[Grinch]

This World Cup was seen some pretty horrible refereeing so far. The list goes on and on: Italy had two goals cancelled against Croatia; A penalty was awarded to Brazil for a foul outside the area; Henry was sent off against Uruguay but Dario Silva wasn't even though he did the exact same thing; I could go on and on, and you guys could probably help me with bad calls I don't remember.

Today, probably 1/3 of ALL this World Cup's games were tainted by bad refereeing. Some people choose to see conspiracies to benefit this or that team. I think it's mainly due to FIFA's policy of choosing refs from each and every one of their affiliated countries, no matter how backward soccer is in there. So we get decisive knockout-stage matches refereed by complete amateurs with NO experience at this level. Refs from Malaysia, Jamaica, Guinea, Easter island, The Land of Oz... places which may be fantastic and scenic and lovely to visit, but where pro football is, for all purposes, non-existent! These are the referees who decide the fate of the World Cup. For every Pierluigi Collina, we have nine 'Oyvlund Trompuzuglu' from the 'Equatorial Papua'. I ask you, is this any way to run a World Cup?

These nobodies are chosen because of politics; I suppose the officials from these 'Equatorial Papuas' want representatives of their feuds in the Greatest Competition In World Football. So we get these guys fecking up the WC, day after day. Injustices are commited, players are sent off unfairly, players who SHOULD be sent off aren't, and things are generally ruined. This has to stop!

I believe referees should be held accountable for their mistakes. But the only possible punishment for a referee's bad performance is to ban him from any games during a set period. That would be useless against these 'Equatorial Papua' dimwits. So we REALLY need to kick these unprepared pests OUT of the World Cup. They hurt the game, they hurt the teams, they hurt the supporters. When our team suffers due to bad refereeing calls, we (the fans) feel angry and frustrated and basically feel like suckers. Let's not kid ourselves - it also leads to violence between opposing team's supporters, as the frustration of an unfair penalty or a badly-cancelled goal can lead young fans to blind rages.

Do these mistakes justify fan violence? Of course not, but it does happen. Not to mention the sponsors - imagine how a sponsor feels, he supports and finances a country's team, and then WHAM! a bad referee ruins a decisive game and the team is suddenly out. This sponsor isn't gonna put his money in football again. So it's even commercially bad. In a competition where all players and teams are run professionally, WHY are the biggest authorities - the refs - the least-prepared people on the pitch?!?

I'm not even going into the matter of professional refereeing here, though it's an important discussion. I suggest that the World Cup's refs are chosen as the teams are: Through the qualifiers. The best, say, 15 referees in the Euro Qualifiers are automatically called up; and we could define the "best" by having a specialized board rate their performances. A bad call costs points to the bad ref, and he goes down the WC rankings. A ref who doesn't commit one single blunder in a big-profile match gets maximum points, and goes up in the rankings. In the end, we simply pick the best. Europe gets more referees spots, South America comes after, then Asia, Africa and Oceania.

If the best three refs in the world are from the same country, take all three of 'em! Today, only one of those three would be able to go. And instead of the other two top refs, we would get the guy from the 'Equatorial Papua'.

(Of course, there's no such place as the 'Equatorial Papua'. I made it up so we don't have to be badmouthing other people's countries just to make a point.)

So what do you guys think?

 

[Pila]

Oh, jeez! I was just about to say I've been to Equatorial Papua. Next ye gonna tell us there is no Easter Island...

 

[aca]

Just pick them on the basis of performance, rather than on nationality basis.

and have no mercy after first game they refereed and have back up ref teams waiting.

This will obviously mean that there would be more European & South American Referees on the WC (which too are not infallable as we have seen), but i have no problem with some of the reafs having more games than others, simply because they are better in their decisiion making. Thats all.

 

[Biancoceleste]

I also agree that the selection of referees becuase of geography is ridiculous. Referees should be picked because they are the best qualified and not because of some lame political corectness of pickeing referees from every corner of the world. The rule that there may only be one referee from each country is just idiotic. If the five best Italian referees is better than the best Jamaican, they should be picked instead.

Of course there will be a lot of complaing about European bias, but if the best referees are from Italy, Germany, Switzerland, England, Holland, Scotland and Sweden so be it!

Having these excuses of a referee is not suitable for the World Cup and it is an insult towards the players, audience in the stadium and the home viewers.

 

[Leslie Santos]

I find it hard to understand why people only talk about which nations has the best referees. Under the same crappy system, it is the same even the referees are Martians.

I think a good refereeing system is not just about the origin of the referees. The FIFA are run by a bunch of idiots who know nothing about how to achieve fairness. They think they can improve it by simply setting out new guidelines before each WC. Of course not, the key is to improve the process of making a call.

OK, even a referee is totally unbiased, he can't avoid mistakes. For instance, Wilmot's goal was disallowed because the referee relied too much on 'side clues' to make a reflexive decision. And the side clue was that Roque Junior seemed unable to raise into the air and the referee assumed that was due to Wilmot giving RJ a push from behind.

So, why don't suppress the superior status of the one-and-only-one referee and raise the authority of the linesmen? In this way, whenever there is a controversial call, the 3 judges can get together and make a collective decision as to whether to sustain or overrule immediately. As far as I can remember, that's what they do in the NBA.

Now, this is fairness.

But of course, if all 3 of them intend to be biased, then any system is pure bullsh!t.

 

[Biancoceleste]

So, why don't suppress the superior status of the one-and-only-one referee and raise the authority of the linesmen? In this way, whenever there is a controversial call, the 3 judges can get together and make a collective decision as to whether to sustain or overrule immediately. As far as I can remember, that's what they do in the NBA.

As a matter of fact, FIFA did put out new guide lines before the World Cup saying that linesmen should be more involved in taking decisitions. So far they have failed miserably.

 

[ToniSamp]

First of all FIFA has to leave referees like Moreno in their countries (whose newspapers write that they were perfect ). Second: FIFA should try to let the the best teams win and not the teams FIFA want to win.

 

[Guest]

Maybe overweight cockeyed clowns should be the first one's out! Nation should have nothing to do with it, if the best 5 ref's are Italian, then so be it. So far, 3/4 of these offials should be not in the 1st, 2nd or 3rd leagues of the world, but in the village leagues where they belong!!

 

[colocolo]

Collina won’t be called back

| Football Italia

The Italian Football Federation have confirmed that they will not pull Pierluigi Collina out of the World Cup after the Azzurri’s controversial exit.

There were calls for the FIGC to bring Collina – reputedly the world’s best referee – back to Italy after the national side were on the wrong end of a number of poor refereeing decisions throughout the tournament.

However, President Franco Carraro has insisted that Collina can continue to officiate in the Finals.

"We will not be asking Collina to return from the World Cup," he said. "Not because we want to show respect to FIFA but because we want to respect Collina and Italian referees.

"Collina has demonstrated to everyone in the world how to officiate games involving home nations."

The last comment was attributed to the fact that Collina took charge of Japan’s 1-0 loss to Turkey yesterday.

 

[Boyo]

Even "new and improved" referees are still able to make bad calls, so a better chance would be to start using an instant replay like they have in American Football. Yes it slows the game down, but if the other option is the risk of being defeated by the referee instead of the opponent, than that slower pace and a longer match time are more than worth it for me!

 

[Tinto]

I agree that talk of which countries produce best referees would be counter productive. They need to regulate the profession. Quantify and qualify the best practices that make a good referee and standardize the teaching of these skills. It's done every day in business for many different purposes. Refereeing is no different.

And introduce a process for using video evidence. Sorry to the purists out there, but it's time to join the 21st century in this regard.