MLS: Quotes from May 4 media teleconference

The following are quotes from the May 4 MLS media teleconference that featured MLS Commissioner Doug Logan, MLS Vice President of Game Operations Joe Machnik and U.S. Soccer Director of Officials Esse Baharmast. Doug Logan Opening Remarks “I received a phone call from Kevin Payne this morning … I would characterize his demeanor and his expression as one of remorse that the incident had taken place … He apologized for his behavior and comments and I accepted his apology … We at MLS believe that the international exchange program that we instituted in 1997 is a good exchange and that it is good for the league, for our officials and for our players to experience different styles … Bob Bradley had the best quote of the weekend in which he indicated his support for the program but that Saturday night was an aberration … We will continue with the program … We plan to bring in a top-rated FIFA World Cup referee later this month from the United Arab Emirates (Ali Mohammed Bujsaim) to do a total of four matches … We will continue with a minimum of two exchanges each year where we bring in top referees from top countries and also allow our referees to get the experience of reffing games in the first division in other countries.” “The Chicago vs. D.C. United match was played gallantly by both teams … I thought there was great courageous play by both sides … It was only one of many exciting matches during the course of the past weekend.” “Season tickets this week will go over 43,000, which would give us a 10% increase over last year … We will continue to tablulate those until the end of this month …. As Lamar Hunt says, this is the heartblood of our success, we are dependent on the sale of season tickets in this league … The fact that we will be in excess of 10% above last year is very important.” “Rather interesting after a period of 38 games to note how we compare to last year … Of interest is the fact that last year through 38 games we had 136 yellow cards and 17 red cards … Through 38 games this year we have 131 yellow cards and 19 red cards so we’re running almost exactly at the same level as last year.” “In the course of the last two days the National Hockey League is proud that their ratings for ESPN playoff games have risen 37% to a .67 … Our rating this year is running at a .62 … We are up substantially on ESPN and ESPN2 from last year … Our average ESPN2 rating last year was .22 and was seen by 191,000 viewers … This year with a .26 rating our average ESPN2 rating is being viewed by 253,000 viewers … The same kind of growth is happening on ESPN … Last year we averaged a .45 with 494,000 viewers … This year we are at a .62 and the average viewer number is 705,000 … This is still early in the season and you can’t draw huge conclusions from it, but these early numbers are extraordinarily encouraging.” Joe Machnik Opening Remarks “We had seven send-offs in regulation play and one in the shootout … It is important that we understand the focus of the referee program as developed by U.S. Soccer and MLS for the coming season … Principally there are four main focus points: first – maintain the strong stance that MLS took last season even before FIFA published their stance against the foul tackle from behind or tackles that endangers the safety of the opponent … A great many of the red cards that happened last year and this year and three that happened this weekend have been for incidents of this nature … As the Commissioner mentioned, it is interesting that the send-off numbers are almost equal to what they were last year through 38 games.” “The second point of emphasis is that we have vowed to do a better job with offside, the assistant referees must be absolutely sure that player is 100% in an offside position and that the flag should not be raised if there is any doubt … The benefit should go to the attacker and to attacking soccer. The first couple of weeks we struggled with this because the assistant referees had no preseason training or practice and were rusty … There were three 100% good goals denied by errant flags, however the performance has improved greatly over the past couple of weeks as the assistant referees have gotten their second and third games in the league.” “These points of emphasis were developed through participation by players and coaches and referees on the MLS Referee Committee … Thomas Rongen represents the coaches as does Glenn Myernick, while Paul Tamberino and Brian Hall represent the officials … We’ve had various players like Paul Bravo and Jan Eriksson represent the players at our meetings and these points of emphasis were discussed and analyzed.” “The third point is that we needed to crack down on the type of play that eliminates a quick taking of free kicks … The referee should allow quick free kicks whenever possible … However, when the attacking team asks for 10 yards that a ceremonial free kick be orchestrated in such a way that the referee gets and maintains 10 yards … We’ve seen a much better job on this through the course of the season, highlighted by some terrific goals on free kicks.” “The fourth point comes from an initiative to handle to the amount of diving in MLS and as well as the rest of the world … Perhaps with the crackdown on foul tackles comes the effort by certain players to dive to influence the referee’s decision that the foul was more nasty than it really was … The referees are conscious of diving, more so this year than last year and the effort will be continued.” “We remind the referees during their participation on the Tuesday night conference call … All 26 individuals who have or will have had a whistle …We review the games of the past week and discuss the games of the upcoming week … Every referee receives a videotape after each game and we ask them to file a personal evaluation form prior to the call on Tuesday so that we can discuss with the referee his strengths, weaknesses, his good calls and those points where he failed.” Esse Baharmast Opening Remarks “The exchange program is two-fold: 1) to give our referees an opportunity to go to other nations and see a different style of play and also to give other people the chance to see our referees in action … 2) to give our players a taste of what they may experience from international referees, preparing them for different