REFEREES have been keen to embrace the new rights that have been made available to them since they turned professional in 2001, so it is about time they also started to face some of the responsibilities.

By turning their back on their amateur days, England's elite officials have been able to give up their part-time jobs as their pay packet has rocketed and make use of the new state of the art training facilities introduced to aid their development.

Under the auspices of the Professional Game Match Officials Board - an umbrella organisation responsible for the selection, appointment, monitoring and training of all referees in the professional game - the nation's whistle-blowers have never had it so good.

But, as well as providing cash, professionalism also implies competence and, sadly, that characteristic has been in drastically short supply during the first two weeks of the Premiership season.

The North-East's three top-flight clubs have played in a total of six games so far - and five them have seen the brandishing of a red card.

Two of the dismissals were justified - Charlton's Darren Ambrose and Middlesbrough's Ugo Ehiogu could have had few complaints about their early baths - but three were ludicrous in the extreme.

Steve Bennett's decision to send off Jermaine Jenas at Highbury looked like being one of the worst mistakes of the season, until it was quickly surpassed by two even more ridiculous red cards on Saturday.

Paul Konchesky was dismissed for one of the finest covering tackles imaginable at St James' Park, while Andy Welsh was ordered off for simply bumping into Luis Garcia at Anfield.

While refereeing standards are notoriously volatile at the start of the season - and the Game Board's decision to introduce a new ruling banning any player from leaving the ground while making a tackle has hardly helped matters - this month's events have given significant cause for concern.

Not so much because referees have been making mistakes - they are, as they are always quick to point out in the aftermath of such an event, only human - but because they are allowed to escape without punishment whenever things go wrong.

Footballers make mistakes as well. Ambrose admitted he had made an error of judgement when attempting to tackle Stephen Wright and accepted his three-match ban as justifiable punishment.

Bennett held his hand up in the aftermath of last weekend's game at Highbury, but was not even given as much as a slap on the wrist. Indeed, he was back with a whistle in his mouth on Saturday as Doncaster won at Swansea.

Even if Dermot Gallagher and Barry Knight apologise for their errors of judgement, they will be allowed to continue as if nothing has happened while West Ham and Sunderland rue the dropped points that yet could make the difference between survival and relegation.

The system is ludicrous and cannot be allowed to continue. Referees must be made accountable for their actions, otherwise the incentive for them to improve the level of their performance simply does not exist.

Just as players are banned for up to three games for their mistakes, so referees should be forced to sit out a designated number of matches when they get things wrong. Alternatively, they should be hit in the pocket and fined a week's wages, in the same way that clubs punish footballers that err on the field of play.

A self-policing system is already in place.

"We meet up for two days every fortnight and, at our fortnightly meetings, I evaluate their (the referees') performances using video tapes of matches," explained Keith Hackett, the performance director for the Professional Game Board. "We sit down and look at the games they have officiated in the last couple of weeks."

Presumably, after they have looked, they have a quick chuckle at what they have got wrong and promise not to make such silly mistakes again.

Well, the mistakes just keep on coming, and will continue to do so unless referees are given a tangible incentive to get things right.

It is not enough to claim they have a difficult job in difficult circumstances.

So do millions of people up and down Britain every day.

But you can bet your bottom dollar that they will have to face the consequences if they continue to make basic errors week in, week out