New 2013 Adidas Referee Shirt

Here's the new 2013-2014 Adidas Referee Shirt which will apparently be used for the new season's UEFA Champions League:

The adidas referee kits used in the 2010 World Cup continue to be used in various domestic leagues as well as for official FIFA tournaments. For example, they are used in Australia's A-League and will no doubt be used for the upcoming Confederations Cup in Brazil.

UEFA appears to have the advantage over FIFA in promoting new adidas referee kits every year, and therefore has better opportunities to make more money.


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Great Assistance From AR

The following incident occurred during the Copa del Rey final between Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid on Friday 17 May 2013. The Spanish Cup Final finished 1—2 aet. There were 6(?)YCs, 2RCs and Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho was sent from the technical area.

In the 114th minute, Atletico Madrid's Gabi (red 4) fouls Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo (white 7) by kicking him from behind and taking his legs out. Ronaldo reacts by flicking his left leg at the face of his opponent (which we will label the second foul). Initially, the Referee saw the first foul (Gabi's foul on Ronaldo) and played advantage because Real Madrid still had possession of the ball. Here are the freeze frames:

Referee plays advantage following a foul on Ronaldo (white 7)

AR1 looks toward Referee, who did not see Ronaldo kicking his opponent, and therefore flagged

Video can also be seen here:
Red card to Cristiano Ronaldo (Daily Motion)

Notice that the Referee did not know anything about the violent conduct even as he walked up to Ronaldo, and had to get confirmation from AR1 before showing the red card … to Ronaldo's back! Here are the freeze frames:

Never show a card to a player's back

When the Referee played advantage, Atletico Madrid's Adrian (red 7) then immediately fouled Real Madrid's Sergio Ramos (white 4), again from behind. This was Atletico's game plan since they were now winning 1—2, and wanted to wind down the clock and stop their opponents from playing football. Of course Ronaldo had to go for violent conduct, but the match officials should have been acutely aware of the negative tactics from Atletico Madrid, especially in the time after Atletico had taken the lead with their second goal.

However, this third foul was missed by the match officials because AR1 had flagged the second foul after carefully watching the Referee. AR1 was correct in his actions in assisting the Referee. Unfortunately, a side effect of this is that it actually compounded the situation because as the Referee played advantage he was then distracted by his AR1's flag and therefore missed this third foul.

After the third foul, the two players clash heads (Adrian and Ramos headbutt each other) and Ramos falls back theatrically. However, this piece of the action is completely missed by the match officials because of all the commotion coming from the technical areas. Here are the freeze frames:

In the aftermath of Ronaldo's violent conduct, Atletico's Adrian (red 7) fouls Real's Ramos (white 4) from behind. The two players then clash heads.

The funny thing about these incidents is that players and coaches only want to focus on the one incident that they perceive to have gone against them. They ignore everything else … even the major incidents like violent conduct. Players and coaches are so biased toward their own team, that they miss the bigger picture and only want the match officials to see only the foul and misconduct that has gone against their own team. It is funny, laughable and all so very sad when viewed from the armchair.

For example, let's look at the discussion between Ramos and Adrian about the third foul. Ramos simply wanted Adrian to acknowledge that he had fouled him from behind (which is a true fact). Adrian acts all innocent (many guilty players know how to do this) and says he didn't think it was a foul. Ramos insists it was a foul and shows Adrian the back of his foot where Adrian kicked him. Adrian continues to play innocent. Here are the freeze frames:

Players are liars

Notice also during this whole time, Red 8 is hovering next to Ramos to distract him and to support his teammate Adrian. Red 8 then talks about Ronaldo's kick at his captain because, yes, that was an injustice done to his captain Gabi. But that's already been taken care of because the Referee had already shown the red card. It's actually very entertaining watching all this; millionaires acting like children and only wanting things to go their own way without thought about the bigger picture.

