Don't Let The Door Hit You On The...

Referees generally get a raw deal. When they execute their job flawlessly, rarely are they singled out for credit. But, should their performance be less than stellar, the burning spotlight is focused right on them, illuminating every little flaw on what may have just been a bad day at the office.

That said, they're not born into the profession. Maybe it's for the Love of the Game or maybe it's because they enjoy being screamed at by grown adults, but the Men in Black (or yellow... or red... or green...) choose this life. It's a job. They're free to leave the madness behind anytime they want, to free themselves of the indignity of having their manhood, the feces count of their brain matter or their full allotment of chromosomes from being brought into question.

They're people, right? People with day jobs, bills, families and feelings. Who wouldn't look to greener pastures?


Well, we're not going to have Premier League referee Steve Bennett to kick around anymore. (well, maybe not...)

As it turns out, Mr. Bennett has scored himself a new gig. But, he's not leaving the reffing 'industry'. He's simply switching sports.

The man who once accused Premier League players of deliberately getting booked so they could enjoy some time off, will now help develop refs for cricket.

In all actuality, as an 'independent director', this doesn't necessarily mean Mr. Bennett won't be doing both jobs. I can't speak to whether or not he'll still be reffing PL matches (or spouting off at the mouth), but methinks this sets an interesting precedent. Once they wear their welcome out at one sport, refs can move onto ruining another sport. I believe Egypt may have some suggestions for Howard Webb.

Maybe somebody should alert Bill Simmons.

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Look Who Might Be A World Cup Ref

This is new to me, I'm not sure if it is new to everybody. It turns out one of the main characters of the Barcelona-Chelsea passion play from a couple weeks back, Tom Henning Øvrebø, is on the preliminary list for 2010 World Cup referees. As of yet, there has been no fallout from UEFA for the semifinal controversy (I doubt there would be) but the list is from October and could be changed.

Oh, and look who else is on the list?




Nice. Maybe he'll be England's next Graham Poll.

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Turkey: Now 100% Gay-Free

Halil İbrahim Dinçdağ was forced to quit his job as a soccer ref in Turkey after he turned up gay.

And that took care of the last gay person in Turkey.

Dinçdağ actually lost his job because he couldn't complete his compulsory military service. But according to regulations in Turkey, anyone failing to complete their military service for health reasons is unfit to perform as a referee.

The 33-year-old was excused from military service after he was listed as gay on his medical report. To which the only rational response is: Being gay is a medical condition in Turkey?

Anyway, Dinçdağ came out and appeared on national TV as the new co-host of Turkish Project Runway.

Oh c'mon. What good are stereotypes if we can't use them for easy jokes?

Dinçdağ was actually far more serious and made a reasoned plea: "Please stand tall against the unfairness against you, whenever something wrong is happening," he said. "Say that it is wrong. Say what is right for you."

Not exactly MLK stuff, but UF supports you as you fight the good fight, Dinçdağ. Just so long as you look fabulous doing it.

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Let Sleeping Refs Lie

Ol' Pierluigi would NEVER stand for this

Some things in football are essential; you need players, a ball, some kind of goals, and finally, a guy who tries ill-advised bicycle kicks on any waist-high ball that comes his way. Also, some sort of officials would be nice, and the 1,000+ who turned up for an Argentine Third Division match between Alumni de Villa Maria and Racing de Cordoba were primed for the match.

Only problem is, they forgot to organize a referee.

From the report:

A club official said referee Ariel Montero was sleeping at his home, nearly 600 kilometres away, when worried colleagues called him two hours before kick off to ask his whereabouts.

"The linesmen were in the hotel and Montero hadn't arrived and so they started to get worried," Alumni president Guillermo Morelatto said in a radio interview. "They called his house and he didn't know anything. He was sleeping. Apparently, the Council (championship organisers) said that they hadn't told him. The assistants spoke to him and he said he hadn't been told. There was a mix-up."

