As Toronto FC waits to see if star midfielder Michael Bradley will be disciplined for blasting MLS officiating as “a joke,” at least one former Toronto player is backing him up.

Compared to top leagues in Europe, the calibre of referees in Major League Soccer is unquestionably substandard, says ex-TFC striker Rohan Ricketts.

“There’s a clear difference in the level of refereeing. You see decisions here that you’d never see in Europe. Some of the decisions are ludicrous,” said Ricketts.

Still, while Bradley said Canadian referees are harsher on TFC because they don’t want to be perceived as homers, Ricketts said he never detected any particular bias — just incompetence.

“I just remember bad refereeing in general,” said Ricketts, who played two seasons in Toronto.

In a locker-room interview after TFC tied the Chicago Fire 1-1 Saturday night, a furious Bradley blasted referee Dave Gantar, a native of Edmonton. Bradley was particularly incensed by Gantar’s decision to wave off an apparent winning goal by TFC striker Gilberto in extra time.

Canadian officials are harsher with TFC because they don’t want to be perceived as favouring their home country, said Bradley. The result, he added, is that they swing the other way.

“They continue to assign Canadian referees when an American team is playing a Canadian team. Because it’s obvious that now these guys are going to make a conscious effort to show they’re not being biased one way or another. . . . I can’t understand why you’d continue to do that,” Bradley said.

Bradley also mocked MLS efforts to improve its officiating by joining with the U.S. Soccer Federation in 2012 to create the Professional Referee Organization. The New York-based group’s stated goal is “to supply world class match officials for all professional soccer in North America.”

PRO has several training and development programs for officials and is headed by Peter Walton, a former referee in the English Premier League.

“The league can make all the excuses they want. They can say that they’re working with PRO and bringing Peter Walton in to do all this kind of stuff but at the end of the day, it’s just not even close to being good enough. because consistently they put referees out there that are just in over their head,” fumed Bradley. “And it’s a shame, because they ruin games and totally decide the outcomes of games.”

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Attempts to reach Walton for comment weren’t successful.

With TFC having slid down the MLS standings into seventh place in the Eastern Conference, frustration has been building for weeks. As the key parts of a multi-million dollar off-season makeover, Bradley and ailing striker Jermain Defoe are likely feeling the heat, suggested Ricketts.

“It’s going to fall on Michael and Jermain if they don’t make the playoffs,” said Ricketts. Still, even if that extra pressure helped provoke Bradley’s outburst, he’s only saying what other players are likely thinking, Ricketts added.

“He has a very valid point. Hopefully his teammates stand up for him,” Ricketts said.