Canada, including Drew Fischer, Geoff Gamble (who has not received an MLS assignment this year), and David Gantar.


The major leagues around the world are known for something stylistically, such as the pace of the English Premier League, the technical quality of Spanish La Liga, the hard-working and efficient play of German Bundesliga, the defense of Italian Serie A,  and the physicality of French Ligue 1. (See this interesting opinion article.)


From my purely unscientific recreational viewing of European soccer, different refereeing styles emerge from the various leagues as well. In the English Premier League, referees seem to allow the first few challenges to go unpunished, and then start booking players when the game may be getting out of control. In Spanish La Liga, you could commit criminal assault and not get booked, but if you dare to argue with the referee over a call, a yellow or red is shown almost immediately.


Of the pool MLS referees, above, I have identified at least 10 nationalities represented. Just for kicks and grins, I looked at the makeup of referees in the English Premier League, Spanish La Liga, and German Bundesliga. The referees are all from the respective countries of the leagues in which they referee.


Of course, generalizations perpetuate stereotypes of their own, and that is not my intent. The point I draw from this long-winded analysis is that perhaps the frustration caused by "inconsistency" of MLS referees is actually a result of the diversity amongst players and referees in North America. A referee who grew up in England (or Germany, Spain, Italy, France, etc.) has presumably been influenced by the way the world's game is played in the style of that country from school yards to amateur leagues to professional leagues.


American soccer, MLS as the domestic league, and the CanMNT and USMNT suffer from this lack of clearly defined homogeny. But I think that the diversity and differences of opinion should be celebrated. The more voices we allow, the sooner it will be until we get it right. We have an advantage in having people from all over the world. As frustrating as it is, this includes a perceived inconsistency in refereeing.