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.

Trendsetting: Referee Shirts

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.

EAR Ache

The following incident occurred during the Europa League Round of 16 2nd leg match between Chelsea and Steaua Bucharest on Thursday 14 March 2013. The match finished 3—1, with Chelsea winning 3—2 on aggregate. There were 4 YCs.

In 73', Fernando Torres (blue 9) is tripped in the PA by defender Szukala (red 4) right in front of EAR1 Antony Gautier. Szukala has slid in and cannot control the momentum of his body and therefore clips Torres, who goes down. Referee Stéphane Lannoy gives nothing and EAR1 does not assist.

This blog reiterates that additional assistant referees or EARs are ineffective. Uefa's Michel Platini, via Pierluigi Collina, continues to advocate the use of EARs. The evidence is, and has been, mounting against the beneficial presence of EARs despite Collina's cherrypicking.


Similarly in the Champions League Round of 16 2nd leg match between Manchester United and Real Madrid on Tuesday 5 March 2013, there were several incidents where the EARs could have helped the Referee … but again the EARs proved ineffective.


The Europa League match officials were:
Referee    Stéphane Lannoy (FRA)
Assistant referees    Frédéric Cano (FRA), Michael Annonier (FRA)
Fourth official    Eric Dansault (FRA)
Additional assistant referees    Antony Gautier (FRA), Ruddy Buquet (FRA)


UPDATE

The following incident occurred during the EPL match between Aston Villa and Liverpool on Sunday 31 March 2013. The match finished 1—2.

Referee Lee Mason—without any help from EARs—correctly awards a penalty for a foul on Liverpool's Luis Suarez (black 7) in the penalty area.

 

Aston Villa's Nathan Baker (claret 32) lunges in. Pics courtesy Sky Sports.

The foul inside the PA is almost exactly the same as that experienced by Fernando Torres (above) … the only difference is that Torres did not benefit from the added presence of an EAR or from the "competence" of the Referee (Lannoy).

One Stamp, Not Two, And You're Out

The following incident occurred during the UCL Round of 16 first-leg match between Valencia and Paris Saint Germain on Tuesday 12 February 2013. The match finished 1—2; there were 2YCs and 1RC.



Incident One: Offside? Foul? What?

In 72', Referee Paolo Tagliavento whistles for an infringement. Here are the freeze frames:

In some media accounts, it was an offside call (even from the commentary on the UEFA website, it stated offside). The way Referee Tagliavento walks over and positions himself indicates that he has called offside. However, this is far from certain because his arm signal is NOT straight up to indicate an IFK. It appears to be angled to indicate a DFK (and therefore, a foul). But if it was for a foul, the Referee's position to indicate restart is wayward.

This is soft-option officiating because there was a more important decision that the Referee did not call.

PSG striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic stamped on his opponent. Incredibly, Valencia João Pereira (12) did not appear to be affected by the stamp and got up immediately because he was actually protesting the goal. From his perspective, he was the one who was fouled (and incidentally had played the ball forward, which meant technically PSG's Chantôme (20) was not offside). Here are the freeze frames:

How can Ibrahimovic (blue) play the ball forward?

Instead, it was a stamp ... a cynical stamp

No matter how we look at this incident, the actions of the Referee and his assistants do not appear competent or professional.


Incident Two: Stamp Number Two

In the 90'+2', PSG striker Ibrahimovic has been dispossessed of the ball and makes a lunge at an opponent. Here are the freeze frames:

The AR and EAR both have a good angle of view of the foul. Where is the Referee?

AR signals a foul. Where is the Referee?

AR takes action. Is the EAR effective and doing anything useful?

AR puts up his flag up using his right (why?) hand. Why the right hand? Where is the Referee?

At last here comes the Referee ...

Referee Tagliavento with the whistle in his mouth ... does not look very good!

AR did well to signal this serious foul play

That's two studs-up stamps missed by Referee Tagliavento. In the first incident, the match officials' actions did not look good. With the second incident, although the AR did a great job in assisting the Referee, the EAR is not visibly doing anything (except just standing there and staring) and the Referee is nowhere near the incident. The Referee was not near, and did not have a clear view of the incident. His credibility is low and the Referee further cuts down his credibility by keeping the whistle in his mouth as he approached and sanctioned Ibrahimovic. Very poor impression.


The match officials were:

Referee:  Paolo Tagliavento (ITA)
Assistant referees:  Mauro Tonolini (ITA), Lorenzo Manganelli (ITA)
Fourth official:  Riccardo Di Fiore (ITA)
Additional assistant referees:  Andrea De Marco (ITA), Antonio Damato (ITA)

Checking the Goal Net ... Supposedly

The following incident occurred during the EAFF qualifying round, hosted in Hong Kong, between North Korea and Australia on Wednesday 5 December 2012. The match finished 1—1, and there were 4 YCs.

Just before the second half begins, the match officials and the players have returned to the field of play. Take a look at the following videoclip of AR1:

Did you see what AR1 did ... or rather did not do?

