As he watches the grand finals of the other football codes this weekend and prepares to take the hotseat as director of referees for Football Federation Australia, Canberra's Ben Wilson is thankful for one thing.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
''I'm quite happy there's no video referees in soccer that we have to worry about because that seems to be where all the problems are occurring at the moment,'' Wilson quipped of controversy currently facing his NRL counterpart Bill Harrigan. ''So we'll continue to make our decisions as we see them on the field at the time.''
Having started refereeing as a 15-year-old at Giralang, for Canberra's Belnorth, Wilson, 37, will next week take over as director of Australia's 9000 officials.
It's a job that will put him in the spotlight too, last season's A-League grand final determined by a controversial refereeing call.
With scores locked at 1-1 seven minutes into stoppage time, referee Jarred Gillett awarded an extremely contentious penalty to Brisbane Roar striker Besart Berisha after he took an air-swing at the ball and fell inside the box.
On the eve of the new A-League season, Wilson gives his verdict on the ruling that determined the title.
''You don't set out to be the centre of attention as a referee but you're there to make decisions as you see them, whether it's the last minute or the first minute, no fear, no favour,'' Wilson said.
''He saw it as a penalty as did I.
''I think he was correct in giving the decision and if that meant one team lost as a result of that, well that's what you're there to do.''
Wilson's decorated career as an assistant referee included officiating at the 2006 FIFA World Cup and in five A-League grand finals.
Wilson said there were no immediate plans to introduce video officials into the A-League.
''A lot of those things are driven by FIFA internationally,'' he said. ''There's not as much leeway to experiment with things like that because one particular country might think it's a good idea. I know FIFA is trialing and looking at some goal-line technology to assist the referees with the ball over the line and we'll see how that goes.''