What if they really are out to get Diego Costa? Premier League refs face allegations

Former Premier League official Mark Halsey alleges the referees’ governing body directed him to claim he did not see fouls on the pitch. Maybe Diego Costa and Jose Mourinho had a point this whole time.

Mark Halsey leveled one of the most serious allegations a sportsman can make against anyone involved in competition. Discussing Sergio Aguero’s three-match ban from the Football Association, Halsey tweeted “I have been in that situation when I have seen an incident and been told to say I haven’t seen it.”

Halsey laid the blame solely on the Professional Game Match Officials Limited, the body that oversees top-flight referees.

Gary Neville was one of the first ex-footballers to chime in, and ascribed motive to the PGMOL’s alleged instructions to match referees.

Chelsea have an unfortunate record of wildly casting blame for calls or non-calls that do not go the Blues’ way. Jose Mourinho almost routinely paid fines for his comments against referees.

When he tired of sending money to the Football Association, he would turn on his passive-aggressive wiles. “I won’t say what you know I want to say, because what I want to say would cast the game in disrepute. But you know what I’m saying.”

Diego Costa aims his ire more at the media than at the officials, but the martyrdom and scapegoating shows how much he learned from his ex-manager. Costa recently accused the Spanish media of a double-standard in how they cover him, giving the British media a brief reprieve during the international break.

Halsey’s allegations make it harder to dismiss Mourinho’s and Costa’s statements as petty cynicism. Now when Costa blames the referee for a non-call, fans and pundits will have to pause and say “Well, as Mark Halsey claims,… Maybe Costa has a point.”

What if, after all these years and countless blame-shifting press conferences and interviews, Mourinho and Costa were right all along? What if Premier League officials really were out to get Chelsea?

Or, conversely, what if Chelsea’s detractors are right and the Blues’ stars get off too easily? Many fans and pundits think that Costa should have received a second yellow card before scoring his winning goal against West Ham. That non-call had a significant impact on the outcome of the game. Now Chelsea’s opponents have reason to believe it was malfeasant.

Costa and Mourinho will have a field day with this. And that’s before the traces of corruption spread to other elements of the game. If you believe referees are pre-disposed to not make a certain call, what’s to say the rest of their officiating is not compromised?

To again quote Gary Neville, this is a huge problem.

Fans on barstools and at their keyboards are supposed to throw shade at the officials. It’s what we do. Players, coaches and ex-officials are not supposed to cast aspersions on current officials. It’s unseemly if it’s false, and it is near-fatal for a league if it is true.

Sports fans will forgive a lot of disgraceful conduct on and off the pitch. All the sport has to do is ensure the scoreboard and the table reflect objective competition. Mark Halsey fractured this contract between the fans and the sport.

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The FA and the Premier League need to act on Halsey’s allegations. They need to do it quickly, thoroughly and transparently. Their first calls (after their legal counsel) should be to the National Basketball Association and Major League Baseball.

The NBA overcame a severe threat to their integrity when a referee admitted to match-fixing as part of a gambling ring. Similarly, the MLB underwent the Mitchell Report investigation to determine the extent of steroid use among the sport’s biggest stars and all-time records. Both leagues survived because of their commitment to finding and revealing the truth.

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The process may be painful, and Halsey may end up being a crank or a hero. But the facts need to determine that beyond doubt. The alternative to how the NBA and MLB handled things is the FIFA and IAAF method. The FA and Premier League certainly do not want to be alongside those institutions.