The identity of AR1 is unknown. Unfortunately, the East Asian Football Federation website lacks many details and only named the match Referee as Wang Zhe (who is either from China or Taiwan). At a guess, I think AR1 was from Thailand because AR2 was from Taiwan ... since each MA were invited to provide only one R and one AR ... so there were no trios). In any case, the officiating at the tournament, held from 1-9 December, was shockingly poor and if anyone would like to learn from the mistakes of other match officials (those who have FIFA badges), then watching match videos of this EAFF qualifying tournament is a good place to start!

For Future Discussion
Match officials who have FIFA badges have a responsibility to carry out their duties to the best of their abilities. Too many times we have witnessed many match officials who flout this responsibility. There is a flaw (perhaps many flaws) in the blanket-wide nature and blanketing culture in allowing each MA throughout the world the same number of match officials to wear FIFA badges, even though this means that there is a huge variation in ability, talent and attitude which largely depends on the quality of national refereeing programmes and also perhaps exposure to regular quality domestic matches. Just watching the FIFA match officials selected for the EAFF qualifying round, who came from China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand, gave me concern about their ability, talent and attitude. This is a discussion for another time.

Happy New Year to everyone!!


Related News Story


Australia top standings as Hong Kong finish third in East Asian Cup qualifiers

Monday, 10 December, 2012, 12:00am
Chan Kin-wa kinwa.chan@scmp.com

Australia qualified for next year's East Asian Cup finals on goal difference yesterday, edging out North Korea at Hong Kong Stadium.

With North Korea beating Hong Kong 4-0 in yesterday's first match, the Australians, level on points and goal difference with the Koreans at the start of the day, had a clear target against Taiwan.

Their mission was completed early as they banged in five goals in the first half, finishing 8-0 winners.
"I feel sorry we could not score more goals in the first two matches against Guam and Taiwan," said North Korea coach Yun Jong-su. "The overall result is a bit lower than our expectations as we've failed to reach the finals."

Australia, who are playing in the East Asian Cup for the first time, join Japan, South Korea and China in July's finals. "It is a welcome opportunity for me to see some of the boys building for the future as our priority is to qualify for the World Cup finals," said coach Holger Osieck.

Mike Dean's Penalty Shootout Position

The following incident occurred during the penalty shootout phase of the League Cup Capital One quarterfinal match between Bradford City and Arsenal on Tuesday 11 December 2012. The match finished 1—1, with Bradford advancing 3—2 on penalties. There were 5 YCs.

Notice the positioning of the Referee and the AR

Referee Mike Dean has recently performed magnificently in the EPL (e.g. see Mike Dean Masterclass Display Part 1 and Part 2; as well as Mike Dean's Manchester Delight Part 1 and Part 2). Therefore, it was a big surprise to see this scene (above). Perhaps this is due to the lack of penalty kicks from the mark that Dean and his AR encounters … but still, there should be no excuse for not knowing the standard positioning for kicks from the penalty mark.


Related Posts

EARs Up Down Up Down

Referee Positioning: Kicks From the Penalty Mark

EARs: Cherry Picking With Collina Part 1 of 2

UEFA believe in the use of additional assistant referees:

"Two extra pairs of eyes focusing on the penalty areas are of valuable assistance to the referees and strengthen the referee team in confidence and numbers, while allowing the game to flow." — Michel Platini, UEFA president

HKRef admires Pierluigi Collina as a top top Referee. In his present role as UEFA Chief Refereeing Officer, it is perhaps understandable that he is toeing the line (Platini's line) in its support of using extra match officials which UEFA calls additional assistant referees (see Now We See More). In this instance HKRef is skeptical about Collina's claims unless, as mentioned back in 2009 (see New Europa League will Trial "Five" Match Officials), UEFA truly reveals the datasets and statistical analyses of their "experiment". The fact that UEFA has promoted their pre-conceived conclusions without providing any solid evidence is perhaps another issue for discussion.


Aside: Once again, as a matter related to native English language tendencies, this blog insists on using the term Extra Assistant Referees (EARs) instead of AARs (see earlier explanation here). The choice in using "additional" is most probably a decision made by a non-native English speaker … since for native English speakers it is more natural and easier to use "extra" rather than "additional" in everyday use.


In UEFA's videoclip (see Additional assistant referees DVD for FAs) Collina says:

The main goal of having two more match officials involved in the match is to give the referee support in taking decisions when something occurs in and around the penalty area and not to control the goal line only.

There are very few occasions when it is not clear if the ball has crossed, or not, the goal line and there are many more occasions when the incidents take place in and around the penalty area and the referee has to take a decision when not in the best position, or condition, to do it.

Close to 1,000 matches since August 2008 have used additional assistant referees [EARs]

UEFA's graphic claims 1000+, when in fact it should be ~1000

Collina claims that the results achieved are:

1) a better assessment of incidents, particularly fouls, occurring in and around the penalty area with the referees not able to make a decision;

2) a reduction of incidents like holding, pulling and blocking at set pieces (corner kicks, free kicks) has been widely noticed as the additional assistant referees presence works as a deterrent. If you consider that in most matches around 10 corner kicks and 8 free kicks are taken towards the penalty area and that in most of these holding and blocking can occur, it is easy to see why the additional assistant referees presence is so important**; and

3) a better control of the goal line to determine whether the ball crosses the line.