In summary, match officials can only do what they can do (which is based on what they can actually see). This means AR1 did a great job in identifying the violent conduct.
Perhaps the 4th Official could have spotted the third foul? Had the 4th Official seen that and assisted the Referee, then that would have been great too. As it is, for this incident, only AR1 comes out looking good.

For all that other stuff (i.e. spotting misconduct in the technical area), it should be the responsibility of the competition organizer to use video footage to identify the players retrospectively and fine them for their unsporting behavior.
From the video, we see Real Madrid's Kaka stopping Atletico coach Diego Simeone. Simeone pushes Kaka back but then Real Madrid's Pepe gets in Simeone's face. Pepe is then pushed away by an Atletico substitute, and another Atletico substitute (red 16, I think) swings a punch at Pepe.

Looking at the positions of the match officials (R, AR1 and 4O) during all the commotion, it is quite impossible for them to see all the incidents that are happening. It is ridiculous to expect match officials to see and record everything. And this is why competition organizers should use video evidence to take retrospective action … and support match officials.

The 4th Official (red jacket) is to the left of the screen and the R & AR1 (blue) are to the right

Do not blame match officials for not being able to see everything that happens in and around the pitch. Instead, competition organizers should be helping and assisting match officials so that correct disciplinary action is awarded correctly to the offenders. By working together (i.e. competition organizers supporting match officials), offenders will not escape punishment and therefore will always think twice about their behaviour if they understand that video evidence will always be used to take retrospective disciplinary action.

Competition organizers should acknowledge that match officials are human and therefore cannot see and report everything that occurs in and around the field of play. They should therefore send a clear message to players and coaches that unsporting behaviour will not be tolerated by supporting match officials and using video evidence to take retrospective action against offenders.

EARs Do Not See … or Hear … or Assist!

There is a dedicated Referees' Blog called The Third Team which produces excellent insight, great comments and useful assessment reports that can help any match official improve themselves. I thoroughly recommend The Third Team.

One example from The Third Team is an excellent analysis regarding Referee Victor Kassai's handling of the Bayern Munich and Barcelona Champions League semifinal first-leg match on Wednesday 24 April 2013. The match finished 4—0; there were 7 YCs.

HKRef would just like to highlight the incident leading up to Bayern Munich's third goal in the 73'. Here are the freeze frames:

Arjen Robben (red 10) scores Bayern Munich's third goal

Let's look at the Additional Assistant Referee or EAR (blue). During the play, what is he looking at?

Thomas Muller (red 25) deliberately bodychecks Jordi Alba (blue 18) who was focused on chasing Robben (red 10)

The Additional Assistant Referee (or EAR) is simply ball-watching. He does not appear to take in the overall event that is developing in front of him. Only when Barcelona's Jordi Alba hits the ground does EAR1 turn his head quickly to glance back before following the ball again.

This is yet another example—to add to many others accumulated from nearly 1,000 matches (e.g. here, here and here)—that demonstrate the ineffectiveness of EARs. Players secretly laugh at UEFA's claim that the presence of extra match officials act as a deterrent to unsporting behaviour in and around the penalty area.

This blog's central thesis about EARs is:
    Central Thesis

    My main argument is not the fact that EARs are ineffective and redundant (which, in many incidents, they are ) or that EARs do not help or enhance the game. It is worse than that and much more serious.

    My main argument is the fact that EARs can have a detrimental effect on the performance of the match Referee and hence can contribute to ruining the game since match officials will be perceived to be making more, instead of less, errors.

I feel sorry for Pierluigi Collina, chief refereeing officer at UEFA, having the task of promoting the use of EARs simply because his boss Michel Platini insists on using extra match officials. The use of EARs (and goal-line technology) is more a political agenda amongst those in the upper echelons of power, rather than a genuine attempt to really help match officials.

