Fact is, at the higher levels, it's all about the players, the money, and the spectators (and rightly so). Football/fans/media don't want some **** in a ref kit introducing a random element to a match because his "personality" makes it so. The "invisibility" idea stems from the belief that if the ref wasn't really noticed, then it must have been a game which was memorable for the football played. I'd go along with that.
If the players (at any level) just wanted to play football fairly and nothing else then a referee would simply be a passive timekeeper with a whistle. Given however, that football is a sport with a culture based on cheating, that will never happen.
