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Chambers: Ex-Players Should Be Fast-Tracked into Refereeing - Ipswich Town News

Blues skipper Luke Chambers believes ex-players should be fast-tracked into refereeing at the end of their careers.

Town have been on the wrong end of a number of poor refereeing decisions this season, the penalty decisions made by Keith Stroud at Aston Villa last week among them, and Chambers believes former players becoming officials would be beneficial.

"Look, it’s a hard job referees have,” Chambers told the club site. "Some of the rules we have in the game now, they don’t understand - and the players don’t understand either.

"There doesn’t seem to be any accountability for performances though. If I played like some of the refs we’ve had, I’d be dropped.

"I’d like to see a lot more players take up refereeing when they have finished. There should be a clear pathway for that to happen, so they can be fast-tracked.

"Players who have played the game at professional level for 15 years or so will have a real understanding of the game and that can only help when you are a referee.

"There might be an argument that they have an affinity with one or two clubs because they have played for them. Well, make sure they don’t referee those clubs.

"More players going into refereeing is the answer. There needs to be a big initiative to try and make that happen.”

In the 1990s former Nottingham Forest, Huddersfield, Bradford, Walsall, Scunthorpe and Chesterfield defender Steve Baines became one of a handful of former players to take up the whistle, officiating in a number of Town games.

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