Portsmouth boss Danny Cowley calls on major refereeing changes following Sky Sports innovation

The Pompey boss has insisted the game must use other sports as an example to combat the lack of communication between officials, supporters and players.

His Blues side were involved in the TV broadcasters ‘Access All Areas’ fixture, which saw exclusive behind-the-scenes coverage of their 2-0 defeat at Wycombe.

This saw cameras in each dressing room, enhanced on-pitch audio, interviews during the game, along with in-game commentary from an absent member from both squads.

Various ideas have been drawn up to help referee’s explain decisions, whether it’s through the use of microphones or even post-match interviews – although little headway has been made in this respect to date.

Sports such as rugby and the NFL use mics seamlessly to help officials spell out on-the-field rulings to supporters, both in stadiums and at home.

That would have been helpful on Sunday, when referee Scott Oldham overlooked Pompey appeals for a penalty in the first half, when Ronan Curtis looked to have been fouled in the Wycombe penalty area at Adams Park.

As a result, Cowley is adamant football should follow others sports’ example and believes Sky Sports’ new innovation could be the ideal way to improve transparency within the game.

He told The News: ‘I would certainly love to listen to the referees and try to understand the decisions they make.

‘I would be quite interested to know how they get the decisions. I think communication can really help this.

‘We’ve seen referees mic'd up in rugby and it is used brilliantly.

‘It help’s people’s understanding and as a result you see the referee as a human being and maybe not like a robot. That can only be good for the relationships in the game.

‘In rugby, the referees are held to such high esteem and are such an important part of the fabric of the game.

‘Whereas in football, I don’t think that is always the case and that’s a shame and we definitely need to learn from rugby in that aspect.

‘I always have a level of compassion for the referees but I would like the referees to communicate better.

‘The best referees always explain why but I also think the referees should have more armoury.

‘Whether that is walking the opponent 10-yards, which is what they do in rugby, which soon stops dissent or whether that’s sin-bins. They should be able to have more tools in their armoury.

‘I think this would be really useful to them and then we would be able to get a better game and that’s what we all want.’

During his time as a PE teacher, the Pompey boss explained he suffered dissent when refereeing football matches at school more than all other sports combined.

Cowley has insisted attitudes and respect towards officials in football must improve.

He added: I’ve had the pleasure of refereeing football, rugby, basketball, cricket and athletics.

‘My knowledge and understanding is definitely the best in football but I’ve probably got more criticism and stick in football than I did in all the others combined.

‘I can remember refereeing senior under-16 rugby games knowing a lot of the rules but not all of them but it was certainly a lot easier.’