The impossible job of the referee

Soccer is not a game just played between two teams of eleven players, but also the staff, the fans and the referees. The latter have to dictate the play so that it could flow. But the referees are just as human as the players and the players make several mistakes per game. Yet this is not allowed for the referee. Still we could not imagine a football game without the referee (s). As history has shown us anarchy does not seem to work.
Is it possible to change the error-prone humans to be faultless machines called referees?

UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) has tried to do that for some time now. A couple of years ago they introduced the idea of AARs (additional assistant referees) which meant that instead of 3 referees (plus the fourth official) a game is controlled by 5 referees (plus the sixth referee). The two added referees position themselves behind the goal line around 16,5 meters form the goal. UEFA protocol says that the AARs must be UEFA licensed referees (not assistant referees). The sixth referee can be an assistant referee as AARs can take the main referees position if he/she picks up an injury etc.

What has been the result of AARs? According to official statistics the percentage of correct offside decisions at EURO 2012 was a whopping 96%. It is mainly down to the fact that the assistant referees can now almost solely concentrate on offside decision. AARs help the referee with fouls, goal decisions and other 50-50 decisions. During EURO 2012 6 goal line decisions out of 7 were correct.
One can wonder if the decision to introduce AARs was made to postpone the inclusion of video replays in football. If so it has certainly done the trick.

Yes, it seems to have worked well, then again we are only talking about the very top of the game. This world's most popular sport is played at all levels and all countries. Employing up to 6 referees of good quality per game can prove a stumbling block for most of the associations. All in all, in around 95% of football games the referees still face a mission impossible. Nonetheless it is good to see that progress is also being made on the level of officiating games. That will also aid the further development of the game itself.