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Graham Ruthven

Referees Mike Dean and Michael Oliver

Mike Dean could hardly have painted any greater contempt across his face if he’d tried as he watched the touchline brawl that tarnished the closing moment’s of Saturday’s Premier League clash between Manchester City and Chelsea. On fourth official duty in this instance, Dean excels in the role as overelaborate, overdramatic geography teacher revelling in his own authority a bit too much. He is the embodiment of a truly modern phenomenon - the celebrity referee.

They say the best referees are the ones you don’t even notice. Pierluigi Collina was a master of this, with his manic, eyes wide open expression the only thing that drew attention to him as a whistler of almost mythical status. Of course, it’s a little harder to go unnoticed in the modern age, with all the instant replays, and dismantling of every big decision and BT Sport’s hiring of Howard Webb as a sort of refereeing OFCOM. As an art-form, the act of the disappearing referee is no longer so common.

Not that the referees themselves seem to mind. They relish their newfound prominence, playing up for the cameras at every possible opportunity. Some are better at it than others. Dean, for instance, is so expressive he should perhaps seek some pantomime work this Christmas. “He’s behind you!” “Is he now? That’s a yellow card. And here’s a snide smirk and a shrug of the shoulders for good measure.”

Referees aren’t just to get the big decisions, but to look right as they are making those big decisions. They’re aware of how the television cameras will close on them in an attempt to determine their thought process when there is a call to be made. And so they squint their eyes and crouch, giving the impression that they are looking closely, thinking really hard to make sure no infringement is missed.

Then there’s the emphatic out-stretching of the arms, directly in front of one’s self like a super speed zombie, to indicate ‘play on.’ Even better is the frantic waving of the arms as a sort of penalty claim rebuttal. There have been times when Dean has done this with such vigour it’s little wonder he didn’t actually take flight.

It used to be the case that referees were sometimes guilty of being starstruck by the world class players they shared with a pitch with on a Saturday at the end of their working weak as car salesmen or lecturers or civil servants. But in the age of the full-time, professional referees the men in the middle can more than hold their own in the personality stakes.

Dean excels in withering looks in the direction of frenzied players, while Clattenburg deals in an expression of irritation that must have taken years or practice to perfect. Michael Oliver is another who relishes the opportunity to perform an overdramatic gesture or a pull off a look of mild disdain. Referees are no longer just referees, they are performers just like the players they officiate.

Football experienced the fertilisation of managers towards the end of the 20th century and now we have the fetishisation of referees. They are celebrities in their own right. Newspapers would reference them by their profession first, name second. Now every football fan knows who Dean is. Or what Clattenburg looks like. Some are even able to recall poor decisions they made against their team a number of years ago. Because all referees are inherently biased, of course. They have it in for your club. Every single one of them.

We have reached the point of no return. The celebritification of referees has gone too far but it’s only likely to go even further as long as BT Sport employ Webb to solely examine the performance of whistlers. Now the spotlight has been shone on referees it’s difficult to imagine that it will ever be taken off them again.

All the while referees are denied the one piece of public exposure that could make their jobs much easier. They might make more headlines than a Kardashian wedding, but officials are still not permitting to speak to the media after games to explain their decisions. They are gagged. Instead, all we have to go on are their overelaborate gestures and expressions. That explains a lot.