Ultimately, match officials require clear, consistent and credible support from competition organizers (e.g. taking effective retrospective action to punish players and clubs for unsporting behaviour) so that all players and clubs will eventually think twice before deciding to deceive Referees. If UEFA, FIFA and other competition organizers fully support Referees, and are seen to fully support Referees, by being willing to take retrospective action then in general players and clubs will automatically behave themselves and there will be more Respect for Match Officials. It is that simple.



The match officials were:
Referee    Viktor Kassai (HUN)
Assistant referees    Robert Kispal (HUN), Gabor Erös (HUN)
Fourth official    György Ring (HUN)
Additional assistant referees    Tamás Bognar (HUN), Mihaly Fabian (HUN)



NOTE
Although this blog is highly critical of the use of EARs, HKRef has thought about situations where EARs may indeed prove useful. Take a look at this analysis where EARs May Be Useful.

Penalize Players For Making Political, Religious, Personal Statements

The following incident occurred during the EPL match between Everton and Fulham on Saturday 27 April 2013. The match finished 1—0, with 4YCs.

Penalize players like Pienaar for making political, religious or personal statements. Pic courtesy Getty Images.

Everton's Steven Pienaar is a serial offender in getting his religious message across whenever he scores. He usually pulls his shirt up over his head, as he did again last weekend.

Although Referee Jon Moss failed to show Pienaar a mandatory YC, the competition organizers and FIFA are more to blame for lacking the conviction to enforce the LOTG.

The LOTG state:

    Players must not reveal undergarments showing slogans or advertising. The basic compulsory equipment must not have any political, religious or personal statements.
    A player removing his jersey or shirt to reveal slogans or advertising will be sanctioned by the competition organiser. The team of a player whose basic compulsory equipment has political, religious or personal slogans or statements will be sanctioned by the competition organiser or by FIFA.

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Indecent Assault In Indonesia

The following incident occurred during an Indonesian Super League match between Persiwa Wamena and Pelita Bandung Raya on Sunday 21 April 2013. The match finished 1—2.

In the final 10 minutes of the match with the score balanced at 1—1, the Referee awarded a penalty to Pelita Bandung Raya. Persiwa Wamena's Pieter Rumaropen (green 10) was full of rage and approached the referee from behind to throw a left hook that broke his nose.

The Referee and his bloodied shirt

The Referee was admitted to hospital due to excessive bleeding from his nose. After a delay of 15 minutes, a replacement Referee resumed play. His first action was to send off Rumaropen.


Shocking Video : Punch Referee & Broke his nose ..Bleeding (YouTube)





Three years ago, HKRef observed the same Indonesian team when they visited Hong Kong. The same Edison Pieter Rumaropen is seen engaging in unsporting behavior (playacting and feigning injury). Watch the videoclip.


UPDATE: Apparently, the PSSI (The Football Association of Indonesia) has banned Pieter Rumaropen for life.


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Referee Nicola Rizzoli with his name printed on his shirt collar. Pic courtesy Imago/Actionplus


This picture was spotted because of the send off incident in the Serie A match between Inter Milan and Juventus on Saturday 30 March 2013. The match finished 1—2.

The send off was an obvious SFP because Inter Milan's Esteban Cambiasso (blue/black 19) used "excessive force or brutality against an opponent when challenging for the ball when it is in play". Cambiasso endangered the safety of an opponent.
(Compare this with Nani's send off which produced mixed responses, as opposed to near universal agreement for Stepanenko's challenge).

The Daily Mail news article reported Inter Milan midfielder Esteban Cambiasso's challenge on Sebastian Giovinco to be similar, if not worse, than Callum McManaman's shocking tackle on Massadio Haidara. Although there are similarities including the end result of studs forcibly landing on an opponent, there are also differences between the two challenges. However, the media will use any "trick" to grab the headlines!

