Saturday, 31 December 2022

(Un)Happy New Year, World Cup refs! Qatar officials treated as mercenaries for hire in their domestic competitions... and has the fully expected consequences

The last ≈ten years have been a uniquely bad time to be an elite class football referee. It seems somewhere along the line, their managers seem to have forgotten that they are dealing with real human beings and not pure robots. The winter World Cup has been tough for all involved regarding scheduling, but those referees should not accept this argument without contention, as they were ridiculously hoisted back into action post-Qatar as individual athletes. Howard Webb, Medina Cantalejo, et al. - think again, please. 

Well played RFEF-CTA, well played... (sarcasm)

Perfectly positioned Michael Oliver awarded Arsenal a penalty for Aaron Cresswell heading the ball away on Boxing Day (clip) - earlier in the month, the Ashington-born official was handling the third of his three games at the Qatari World Cup. England's other WC ref, namely Anthony Taylor (who stayed with FIFA until the end) was duly wheeled out the next day to handle the rather modest Manchester United vs. Nottingham Forest tie, won at a cantor by the home side. 

The same day as Oliver's Croatia vs. Brazil, Antonio Miguel Mateu Lahoz infamously refereed the Netherlands against Argentina quarterfinal. The Spaniard broke the World Cup record for the number of cautions issued, and was roundly criticised for his officiating of the fractious affair. Today, Mateu made a huge mess of the Catalonia derby, as the world laughed along at the apparently hapless, card-happy, attention-craving official. 

I wasn't following the domestic competitions closely since the World Cup and don't plan to -- I needed (and need!) a long break from watching all sixty-four matches -- but my assumption that refs like Oliver, Taylor, Mateu also Turpin (maybe there is more idk?) would be given due rest, proved a terribly misplaced one. Probably I would have expected that from the anti-referees and anti-refereeing PGMOL organisation, but Medina and RFEF sending Mateu to Barcelona vs. Espanyol can only be understood as an act of malevolence against Spain's best referee. The other explanation would be pure idiocy on their part. 

Refereeing football matches is, contrary to playing in them, plowing a very lone furrow indeed. Of course refs have their regular crew(s) with their linesmen in, but essentially, we take part in an extremely individual sport, naturally much more comparable to other disciplines like golf, or tennis. Goal-setting and keeping a close check on personal motivation therefore, is very important, in order to assure excellent performance. Much moreso than in team environments. The World Cup trios have all worked very hard in order to 'peak' their performance level for Qatar. 

What do they have left to give, in the month of December, to their domestic competitions? Are these human beings really rested from the not only physical, but mostly psychological toil from the World Cup? Have they really given time to mentally recover from their various World Cup experiences, to reset and reevaluate their goals, to perform at the best level? The answer should be obvious - no! The irony of all this shouldn't be lost on the organisations who are mismanaging their (best) referees. Never, ever, have buzzwords like "mental health" and "well-being" been more of a (supposed) focus of them, talked about in seminars, and so on. Their actions, of course, speak absolutely otherwise. 

This is par for the course of the human resources management of Oliver and Taylor in PGMOL, where they rack up around thirty games a season, in that organisation's 'stage management' view of refereeing - a tired Anthony or Michael is better than somebody else. Did Arsenal vs. West Ham or Man Utd vs. Notts Forest really require World Cup-level refs? Of course not. 

Mateu's appointment was of a whole different kettle of fish though. Extra time of Netherlands vs. Argentina was, brutally speaking, appallingly officiated by a ref who was completely lost, and had lost the plot. His overall performance deservedly got our (joint) lowest mark for the whole tournament. One does not(!!) get over such a negative performance in two/three weeks. Not even close. An oft-referenced example by me, but with good reason I'd argue: Mark Geiger said it took him over a year to recover from the Panama vs. Mexico Gold Cup semi. The idea that Mateu would be anything, anything close to the required level to handle the characteristically hot derby is absolute fantasy. The appointment Barcelona vs. Espanyol Mateu was genuinely evil - I am speechless that people whom are paid to manage (Spanish) refereeing can make a management decision so incredibly poor. 

Again, I'm left genuinely despairing about the risible quality of their (human resources) management in modern refereeing. So bad, that indeed we can again ask the question: if these organisations' aim was actually to destroy, rather than help these referees, what exactly would they be doing differently?

