Tobias Stieler came under fire after only calling two penalties during Bayern Munich’s 1-2 loss to Bayer Leverkusen. Referee Manuel Gräfe criticized Stieler on Twitter for his “personal mistakes” during the game. Gräfe believes that referees should be held to the same standards as players and coaches and should be measured by their performance.
Gräfe feels that Stieler’s performance was lacking and that his mistakes were unacceptable, but he feels that the referee management system is to blame. He thinks that referees should be properly classified, and their management measured, to avoid such errors.
When asked if Stieler is qualified to referee in the Bundesliga and internationally, Gräfe says, “If you make serious mistakes more often and repeatedly, you are certainly not among the top European players because of the lack of performance.” He believes that the referee management has been responsible for the undesirable development in personnel over the last ten years.
Regarding Stieler’s reaction to his mistakes, Gräfe says, “Referees make mistakes like I used to. After that, I felt bad and I didn’t feel like laughing. But people are different, and everyone deals with their mistakes differently.” He finds it strange how individual referees have been expressing themselves in recent interviews.
When asked about who he thinks are the best and weakest referees in the Bundesliga, Gräfe says that “Aytekin, Brych, and Fritz” are the “old hands” that he wouldn’t be surprised to see nominated for top matches. He calls Sven Jablonski the greatest talent for over ten years.
Uefa recently informed the DFB referee management of the lack of quality and had a crisis meeting with the German Fifa referees. Gräfe feels that the idea of performance should take precedence over everything, and that the interpretation of handball can be formulated more clearly and precisely. He also feels that VAR intervention should be fundamentally defined.
Gräfe successfully sued the DFB’s age limit and still referees in the Bundesliga. He thinks that allowing ex-professionals like Thomas Muller to referee after they retire could bring a new perspective and fresh talent to the field, but doubts that many ex-professionals would take on the role.
