Are you outraged by all of the recent bad calls by replacement referees in the NFL – including the horrible call at the end of last night’s Monday Night Football game – when an interception by Green Bay was instead called a touchdown for Seattle?

Controversial call against the Packers at end of Monday’s game (Twitter)
Controversial call against the Packers at end of Monday’s game (Twitter)
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State Senate President Steve Sweeney is, and he’s doing something about it.

Sweeney has announced he’s going to introduce legislation prohibiting the playing of professional sporting events with replacement officials, citing the potential for increased injury by inexperienced referees who cannot control a game.

He says “this past weekend in the NFL has not only made a mockery of a great sport, but shined a very bright light on how important fully trained and professional officiating is to player safety, we wouldn’t allow a factory or construction site to operate without fully trained supervisors on hand to ensure the safety of employees. Why should we do anything differently when the job site is a playing field?”

Sweeney adds the huge number of missed calls and blatantly mis-called penalties over the first three weeks of the National Football League season has proven the replacement officials do not have the ability to control a game in a highly physical sport where players get injured on routine plays even under the most well-trained of referees.

He also says replacement officials also lower the quality of play, devaluing the often large investments fans have made in tickets.

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