33 comments:

  1. Very interesting topic, Mikael.
    Just a short comment about the game, before writing my opinion on what you said: I think the penalty must be considered as correct call, once the contact is clear and the attacker loses his shoe. OK, maybe not a very big penalty, but we saw definitely less clear calls in past.
    Then, the subsequent minutes: here Mateu Lahoz was indeed in trouble, very bad to forget that player from Barcelona was already booked and he needed an advice from an opponent. This is poor.
    Many cards for unsporting behaviors and a lot of struggling by referee, until the OFR, that in my opinion is wrong. Never a clear and obvious mistake, you can share the opinion of Mateu that player did that on purpose without removing his foot. It is true that there isn't an evidence, but the latter is missing as well for the contrary argument, you can't be sure this was only accidental. Strange that Mateu was convinced to remove the card, in a different context he would have "even" blamed VAR.. for me very wrong intervention with VAR sending to referee just his opinion and not an evidence. This is how VAR shouldn't be used.
    Mateu looked to be very tired, but still in my opinion, having watched the full sequence of extremely challenging minutes, was not 100% defeated, and tried to do what he could...
    Then now coming to your topic that includes Oliver and Turpin as well, I didnt watch these games, but surely I think that what you write in this post is not considered at all by domestic heads of refereeing.
    We had already many clues in past about that, starting from both Premier League and Spain, with close assignments (you remember, less than 48 hours), referees used and overused. For me the simple answer is that they just think the best referees must always get big games, and they don't look at the fact that they can be tired, their shapes and so on. In the case of Mateu Lahoz this can be even an appointment made on purpose to show FIFA that Mateu is good, signal of trust after NED - ARG. It can be even pure pride. In all cases, I think that we as blog have been, in the years, by far more and more worried for the referees, than the national committees themselves... so I think there isn't nothing else to add. Indeed I wouldn't have appointed Mateu Lahoz for that hot game, after a so short time.

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  2. Let's go back few weeks ago.

    Messi and Argentina players were so funny when they criticized him,they should look themselves at the mirror and be lucky that he was very lenient towards them(Messi's handball,Paredes only YC).

    Funny how life works.

    If Argentina won that match in regular time then we would not talk about Lahoz even till this day.

    They also complained in that match that the extra time was 10 minutes(justified)and that he lost control in E.T.
    With their temper,even when they won at PK shootout they still found time to complain about him.

    When things are not going your way,it's easy to criticize man in the middle.
    He was the only ref that somehow fairly showed no mercy for their behaviour and that was irritating for them,finally someone that is not afraid of them.
    Even tho in some moments he was leniet(yes) towards them,he did not fall for their temper and big mouth,his strategy was to book them and that's when they realized thath he is like no other referee.

    And now till this day,we had that.

    Today,we have Catalan derby.
    Hot clash as always.
    Yes I agree,Lahoz did not have good match today match slipped from his control and that was chaotic to say the least.

    But problem begins with Barca.

    And that is that they will make everything into conspiracy theory and now Lahoz for the rest of the season (and career)cant be in charge of Barca's matches...

    Last time it was Jesus Gil that sent off Lewandowski correctly, btw,and that was wrong for them...

    And what happened?
    Lewandowski 's suspension was wiped away.
    Can you imagine?
    Someone gets RC justified,elbow into the opponets face and then gets to play next match as a reward...I dont get that...
    Maybe this match was karma for them.

    But let's get back at Barca.
    What ref is good for them?

    I mean all they say is that refs are corrupt and they get rules on how to handle match by Florentino Perez.

    Who to appoint for their next matches?
    Can ref made the decision against them?

    Feel sorry for Lahoz,but he got dealt with the worst hand.

    Last 2 matches he had teams that complain,that have temperamental players and teams that blame everyone else for their poor game,not even opponets,but only ref.

    In one case that was Argentina lead by Messi,in other it was Barca lead by Xavi.

    He could not be winner in those 2 matches no matter what he did...
    It will be interesting to see what's next for him,but whatever that is,media will look closely and watch every decision he makes.

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  3. Happy new year all. If we focus just on Mateu, I don’t think him having a game so soon is necessarily a bad thing. I guess the thought was it would help him forget NED-ARG. However it should have been an on paper “easy” game for him, certainly not this one.

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  4. I personally think that as much as we criticize the referee managers the referees themselves also need to take some responsibility. They all could have requested some time off until the end of the year. If they had told their organisations that they needed an extended break after the World Cup I'm sure they would have been given it.

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  5. Critisizing the managers/referee bosses....iff you don't know the full/real story for my taste is unfair! Who said/confirmed that Matau Lahoz was appointed to the Barcelonaderby without asking him? For sure there was contact between his managers and the referee after the world cup, don't you think so???

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  6. What do you think about the 1-1 goal by PSG today? Is that enough holding of the ball by the GK to be considered "in control"? Or does it literally have to be "between the hands" for that?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. https://streamable.com/whqjwv

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    2. For me VAR should have intervened because when PSG player gained the control of ball, it was in possession of keeper. Nevertheless, I think the latter was about to lose it even without the challenge by attacker, and this was the argument for VAR to stay silent. I think it is a borderline situation that LotG can't provide, but for me expected intervention by VAR because you can say that keeper was in control before.