Nice work, fellas! Naturally, one of the clubs wouldn't accept a replacement, and because local police were unwilling to delay kick-off for Montero's late arrival, the match was called off, leaving 1,000 fans disgruntled, angry and confused (we're just waiting for the related "Riots break out at canceled Third Division match" headline later today).

So next time, remember: if you're running a soccer league, make sure your games have referees. It's what separates us from the animals.

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When whining wins

Referees and their assistants do certain things for a reason. One of those--which seems innocuous, especially in top-flight football--is checking the nets before each half. I am not entirely sure what happened here. Either the assistant did not check the net, or he did a piss-poor job of it.

Ten Five minutes into the second half of a game between Boavista and Botofogo, Alessandro of Botofogo put a shot into the side netting. The ball, however, escaped into the back of the net and Alessandro started to celebrate. The referee awarded the goal, but the drama was not over yet.

As 101 Great Goals writes up, Boavista players refused to kick-off the match again, instead staging a several minute protest until until the referee, assistant and fourth official got together to discuss what to do. In the video below, you can see the "goal" and the triumvirate's get together.


Unfortunately, the clock does not continue to run on the screen, so I have no way of telling you exactly how long elapsed. What you can see is the assistant, after minutes of presumably standing by doing nothing, forcefully tell the referee that there was no goal and the referee awarding a goal kick.

This, of course, led the Botofogo manager to allege that someone used video replay on the matter, illegally disallowing a goal that his side had been awarded. Boo hoo.

What I wonder is if this happened to anyone else out there. Back years ago, when I was playing high school soccer, we were leading our region rivals 5-1 early in the second half. At the time, I was sitting on the bench, having been KO'd after taking a second elbow to the face (as I was scoring the fifth goal). I had a pretty decent look at it as our opponents fired one into the side netting--while my keeper was up against the post--and the ball trickled into the goal. No amount of pointing out the hole in the net, or CSI-style reenactments by the keeper, could convince the referee that he had blundered. We held on 5-4 (ah, high school soccer), but the whole incident obviously seared into my brain. Anyone else have a similar story?

Stay tuned for next time when I tell you of other soccer stories that happened half a lifetime ago. I guarantee they will be just as good as this one.

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UEFA Has Solved Your Referee Problems

Pictured above: Bennett, Webb, and Dowd. Not pictured: Styles

Complaining about the referees is, as Brave John Terry would tell you, the God-given right of every footballer. Most of the complaints revolve around four things: (1) that forward is a diving poofter who dove (i.e. the Cristiano Ronaldo factor); (2) that defender is a dirty hack who hacked me (i.e. the Marco Materazzi factor); (3) I have suffered an egregious violation/affront within the 6-yard box and must immediately be awarded a penalty; and (4) the ball did/did not cross over the goal-line. Well, fret no more, as UEFA has solved all of these problems!


Surely you have all been watching the UEFA European Under-19 Championship qualifying round mini-tournament in Cyprus. No? How strange, I assumed that everyone here spent 19 hours a day watching footy. Perhaps because these matches are "under-the-radar", UEFA (that's the Union of European Football Associations) has taken the opportunity to experiment with a system of 5 referees per match. There are the typical center referee and 2 assistant referees along the touchline, but these are bolstered by an additional assistant referee behind each goal-line. In theory the 2 additional ARs will help the referee with the most important decisions, such as penalties/fouls in the area.

So far UEFA has implemented the system in 3 separate mini-tournaments for the qualifying rounds in the Under-19 Championship. Overall, the 5 referees on the pitch are being assessed by a team of former top-level international referees, including 2 members of the UEFA Referees Committee (Hugh Dallas of Scotland, and Marc Batta of France). Although there is no word on the effectiveness at the Cyprus tournament, results from mini-tournament in Slovenia seem encouraging. It was there that UEFA President Michel Platini and General Secretary David Taylor were linked in to the referees' communication during the match. Both men felt that the additional referees provided an increased efficiency and accuracy to the match, with Taylor noting one play in particular:

"For example, in the first half, we saw a goalkeeper diving at the feet on the oncoming centre-forward. Was it a penalty or not? It was clear from behind the goal that it was not. These important decisions require the best sight of the situation, and this is what I witnessed myself."