But something else we identified as a result of additional assistant referees presence:

4) An improved standard of assistant referees decision and accuracy as they can now focus their attention on offsides only. We had more than 96% accuracy on about 430 offside decisions with 27 goals scored on difficult offside-onside positions

UEFA used a videoclip of this AR (above) making an offside decision. What a shame this AR did not use the standard protocol and raise his flag straight up.

Note: This fourth point is the only instance where UEFA uses a dataset and statistics [why doesn't UEFA share their other datasets?]. This means 413 offside decisions were correct, out of 430. This also means 17 offside decisions were incorrect during EURO 2012.


** Collina uses anecdotal evidence to persuade. He claims EARs have a deterrent effect. Where are the statistics that show the presence of EARs have a deterrent effect? How is this actually measured and concluded?
For instance (as above) he said: It is easy to see why the additional assistant referees presence is so important. This is called Cherry Picking. Whenever something occurs that supports your claims, you accept it into your results, but whenever something occurs that goes against your claims, you ignore it. For instance in this post, the example of AC Milan's Gianluca Zambrotta pushing an opponent in the penalty area goes against what Collina is claiming, and so is conveniently ignored. UEFA and Collina cherry pick in their support of the use of EARs.


Here are examples UEFA and Collina use in their videoclip to support the use of EARs:

1) EURO 2012 Italy v Croatia on 14 June 2012 at Municipal Stadium Poznan

EAR2 Mark Clattenburg spots and shouts: "defensive foul, defensive foul, defensive foul"

Referee Howard Webb says: "Yes, great play Clatts. We both saw that one. All nicely done" [This is what is heard from the videoclip]

This is UEFA's translation of Webb's English 

To European ears, "great play" magically becomes "great spotting". A native English speaker would never be caught saying "great spotting" (just as a native English speaker would much prefer to say "extra" instead of "additional").

Collina says, in all seriousness: "The voices are from the English match officials, with English subtitles."

Haha. Collina and UEFA are apparently so worried that Mark Clattenburg's Geordie (North-East) accent and Howard Webb's Yorkshire accent may not be so easily or universally understood, which is why they inserted English subtitles. Using that same "logic", this whole UEFA videoclip should have been subtitled because Collina's English accent (his English has a very strong Italian accent) may also not be so easily or universally understood. For example, Collina pronounces UEFA as sounding like "wafer".

And let's not get sidetracked with the humorous use, or non-use, of subtitles! Even though Collina is claiming that the EAR did a great job in identifying the foul, the fact is the Referee actually identified the defensive foul himself (this is what Webb clearly said on the communication system). So what is Collina's point?

Note: These are honest observations, and there is no intention of being disrespectful. If any reader has a problem with this blog's observations then they are welcome to leave this site.


Please see Part 2 of EARs: Cherry-Picking With Collina, where more examples will be presented.

Backpass Has To Be Deliberate Kick To Keeper

The following incident occurred during the Euro 2012 semifinal match between Portugal and Spain on Wednesday 27 June 2012. The match finished 0—0, with Spain progressing following a 4—2 penalty shootout. There were 9 YCs.

In 110', Spain's Jesus Navas gets into the box and his cross-shot from the right is blocked by Goalkeeper Rui Patricio. The ball bounces off Pepe's foot and into the keeper's arms. Here are the freeze frames:

Yes, naturally Spain players will complain and ask the Referee to take action but Referee Cüneyt Çakır clearly communicated his decision.
 

Iniesta wants an IFK … anything to give his team an edge

Remember, for the Referee to take action on a backpass, a player must deliberately kick the ball to his goalkeeper. Pepe's actions do not satisfy this requirement:

Related Post: See Passing on the Backpass Rule


The match officials were:
Referee: Cüneyt Çakır (TUR)
Assistant referees: Bahattin Duran (TUR), Tarik Ongun (TUR)
Fourth official: Damir Skomina (SVN)
Additional assistant referees: Hüseyin Göçek (TUR), Bülent Yıldırım (TUR)


Note: Penalty Kicks from the Mark 
EAR1 and AR1 both assume the SSS position.

No CCC for this EAR1 (compare with the position adopted by EAR1 in the England and Italy penalty shootout).

Although Referee Cakir is not positioned according to the recommended Guidelines, it is still a very good position considering the fact that he now has two match officials (EAR1 and AR1) on the goal line. Referee Cakir's position allows him to simultaneously see both the penalty-taker and the goalkeeper, particularly when it is now important that the penalty-taker cannot feint once the run-up to the ball is completed. Cakir has used his common sense (compare this with the AR2 during the penalty shootout in the England and Italy match (see EARs Up Down Up Down).
Perhaps the recommended Guidelines for the Referee's position during penalty kicks from the mark should be amended?

Related Post: See Lionel Messi penalty mess-up here