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    3. I agree with Chefren, for me VAR has to intervene. Goalkeeper has both hands on the ball, about to catch it.

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  7. Happy new year everyone and welcome 2023!

    These days Kyros Vassaras gave a pretty big interview. Maybe there are interested people:

    https://www.docdroid.net/Ol5GH7R/special-interview-with-kyros-vassaras-docx

    Original link: https://orangesport.ro/interviu-eveniment-cu-kyros-vassaras-dupa-opt-ani-la-sefia-cca-integritatea-a-fost-prima-mea-cerinta-planul-sau-in-romania-de-ce-nu-vorbeste-in-limba-romana-si-ce-se-intampla-cu-hategan-exclusiv-20968458

    Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvBRJanvuHU
    There are also some nice background images.

    The first 18 minutes are about Kyros Vassaras refereeing career and his personal life and this part is not covered in the document I pasted above as it was not in the article online. But very interesting things, nevertheless. Starting from 18 minute, the focus move on Romaian refeeing especially, but there are also general things. This part is in the doc.

    The video has Romanian subtitles but it is in English.

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  8. Good opinion piece Mikael. I fully agree and support you on this opi9nion. How the main referee organizations like PGMOL, CTA RFEF, and DTA do not truly allow these elite referees more of a decompression cycle into the 2023 calendar year is beyond me. More so for mental exhaustion than physical. Just like any top level footballer, elite referees go through the same mental and physical preparation to meet and maintain their levels at the professional game.

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  9. Today in Egypt (18:00 CET)

    Al-Ahli - Pyramids
    Szymon Marciniak - Adam Kupsik, Radosław Siejka - Muhammad Ma'arouf
    [Tomasz Musiał, Tomasz Marciniak]

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Who is Tomasz Marciniak? Why are these guys not having a deserving rest

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    2. Tomasz Marciniak is Szymon's brother, normally a referee at 2nd tier.

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  10. When will UEFA referee categories come out?

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  11. Antalyaspor - Fenerbahce

    Goal Cancelled (90+8 Fernando)

    What do you think about this offside position? Is the line drawn to the right man?

    https://streamable.com/5zm1jr

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    Replies
    1. Yes. Attacker is in an offside position and impacts the ability of the defender to get to the ball/defend. Offside offence IMO

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  12. What a game for Madley...
    A lot of time wasted by Newcastle, they could perfectly have added 8 minutes but only put in 5.
    In the end, a very controversial handball in the area that could be sanctioned as a penalty for Arsenal.
    Madley proving that "big matches" are too big for him.

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    Replies
    1. Madley could be more active in prevention and with his bodylanguage when dealing with dissent. I would have liked a more strict manner especially when some of the players where visibly acting in an unsporting way. This would have helped him in the heated ending I think. However he stayed with his rather calm English in the background style.

      I found his big decisions consistent through the match. The last penalty claim not much replays for me. Certainly hit the lower arm but can the position be deemed punishable when hand is under the body and for sure not clearly extended...? VAR supported the decision pretty quickly. I agree that 5min was not enough for added time. For me the fact that Arteta didn't get booked for his wild dissent in the end is inexplicable.

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  13. Pretty tense ending in Arsenal-Newcastle. Potential penalty in 90+5, to be review, VAR decided surprisingly quick this moment, the 2 TV angles not good enough. For me, only 5 extra minutes were way to few, many interruptions of the game made by Newcastle` players. Also, a lot of nervousness showed by Arsenal`s manager, a YC for him would have been deserved.

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    Replies
    1. Being 5 meters outside the penalty area as a manager to yell and gesture like a maniac toward the ref is red card. I am tired of professional refs allowing this.

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  14. Very very poor Madley, but that is standard for most of English refs and their VAR. No control, no respect, wrong decisions... The same was in Leicester-Fulham. Bond made many mistakes in awarding fouls, outs, YCs. Incredible number of mistakes, and most of them were pretty easy calls.

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    Replies
    1. This is just nonsense. I'm sick of tired of hearing this about English refs. Their standard is fine, room for improvement of course but I've seen a big improvement already since Webb took over as head of referees. VAR made 4 excellent calls in the Liverpool vs Brentford game for example. Most of the games I've watched since the resumption of the season have been officiated brilliantly.