tournaments that they may go to … Our players get a chance to experience styles from around the world.” “This year we’ve had Mr. Stuart Dougal from Scotland whose been here only for the three games that he’s done … The next referee is Ali Mohammed Bujsaim of the UAE, who is no stranger to those of you who have been covering the World Cup … He did the third-place match between Sweden and Bulgaria in World Cup USA ’94 and was the referee in France where he did the France-Paraguay game.” Logan on whether foreigners respect the play in the league, as some have indicated “The remarks were intemperate and inappropriate … From the standpoint to the issue of respect, as time goes on and as we get better, we are gaining more and more respect from our colleagues around the world … Are we on par with the English Premier League or the Spanish League or the Italian League, the answer is no but I would say ‘No, not yet’ … The whole part of the process is to gain international respect for a league that has been around for four years and the comparison is being made with leagues that have been in place for a significantly longer period of time.” “I don’t see a lack of respect … There’s no doubt that part of the challenge that we had in the inception three and a half years ago in starting a league was facing a significant amount of cynicism and skepticism and lack of respect for what we were trying to do … Have we been gaining? I think the answer is very definitely yes … Will you be able to ferret out players such as an obscure Ghanaian player in their third division who doesn’t respect us? Again the answer is yes.” Baharmast on whether foreigners respect the play in the league, as some have indicated “A team like D.C. United that goes into the InterAmerican Cup and plays against Vasco da Gama and also games in the CONCACAF club championships brings respect from referees who are doing games in other places … Yes, we are not the Bundesliga but they (referees) have respect for the level of play and the technical ability of our players.” Machnik on whether foreigners respect the play in the league, as some have indicated “Different styles of players and teams present a real challenge to the international referee who has been doing league matches in his own country and is used to a particular style of play … That challenge is one in which they respect and the list of referees who have contacted the Federation in hopes of coming to the U.S. to face that challenge continues to grow … We don’t have to search for international exchange refs or for countries that want to do an exchange with us … It’s a list that grows all the time.” “All over the world there are different kinds of referees … Some are good player-managers and solve a lot of problems on the field with techniques and there are others who go to the card right away … It seems that because Mr. Dougal gave a lot of cards that there is some lack of respect … I don’t think that’s the case … He happens to be a very technical referee … I personally called coaches before his second and third games to say that he seems to be very technical and his method of solving problems on the field is a quick card.” Baharmast on the variations on referees from league to league “In each league you have referees who have stricter styles and some who have player-management style … Some follow the letter of the law, even within the same leagues … You cannot make a country to country comparison.” Machnik on the variations on referees from league to league “Even in America and MLS we have referees who are more comfortable with the letter of the law and some who are better player managers … We have problems in MLS that we are trying to address … What happens when a referee of one style sees a team on Sunday and that same team has a referee of the opposite style a few days later? … It’s like how much air do you put in the ball — 9.0 or 10.5 psi — they’re both legal balls , but some players like a softer ball and some like one harder, and some countries like a softer ball and some like it harder.” Machnik on the continued exhibition of tackles from behind “Some players don’t learn … Some have been playing under a certain interpretation for the duration of their careers and all of the sudden comes a strict application that makes it hard to learn the lesson … Some teams have dropped players that couldn’t make the adjustment … Referees are comfortable showing the red card and in the past hesitated as they wondered whether the league would support them … We’ve supported every one because we feel we need to eliminate that play … A season and a half will not change that culture.” Machnik on the exchange program’s successes “When American referee Tim Weyland went to the J-League and officiated five games in the J-League in 1997 and the confidence he developed … We got great reports from the J-League, in fact they wanted him back … He came back a much more confident official and he has grown and developed his performance in MLS and part of that foundation of that growth was his international experience … The same is true with Richard Grady and his trip to Spain in the preseason tournament in ’98 … He was scheduled to do four games and they asked him to stay and do a crucial fifth game … He is a better official because of his experience … Right now Ali Saheli is in UAE officiating in their playoffs and I know that when he comes back he will be a better referee for us … That part is a great plus.” “If our referees were not getting equal opportunities overseas then it wouldn’t be a beneficial program.” “It’s difficult for MLS to communicate in many ways with the exchange referees … We look at video … There’s a short period of time to familiarize them with clock management and removal of injured players … What we do is add a fifth official who controls the clock and controls the shootout in game with the international referees … Yes they are on the conference call and yes the U.S. Soccer assessors meet with the referees and evaluate them.” Logan on the program “In the winter of 1996/97 when I entered into serious discussions with Joe before I hired him, it was my idea to institute a program of this type … We sat down and talked about it long and hard and when we gave this idea to U.S. Soccer General Secretary Hank Steinbrecher, we received feedback in very clear terms that it