A-League season start under threat with referees on strike

It is seemingly a rare occurrence indeed that Australian football does not find itself in some degree of turmoil.

So it is perhaps of little surprise that as the A-League Men's and Women's seasons fast approach, the code is once again lurching towards another crisis.

The nations top referees have been on strike since September 4, citing "significant changes to the elite refereeing structure" proposed by Football Australia (FA).

The change would see the referees contracted directly by the league, instead of FA.

The Professional Football Referees Association (PFRA) says those changes would be "detrimental to individual referees and represent a drastic step backwards for the professional refereeing program".

The A-League seasons begin in four weeks. And the parties are, as things stand, at something of a stalemate.

The APL and FA have all told ABC Sport they are continuing to work together with the aim of reaching a resolution.

The referee's body said in a statement earlier this month that it would "continue to engage with Football Australia with the aim of resolving the outstanding matters and returning its members to the field as soon as an acceptable outcome can be reached".

As players and supporters at all levels know, without referees there can be no game, so how have we got here?

Who runs the A-Leagues?

To get into the weeds of this dispute, we can go back to the 2020 decision to decouple the A-League from Football Australia.

FA relinquished full control to a newly formed body, the Australian Professional Leagues, after a long period of agitation from both the clubs and world body FIFA about governance issues within the game.

In practice, this meant handing over the commercial reins of the A-Leagues to the clubs, in line with many other professional football leagues around the world, such as the Premier League, Bundesliga and J-League, among others.

The clubs believed the separation from the national governing body would help the competition's long-term viability.

The reality has been somewhat different.

In 2024, half of A-League Men players said they were "dissatisfied" with how the competition had been managed by the APL, and close to half said they had "low trust" in whether it could improve the league.

That same year, APL slashed the annual distribution to the clubs from close to $2 million to just $530,000 on account of an increasingly worrying financial outlook.

That followed a frankly disastrous plan to sell off grand finals to Sydney and rapidly declining interest and attendances.

Since then, the stalled expansion drive and the removal of failed club Western United and last month's breakdown of talks between the league and the players over the collective bargaining agreement have added to an environment of intense distrust.

Why are the referees on strike?

Since the league unbundled from Football Australia, the sport's governing body has still provided the referees to the league, with the APL reimbursing FA for those costs.

Now, Football Australia has proposed that it will only pay for matches that come under their jurisdiction: the Australia Cup and Australian Championship.

That means the APL has to pay the referees to officiate its competitions directly, which FA says is the APL's responsibility under the contract it has signed with the league.

However, this is one of the issues that the PFRA has railed against, arguing in essence it would be a conflict of interest to officiate the clubs, who are in effect their employers.

"Such an arrangement would place referees in an unacceptable position of potential conflict and raise serious concerns regarding the integrity and impartiality of the refereeing program," the PFRA said in a statement.

The referees would prefer the formation of an independent referees body, as is the case in England with Pro Ref, formerly known as PGMOL.

The PFRA added that the proposed structure was "untenable" and that referees "cannot grow without trust [or] succeed without independence".

Football Australia said there were no issues around the integrity with their proposal, and that it was consistent with FIFA regulations.

The PFRA also said match officials who officiated in trial matches involving A-League clubs had not been paid their outstanding match fees by FA, which was refuted by FA, which said there were no outstanding debts owed.

Have games been affected?

Football Australia was forced to fly in four Singaporean referees for the Australia Cup semifinal clash between Sydney FC and Melbourne Victory on September 9.

Young Australian referee Rowan Fisher, who does not have any A-League experience, took charge of the second semifinal between South Melbourne and Lions FC earlier this week.

It is understood that there is no risk of the Australia Cup final between South Melbourne and Melbourne Victory on October 10 not being played.

This is due to a group of referees that have signed a contract with FA despite the stand-off.

The second season of the second-tier Australian Championship, which kicks off on Thursday October 15, is also not expected to be at risk.

Both those competitions are administered by FA.

However, no assurances have been given about the A-Leagues, Men and Women, which both start that same weekend.

'Nobody becomes a referee because they want to withdraw their services'

The nation's referees are clear they want to get back to the business of refereeing.

But they feel their voices need to be heard.

"Our members have delivered an overwhelmingly clear message. They are seeking certainty around their employment, payment of outstanding amounts, and a clear and sustainable structure for professional refereeing in Australia," PFRA president Evgeny Vizelman said in a statement.

"We do not take the decision to stop officiating matches lightly. Our members want to officiate football, prepare for the upcoming season and positively contribute to the success of football in Australia.

"Nobody becomes a referee because they want to withdraw their services.

"Taking ourselves off the field hurts. There comes a point where people have to stand together and say the way they are being treated is not good enough."