“Zero Tolerance!” That is what referee boss Bertrand Layec is going to impose on his referees for debating players. Demanding a yellow card or protesting against a decision should be eliminated, he thinks.
We were shown a number of phases on Tuesday where the referee had whistled for a foul and went to draw a yellow card, but a player came running from 30 meters to make sure the foul would be penalized. “And I think that’s a shame,” Layec said. “The referee was going to do his job, but in this case he has no choice but to give the protesting player a yellow card. That has to go!”
He wants to get to a situation where players don’t complain anymore. “A referee is not going to change his opinion and we will not tolerate influencing a ref,” Layec continues. “I’m going to tell the referees to be strict in those phases.”
And he will also inform the coaches about this, although he will have more work with one than with the other. “I went to Zulte Waregem last week and met a monument of Belgian football. Francky Dury is pretty much the Guy Roux of Belgium. We talked about it for a long time and he agreed. That gives me courage that the message starts through to push.”