was important to have reciprocal responsibilities in the countries we were going to … We had a lot of offers from referees who wanted to come here for extra income during other league’s offseasons, but it was the extracting of that promise that our referees would be used in high-level matches that was the important thing for us … We’ve gotten nothing but positive feedback from international federations and we’ve got a waiting list from those that want to participate in the future.” Machnik on the criteria of referees who come to the United States “A league cannot do a referee exchange without the federation … The USSF has helped organize the program … Every country has up to 10 FIFA referees … Everyone that has been a part of the program has been a FIFA referee … Mr. Dougal is the #3-rated referee from Scotland and the gentleman from the UAE is #1 in his country … We’re not interested in someone who is not refereeing in the professional league in that country and is a referee of high standard and on their FIFA list and is in their top 10.” “We have to send FIFA referees to other countries … We have to send our top 10 … We haven’t decided who will go to Scotland.” Machnik on the shootout in San Jose last week (Friday, April 30, 1999) “The shootout was actually being conducted very professionally until the last attempt … The instructions for the referee in the shootout need to be understood that any foul committed by a goalkeeper outside of the area leaves the referee with no choice but to give a penalty kick and issue a red card … These instructions were given to the referees after the league’s first season in an effort to reduce potential violence in the shootout with goalkeepers charging off the goal line and confronting the player with the ball.” “The shootout rules parallel those of the international penalty-kick tiebreaker and those rules dictate that if a goalkeeper is sent of that he may not be replaced by a substitute goalkeeper, only by a field player.” “Last year before the season we produced a videotape on the shootout that clearly explained the rules to each team.” Logan on two referees in MLS “At the present time FIFA is conducting an experiment in other Division I leagues … We’ve asked the General Secretary that maybe in our preseason next year that we can participate as volunteers in that experiment … It’s an intriguing possibility.” Machnik on the players’ lack of adjustment to Dougal’s style “This was his third game … Most of the coaches have satellite dishes and watch the games to prepare their teams for competition … They know who the referees are well in advance … Part of the preparation is to know the referee’s style … After nine cautions in the first game and six in the second game it would seem to me that coaches would prepare their team for the ineveitable and maybe they did … Even if they didn’t, the cautions came early and I think that smart players make the adjustment.” Machnik on Jeff Baicher’s caution for diving (his 10th point in 3 games, necessitating a suspension) “I’ve looked at the video and customarily we don’t reverse yellow cards … However the initiative on diving is new and I am going to discuss with the MLS Discliplinary Committee whether or not that card needs to be reviewed … I don’t want to set a precedent on overturning yellow cards, but if a clear and definitive mistake has been made, then we want to do the right thing … He’s currently suspended for the next game, but if that is going to be reversed then it will be done before the next game.” Logan on charges of referee over-instruction “They are not over-instructed … the comments came on the heels of a game that was done by a Scottish referee and then somehow twisted into criticism of American officials … There is no such thing as a leash on American referees …. I reject those criticisms … We have a work in progress with a group of Federation referees … Is there room for improvement? Yes, but we have instituted excellent training and instruction and we are on the right track.” Logan on reconsidering the amount of D.C. United President Kevin Payne’s $15,000 fine “That’s between me and Kevin.” Logan on his initial reaction to Payne’s comments and actions “No comment on my reaction … Any comments related to the incident would be counterproductive … I think Kevin understands that he probably should not have done what he did or said what he said but that he apologized and I accepted his apology.” Logan on marquee matchups on being part of national television broadcasts “There’s a lot of competition at this time of the year when you look at hockey and basketball playoffs and the Kentucky Derby and baseball and American football … It’s a very cluttered period of time and there are limited windows that we can use at the present time … We share your frustration but it comes as a consequence of having an awful lot of competition this time of year.” Logan on comments/fines for coaches/players/front-office staff “I try and balance what I consider to be good for the league which is healthy discourse and differences of opinion and people’s First Amendment rights with what I consider to be protecting the integrity of the league … I don’t think I have a bias one way or another … When comments are damaging … Mr. Payne is not the only one who voiced comments this weekend, but he is the only one that I addressed … Generally I allow a healthy discourse to take place except when it crosses the line … I guess I’m the one that crosses the line … But it’s certainly not biased one way or another among players/front office/coaches or anyone else.” MLS, U.S. SOCCER TO CONTINUE REFEREE EXCHANGE PROGRAM Following Scottish referee Stuart Dougal’s three-game officiating stint with Major League Soccer, MLS and U.S. Soccer officials are preparing for the arrival of Ali Mohamed Bujsaim from the United Arab Emirates later this month. Bujsaim, who has worked the last two World Cups (including three matches at France ’98), will be the fifth international exchange referee to work MLS games. The following is a brief rundown of the international referees who have worked MLS matches: 1997 — Toru Kamikawa (Japan), 6 games. 1998 — Juan Carlos Paniaqua (Bolivia), 5 games; Jose Maria Garcia Aranda (Spain) 5 games. 1999 — Stuart Dougal (Scotland), 3 games; Ali Mohamed Bujsaim (UAE) to work 4 games. MLS CAUTIONS/EJECTIONS