The footage of Anthony Taylor and his family being harassed at the airport is utterly despicable. He and his family were physically and verbally assaulted as he tried to make his way home after the Europa League final, as Jose Mourinho and the Roma bosses stoked up the fire of fury against the Englishman.
But it wasn't Taylor that missed the crucial penalties. He didn’t lose the match for Roma. He actually, with the help of VAR at points, had a fantastic game in what was a horrendous atmosphere. He didn’t cost Roma the title, and yet Mourinho has spearheaded a campaign of vociferous abuse against him.
The Portuguese boss was filmed pacing around the car park at the Puskas Arena like a schoolkid preparing for his first fight, waiting for Taylor to appear so he could further berate him and his performance. He and his staff were nothing short of disgraceful during the match.
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"We at AS Roma don't want to raise doubts about Sevilla's merits. We believe that with our opponents we put on a great final and honoured the stage offered to us by UEFA in the best way," Roma’s general manager Tiago Pinto said.
"We don't usually comment immediately about these types of situations but over the course of today we've analysed both the most glaring incidents and those seemingly less evident and it is clear that in disciplinary terms the refereeing of the match was not balanced."
These actions are not dissimilar to Donald Trump riling up the Republicans ahead of the storming of the Capitol building. These people in powerful positions know how influential their words can be on a fanatical fanbase, and yet they still say them. Taylor’s safety is now under threat because of them, when in truth, he hasn’t done anything wrong. All he did was his job, to a fairly high standard.
This example shows how impactful managers can be, but pundits and journalists must also take responsibility for their words. So often we see them criticising referees or the decisions they make without any understanding of the impact these can have on the officials. After all, they are human.
Criticism of decisions is allowed, that’s part of being a pundit and saying what you see, but claiming that one side may have been unfairly treated is not only wrong, but brings into question the integrity of experienced and professional officials. Fans will, rightly or wrongly, be so loyal to their team that they are blinded by bias. When that bias is supported by somebody like Mourinho, it sets a dangerous precedent that abuse of referees is okay.
It isn’t. It never will be.
When Trump constantly whined about a ‘rigged election’ in 2020, he changed the narrative around failure. It wasn’t his fault his party had been fairly beaten by the democrats, that simply wasn’t a possibility in his mind. Instead, he clutched at every straw he could find, and in doing so, tore at the fabric of democracy.
The Europa League final wasn’t rigged either. Mourinho and his merry men have just changed the narrative around their own failures. They’ve refused to accept they have been fairly beaten by Sevilla and Taylor is the only one left to blame. He’s collateral damage in a bid to deflect any attention away from Roma’s shoddy performance.
The abuse we’ve seen is enough to put anybody off from becoming a referee. It might even turn Taylor himself away from the game. It’s great to be passionate about football but, ultimately, we have to remember that referees are human. They deserve to be treated as such.
*18+ | BeGambleAware
