An interesting look at refereeing at this World Cup.
World Cup saga: Crime and punishment – International Herald Tribune
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By Rob Hughes
Published: June 28, 2006
BERLIN This World Cup, like others, started with the rulers resolving to protect quality players and rid the game of thugs, cheats and protesters.
Since appealing to the better nature of players and coaches is like getting turkeys to vote for Christmas, it was agreed that the referees would impose fair play.
It started well. The arbiters kept up with the players, who discovered there would be no leeway for brutish fouls and nothing less than a yellow or red card for haranguing the referee. But as the games went by, the standards dropped. Have referees simply become bad, or rotten? Are they making mistakes, or is it corrupt? In every sense, the heat is on the men in the middle.
There was an elementary error by Graham Poll, England's top ref, who showed the same Croatian defender three yellow cards. (Two result in a red card and expulsion from the match.) Valentin Ivanov, a Russian, broke all the records by giving 16 yellow and four red cards in the Netherlands-Portugal brawl. Something smelled foul in the 93rd-minute penalty given to Italy in its match with Australia by Luis Medina Cantalejo, a Spanish referee. Poll and Ivanov were dropped from the tournament Wednesday; Cantalejo was given one of the quarterfinal matches.
Most referees started off zealously against the violent use of elbows, the tackle from behind, the clowns who dive to try to gain a penalty or get a fellow professional sent off. But as they wilted under the sun, they lost that sharpness. If a ref runs 13 kilometers, or eight miles, in a game, and if he's made to do that several times a week in this climate, surely his mind is impaired. Who is to blame for that?
FIFA - that's who deserves a red card. By selecting 23 instead of 32 referees this time around, and by teaming refs with two linemen from the same country or who at least speak the same language, FIFA hoped to improve the communication. There was evidence of it working. But two referees had dropped out - an Italian because of the match-fixing investigation in the country's top league, and a Caribbean because his fitness did not satisfy FIFA.
A week before the kickoff, I asked a top official if having just 21 referees was not alarmingly few, especially given that FIFA threatens to send home any arbiter whose performance falls blow requirements.
"No," he said, "we're paying these guys plenty and we intend to work them hard."
The officials are being paid $40,000. In cool conditions, fair enough. In 27 degrees Celsius, or 80 degrees Fahrenheit, and 60 percent humidity, not so good. Unlike the players, many of these referees have day jobs - electrical engineer, school teacher, salesman, tax collector, maritime officer. Players could be rested by team managers. Referees tried to plod on, under dire warning that FIFA would humiliate them or fire them if their performance fell below par.
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Still on the World Cup, get a load of this clown:
BEIJING – The “hysterical” ranting of China’s most popular soccer commentator on live television during the broadcast of a World Cup match this week has sparked an outpouring of emotion in a nation where strongly felt opinions usually are sublimated.
Popular soccer commentator Huang Jianxiang lost his cool during a match between Italy and Australia, shouting himself hoarse in an outburst seen by millions of people.
“Italy is victorious! Long live Italy! . . . Great Italy!” Huang shrieked during the match broadcast by state-run China Central Television early Tuesday morning as Italy won the game on a dramatic penalty kick. “I don’t like the Australian team,” he shouted, adding with glee that it “should go home.”
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Huang described the Australian team as “full of naturalized Australians who play and live in Britain. I don’t want to see Australia have good results in the World Cup.”
I think someone is a little worried about Australia playing in the Asian Cup next year, and from there onward. Someone whose team came second at the last Asian Cup. Someone who sees a whole new world of football pain just around the corner. See ya in 2007.
UPDATE: The rant has now been released as a ringtone, Reuters reports.
The full version went like this:
“Goooooal! Game over! Italy win!. Beat the Australians! … Italy the great! … Happy birthday to Maldini! Forza Italia!”
“The victory belongs to Italy, to Grosso, to Cannavaro, to Zambrotta, to Buffon, to Maldini, to everyone who loves Italian soccer!… (Australia) should go home. They don’t need to go as far away as Australia as most of them are living in Europe. Farewell!”
I didn’t realise crack was such a big problem in China.