Anyway back to the main point of this post: will this become a trend for top Referees? Shirts with Referees' names. It is interesting that this is currently happening in Serie A, where Pierluigi Collina and his Referees Committee at UEFA appear to have an influence. For instance Collina and UEFA already have an influence in Italy because Serie A adopts UEFA's view in using Additional Assistant Referees (or EARs), unlike in other top domestic leagues such as the EPL, Bundesliga and La Liga which do not use EARs. UEFA obviously insist all Champions League and Europa League matches must use EARs because those are its own competitions.

Furthermore, during EURO 2012, Collina also promoted Shirt Swapping between Referees and players. This is a stupid idea but it appears that if top Italian Referees now have shirts with their names printed on them, then Collina may yet see his Shirt Swapping idea take off. HKRef disagrees with the idea where Referees swap shirts with players.

HKRef admires Collina's achievements on the pitch. However, so far many of Collina's off-pitch decisions (e.g. referees swapping shirts, supporting the use of EARs, dismissing goal-line technology) have been poor and unconvincing.

What is SFP?

The following incident occurred during the 2014 World Cup qualifiers in Europe between Ukraine and Moldova on Tuesday 26 March 2013. The match finished 2—1, and there were 2YCs and 1RC.

Red Card during Ukraine and Moldova on Tuesday 26 March 2013 (YouTube)



Ukraine's Taras Stepanenko (yellow 6) is guilty of serious foul play for using "excessive force or brutality against an opponent when challenging for the ball when it is in play". Stepanenko endangered the safety of an opponent. Here are the freeze frames:

 

 

 

Although Referees and readers on this site are never going to be a homogenous group (meaning there will always be dissenting voices, as seen by the sometimes pithy and unconstructive comments left on this blog) … looking at Stepanenko's action, I would think that the majority of sensible Referees and readers would agree with Referee Kenn Hansen's decision to issue a straight Red Card.

Now compare Stepanenko's action with the Nani—Arbeloa incident, and I would think that amongst sensible Referees and readers, some would think "Yellow Card", some "Red Card", and others may not even think a direct free kick is necessary. That is, in general there are mixed responses to Nani's action.

The fact that Cuneyt Cakir's decision to send off Nani has raised so many mixed responses (compared with Hansen's decision) amongst sensible Referees and readers should tell us that there is something significantly wrong with the interpretation of serious foul play (SFP).

Just for good measure, now consider how Referees and players accept the use of the scissors or bicycle kick (as demonstrated often by Peter Crouch and other players like Zlatan Ibrahimovic) especially in crowded areas where contact with other players is highly likely. At most, Referees award a yellow card when a player connects with an opponent's head because it is only deemed to be acting "with complete disregard to the danger to, or consequences for, his opponent".
Question: When players perform scissors or bicycle kicks and connect with an opponent's head, why is this not considered "endangering the safety of an opponent"?

We know that the FA and PGMOL in England do not consider bicycle kicks to be send-off offences. But perhaps Pierluigi Collina and his Referees committee at UEFA may think so? We simply do not know (yet).
However, what we do know is that Collina and UEFA take a relatively harsher view in its interpretation of Law 12 because we know that for Nani's action the FA probably would not award a Red Card, whereas UEFA has interpreted it to be SFP.

Conclusion: the interpretation of SFP remains a grey area.


Note: Referee Kenn Hansen (Denmark) was excellent in his man-management skills. He knew the offending player (Stepanenko) would be subjected to criticism and even possible physical retaliation from players of the opposing team. Therefore Hansen quickly cordoned off Stepanenko from other players. This is optimum officiating and Hansen deserves praise and plaudits for his sensible and sensitive handling of the situation. Here are the freeze frames:

 

 Referee Kenn Hansen cooly and calmly cordons off Stepanenko from other players

 

 

If Referees need to physically step in to separate players, then this is the best approach. Hansen was cool, calm and collected and knew what he had to do.

The worst approach is to use brute force to physically separate or push players away … which is demonstrated often by Howard Webb's physical approach to man-handling players. Webb's way to separate players is way too physical, excessive and untidy (examples can be seen here, here and here).