Few players can claim to have seen as many sides of the football world as David Beckham. After 10 years of service at Manchester United and pitstops at Real Madrid and Los Angeles Galaxy – not to mention a lengthy career with England – he is well qualified to deliver conclusions on the current state of life in the MLS.
Now into his fourth season at Los Angeles, Beckham has battled injuries and criticism in the Galaxy’s fruitless pursuit of the MLS Cup, but he has not been shy about praising the overall experience. He believes he is making a difference on and off the field, selling a staggering number of Beckham 23 jerseys and thriving in a new central midfield role that gives him more opportunities to demonstrate his range of passing.
However, his tone changes dramatically when addressing the topic of MLS referees and the quality of officiating, which has left him deeply frustrated in recent weeks.
The former England captain picked up a yellow card in five of the Galaxy’s first six games this year, leading to a one-game suspension. And this is new for Beckham. But for the infamous red card against Argentina at the 1998 World Cup, his career has hardly been littered with disciplinary issues, which would explain his dismay at collecting a ban so early in the campaign. After all, it is no secret that 2011 may represent the midfielder’s final chance to conquer the MLS, with his contract expiring at the end of the season.
But it is not just his own cautions that have provoked criticism. In fact, Beckham admits that his discontent has been brewing for some time as controversial decisions have increasingly become the post-game talking points.
“Over the past few games I think I’ve spoken too much about referees,” Beckham explained, after picking up the suspension in a 0-0 draw with Toronto FC. “They’re becoming the stars of the MLS and that’s obviously not what teams want. You want it to be fair for the players and I just don’t think the consistency is there. There are bad calls and we’ve had a majority of bad calls recently.
“It’s ruining games and it’s ruining our preparation for games. I’ll probably get in trouble but it has gone on too long now. We want that consistency to be there and we want to keep our players on the field.”
In truth, Beckham’s criticism of referees has been building. The previous week, he aired grievances over a controversial late penalty awarded against the Galaxy in a 1-1 draw with DC United, claiming that Cruz, his six-year-old son, could have spotted that the penalty kick should not have been awarded. Nonetheless, Los Angeles have made a solid start to the season, establishing themselves once again as leading contenders in the Western Conference alongside Real Salt Lake and Colorado Rapids, the defending champions.
Beckham’s assessment is all the more interesting given that he has a reputation as one of the players most protected by MLS referees. However, the statistics back up his complaints, with the MLS’ frequency for red cards dwarfing that of the English Premier League, which is widely considered to be one of the most physical leagues in Europe. Somehow, this does not add up.
Now that Beckham has raised this topic, MLS referees are likely to be under even closer scrutiny in the coming weeks. While this increases the pressure to make the right decisions, it can only benefit the league as a whole. The quality of play has steadily improved over the past few years and it is only logical that the officiating would follow suit.
Of course, Beckham is odds on to leave the MLS at the end of this season – with the Premier League standing out as the likeliest destination – but his comments on the standard of the league’s referees might just spark some key improvements for the years ahead.
