ABSTRACT
During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, sports accepted and welcomed professionalism and as a result became more commercially orientated, with Association football the most obvious example of this commercialisation. The importance of the role of the referee and the significance of their performance, on-field decisions and accountability have increased as the potential economic significance of any decisions they make and their bearing on competitive success and failure have amplified. The South African World Cup in 2010 gave rise to a number of comments being directed at the standard of refereeing. In European football Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) is trying to standardise refereeing across the domestic leagues, and also in the Champions League, the Europa League and the European Championships. Football and television became irrevocably intertwined in 1950s as two of the central tenets of British popular culture evolved together. The political economy of Association football has changed considerably in the 'elite' European leagues as money, or the 'cash-nexus'.