So, how long until we see this experiment take place in other venues? Will we see a move to the Champions League or domestic leagues first? Regardless, what happens the first time a "behind-the-goal" AR blows an important call? Fear not, good people, for UEFA has all the answers...







...Answers to be forthcoming by 2027.

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This week in "'kids these days"

Artist's rendition

When I was 14, I liked to cause trouble. Very typical trouble too, the flirting with girls who were just (ahem) blossoming, playing pranks on teachers, experimenting with drugs and never getting punished.

It seems that this generation of youth soccer players exist on a very different plane.

From the news report:

"A teen soccer player allegedly punched a volunteer referee after a call during an AYSO game in the Oak Park section of Ventura County."

Simply brilliant.

At this point, I think Joey Barton Wallbangers must be more popular in the US than those of Beckham or C-Ron.


Running the risk of literally cutting-and-pasting the entire article, I'll do the work and paraphrase it myself: during a game, the 54-year-old referee issued a yellow card and warning for dangerous play, at which point the disciplined player allegedly began beating up the referee. It's no Peruvian melee or Polish fan fight, but still, it's another signpost on the road to ruin. So sad, really.

The referee suffered "extensive injuries" and required hospital treatment. No word yet on whether the lad will be offered an apprenticeship at Newcastle United. Ba-dum-chingggg.

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Ring Around the Ref'ree

Chelsea defeated Manchester City 3-1 in the EPL (Suck it, Barclay's!) in the billionaire version of Human Battle Bots. Roman Abramovich's expensive bot parts Ricardo Carvalho, Frank Lampard and Nicolas Anelka all scored for Chelsea while the shiny new Manchester City bot part Robinho scored in his debut on a free kick. Citeh held on in the first half but the Chelseabot just had too many parts, for now.

By the end of the match most of the excitement was gone, that is until England's Brave John Terry earned himself a red card and an automatice suspension for next weeks Manchester United match. (Video at approx. 3:00). True to form, Chelsea surrounded the referee to complain about the decision. Although, it does appear a little unjust as Terry was not the last man on the professional foul. Chelsea will likely appeal.

The appeal, though, will likely be unsuccessful according to Times Online.

It is understood that Mark Halsey, the referee, deemed Terry’s block on Jô, the City striker, to be serious foul play rather than a professional foul and he faces a three-match ban, ruling him out of matches against United, Stoke City and Aston Villa. The FA is unable to downgrade cards from red to yellow, so Chelsea must demonstrate that Terry should not have been booked to get the decision overturned, an unlikely proposition.

JT looks likely to miss the Red Devil match, but what of the Respect Campaign? You might recall that the League has initiated a campaign to increase the respect towards match officials from the players as a result of the proliferation of team protests and remonstrations surround the referee.

Much of the finger pointing has been directed at Chelsea for circling the refs, although it must be noted most clubs seem to have followed suit, including Man U and Liverpool.

As the pictures in the post demonstrate, much of the criticism is deserved. Even though, EBJT has said he supports the campaign.

The campaign may succeed eventually, but I suspect well soon be finding Chelsea players surrounding the houses of referees' with their SUVs, probably parking in handicapped spaces as well.

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TWAF: Instead of Praying for a Meteor I'm Going To Start Praying for Competent Refs

I was lucky. I got one of the last seats. Bonus I had a good view of both matches.

"Good" is a bit relative. I could see the United match on a large projection screen on the west wall and over my back shoulder was Chelsea on a flat screen. So I had to turn around for one and had to keep people from sliding in between the fake bookshelves that serve no purpose other than to make the chain Irish bar seem like an authentic Irish bar for the other, but at least I was on my ass. That was important as I was recovering from a wedding (not mine, thank God).

