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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?
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'.
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.
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?