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  15. Italian experienced referee daniele orsato will referee classico Saudi Arabia between hilal vs ittihad tomorrow Thursday in Riyadh in Saudi Arabia league

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  16. @Mohamed rabie Do you know where the designation can be seen?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomorrow in Saudi Arabia association twitter

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  17. 2023
    https://digitalhub.fifa.com/m/357d1bbadb3ef112/original/2023-FIFA-Refereeing-International-Lists.pdf

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  18. New FIFA referees in Europe:

    MEN

    Antoine Chiaramonti (AND)
    Stefan Ebner (AUT)
    Lothar D'Hondt (BEL)
    Jasper Vergoote (BEL)
    Antoni Bandić (BIH)
    Radoslav Gidzhenov (BUL)
    Patrik Kolarić (CRO)
    Ante Ćulina (CRO)
    Menelaos Antoniou (CYP)
    Andreas Argyrou (CYP)
    Kyriakos Athanasiou (CYP)
    Marek Radina (CZE)
    Dominik Starý (CZE)
    Mikkel Redder (DEN)
    John Brooks (ENG)
    Jarred Gillett (ENG)
    Robert Jones (ENG)
    Johan Hendrik Ellefsen (FRO)
    Oliver Reitala (FIN)
    Pierre Gaillouste (FRA)
    Robert Schröder (GER)
    Simone Sozza (ITA)
    Edgars Maļcevs (LAT)
    Jérémy Muller (LUX)
    Ivo Torres (LUX)
    Jovan Kachevski (MKD)
    Roman Jitari (MDA)
    Sivert Amland (NOR)
    Mohammad Aslam (NOR)
    Artem Lyubimov (RUS)
    Pavel Shadykhanov (RUS)
    David Dickinson (SCO)
    Milan Stefanović (SRB)
    Atilla Karaoğlan (TUR)
    Erkan Özdamar (TUR)

    WOMEN

    Jana Van Laere (BEL)
    Michaela Pachtová (CZE)
    Nanna Lof Morch Andersen (DEN)
    Audrey Gerbel (FRA)
    Teona Sturua (GEO)
    Eirini Pangiou (GRE)
    Rita Vehapi (KOS)
    Elena Gobjila (MDA)
    Filipa Pereira Cunha (POR)
    Vanja Jankovič (SVN)
    Tjaša Misja (SVN)
    Maral Mirzai (SWE)

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    Replies
    1. New FIFA ARs:

      MEN

      Andrés Vilanova Simarro (AND)
      Martin Höfler (AUT)
      Michael Obritzberger (AUT)
      Nico Claes (BEL)
      Marko Perić (BIH)
      Hristo Hadzhiyski (BUL)
      Kyriakos Sokratous (CYP)
      Lukáš Machač (CZE)
      Jørleif Djurhuus (FRO)
      Olli Jantunen (FIN)
      Alexis Auger (FRA)
      Lasse Koslowski (GER)
      Eysteinn Hrafnkelsson (ISL)
      Kristján Már Ólafs (ISL)
      Eoin Harte (IRL)
      Davide Imperiale (ITA)
      Alexey Dolgikh (KAZ)
      Arbnor Bullatovci (KOS)
      Mangirdas Mirauskas (LTU)
      Rafael Coelho (LUX)
      Branko Putilin (MKD)
      James Muscat (MLT)
      Duncan Spencer (MLT)
      Anatolie Basiul (MDA)
      Dyon Fikkert (NED)
      Patrick Inia (NED)
      John Doherty (NIR)
      Jørgen Ronning Valstadsve (NOR)
      Luciano António Gomes Maia (POR)
      George Neacşu (ROU)
      Ferencz Tunyogi (ROU)
      Jonathan Bell (SCO)
      Miloš Simović (SRB)
      Matic Mežnar (SVN)
      Iván Massó Granado (ESP)
      Diego Sánchez Rojo (ESP)
      Simon Kristensson (SWE)
      Marcus Klitte (SWE)
      Murat Tuğberk Curbay (TUR)
      Mehmet Emin Tuğral (TUR)
      Oleksandr Berkut (UKR)
      Harry Hendricks (WAL)

      WOMEN

      Ainhoa Fernández Ruiz (AND)
      Melissa Lejear (BEL)
      Irmgard Van Meirvenne (BEL)
      Merima Tanović (BIH)
      Lilia Dumbalakova (BUL)
      Maja Brozović (CRO)
      Angeliki Athanasopoulou (CYP)
      Tereza Holakovská (CZE)
      Sandra Nigulis (EST)
      Laura Koskinen (FIN)
      Clothilde Brassart (FRA)
      Clémentine Dubreil (FRA)
      Daniela Göttlinger (GER)
      Isabel Steinke (GER)
      Nikolett Bizderi (HUN)
      Fitore Govori (KOS)
      Melanie Malena (LUX)
      Angela Domazekovska (MKD)
      Ana Bahcivanji (MDA)
      Ana Ciobotaru (MDA)
      Martha Martina Boer (NED)
      Ana Loide Batista Silva (POR)
      Ekaterina Pavlenko (RUS)
      Elena Sobchuk (RUS)
      Anastasia Toporova (RUS)
      Andrea Milošević (SRB)
      Sara Mask (SVN)
      Arzu Görgen (TUR)

      Delete

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