Even with the massive hangover, I wasn't not getting out of bed. Ninety minutes to decide the Prem. About 40 weeks all leading up to this. What football fan wouldn't be excited?

It wasn't until Giggs slotted away a goal on a beauty feed (from Rooney maybe) in the 80th to put United up 2-0 that it was a done deal. Chelsea made it immaterial by giving away an injury time leveler to Bolton (and by the way of three things I can think of named Bolton—singer Michael, former UN ambassador John, and the football team—all are useless, so God help you if you are named Bolton).

And if you want to look at the difference in winning and running-up, you can find it in two pair of injury time goals that resulted in draws. Chelsea gave them up to Bolton and Wigan at home. United, more specifically Carlos Tevez, found them against Tottenham and Blackburn. That's plus-two for United and minus-four for Chelsea and that's more than enough to swing the balance at the top of the table.

Of course, one of those two for United (v. Spurs) came with 95:00 and counting on the clock when the ref had signaled for 4 minutes of extra time.

Now, I'm not going to insinuate that United won the EPL because of one ref's decision. No, despite the fact that they have more losses than the 2nd, 3rd or even 4th place teams, they were the best side start to finish.

That's not snideness. It's sincerity. It's sincerity that I deliver with the pain of a thousand bloody deaths, but it's also the truth.

Still, the only PK called against United the entire season was the one against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in the third-to-last week of the season. Really? Only one penalty? The entire season?

No. Because there was one clear as day when Rio Ferdinand committed a hand ball in the box against Wigan on Sunday (oh, and look, there's what looks to be another against Tottenham from back in August in the pic atop the post). And not just that, but Paul Scholes could have, should have, easily been given a second yellow and a sending off (perhaps the FA should start giving ref Steve Bennett a red shirt instead of a black one when he's doing United matches).

How different are the second halves at the JJB and Stamford Bridge if United is a goal down and a man down?

There was a (non-)call that went in Wigan's favor when a foul by Titus Bramble in the box wasn't given. But the foul was committed on Scholes. You know, the guy who shouldn't have even been on the pitch anymore. Can you even make a make-up call when it's committed on a player who should've been shown the showers already?

Again, I'm not saying United were handed the title but with Ronaldo, Tevez, and Rooney on the pitch they probably don't need the help. Still why does it seem that many of the most important calls in the biggest spots do go in their favor? And why do so few go against them?

United was awarded a total of two red cars all season. Two. And both were for headbutts. So no United player the entire season committed two bookable offenses, or one instance of serious foul play during open play? Please.

Maybe some of it is just selective memory from a non-United fan—like the Bramble non-call, I mean I had to be reminded of that—but it would be better if there was no discussion of poor officiating after the biggest matches, the title-deciding matches, that just happen to take place on the last day of the season.

It's a bad taste. And it stays there because there's no more season.

So really congrats to United. I do hate them, but this is not sour grapes. They deserve the title. But if they win it again next year, I'd really like to be able to reflect on the season and maybe recall more than one instance where I think Christiano Ronaldo might have been carded for diving.

Because he does it. Often.

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Mess With the Bull, Get The Horns

In Italy recently, a referee was sent into hiding after thugs beat up somebody who looked like him. Mauro Bergonzi awarded two controversial penalties against Juventus in a defeat to Napoli in October.

"A dangerous incident happened. A group of people encircled someone they thought was a referee, they tried to abduct him and continually punch him. The only thing was he just looked like the referee," Cesare Gussoni told Friday's La Repubblica newspaper.

"He was a bank manager, poor thing, and he managed to reveal this at the end to save himself from more blows. On the advice of the police, the referee was forced to live under protection and went to another province for two weeks."

Juventus, remember, was one of the clubs caught up in the Serie A match fixing scandal and as a result was relegated to Serie B. The lesson here folks, is don't try and fix a match against the match fixers. They have the hired muscle on their side.

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