Refereeing at the World Cup

Apart from the vuvuzelas,  one thing that worries me about this world cup is the refereeing.

Already, some matches have been majorly affected by red cards.  There does not even seem to be any consistency. 
Australia have already fallen victim to two red cards to their most influential players, neither of which were justified.

I would go so far as to say that those red cards have cost Australia a place in the final 16.

Even as an England fan, I had to feel slight sympathy towards the German who was red carded after two yellows in the match with Serbia. (klose)    That referee was nuts, he was yellow carding every tackle.

Glen Johnson probably committed two early fouls yesterday the equal of klose's,  and fortunately the referee gave him some latitude.

Kaka's red card was quite laughable, but I guess not if you are a Brazil fan.

Another player got a harsh red card for a contested header in the penalty box, for a leading elbow, and quite frankly you could be sending defenders off every week in the prem league for the same thing, but most of these are accidental, nothing malicious.

The most bizarre booking I have seen was yesterday when a player went down on the edge of the box and received a yellow for simulation, and replays showed clearly he got a smack on the head which sent him over.


I have a nagging feeling that this world cup could well be won or lost by the actions of referees. Every team is only one incorrect red card decision away from a probable loss, and a loss is now pack your bags time.

I cant understand why the amnesty for cards has been extended to after the quarter-finals, and yet on the other hand some referees are handing out cards willy nilly. It does not make sense.

Even more concerning is the inconsistency aspect, some shocking studs up sliding challenges from behind have even escaped punishment altogether.

The problem for me isn't the refereeing, but FIFA's ignorance when it comes to technology for aid.

I have no qualms if they are strict, but all i want is some consistency. IT's been hopeless.

Some of the Ref's has been downright pathetic in the WC.

no handball? 



no penalty?

and the only african team which had a chance to go through goes through? doesn't surprise me any more, really, but this is ridiculous

Even as an England fan, I had to feel slight sympathy towards the German who was red carded after two yellows in the match with Serbia. (klose)    That referee was nuts, he was yellow carding every tackle.

klose deserved a second yellow card few minutes before that, he kicked the ball 5-6 seconds after the whistle, the referee decided to let him go away with it, but he didn't forget it i guess, it was a kind of compensation for not sending him off earlier

here we go again...............more pathetic refereeing

Lampard scores and the officials all had their eyes closed.

Argentina scores a goal  clearly offside,  but the officials mess it up again

This entire world cup has been a shambles caused by poor refereeing

This entire world cup has been a shambles caused by poor refereeing

To be fair.

In the case of both Argentina and Germany, it was hardly like the best team lost.

the refereeing has been bad but the australia's got what they deserve with there 2 red cards

refs are getting progressively worse as the wc is going on...

the refereeing has been bad but the australia's got what they deserve with there 2 red cards

1 red card was deserved, Cahill's was a total joke.

There were a lot of referee's mistakes during this competition, but Lamp's goal from England-Germany... Shocking...

1 red card was deserved, Cahill's was a total joke.

Kewell's red was certainly not deserved. Yes, it was a penalty, but a red it was not.

The rules are, for the last time:

If you stop a goal with your hand, you are given a red card whether it was deliberate or not. You are the last man and denying a clear goal scoring opportunity. If you handball on the line, you are red carded. End of!

They don't even need to install technology. 5 referees should do the job. But nooooooo, everything has to be the same. Less goals scored with hands or less goals from offside would take away all the joy from football. FIFA is a joke.

They don't even need to install technology. 5 referees should do the job. But nooooooo, everything has to be the same. Less goals scored with hands or less goals from offside would take away all the joy from football. FIFA is a joke.

5 referees don't do the job, they experimented with that in the Europa League this season, they still made mistakes, people will always make mistakes. Even 10 referees will not see everything without the help of technology.

And I heard it's not the FIFA wo is conservative on these issues, it's the other member of IFAB.

Kewell's to me was a red card he blantly stop the ball from going in the net

Kewell's red was certainly not deserved. Yes, it was a penalty, but a red it was not.

Sorry it was.

The ball was on target and would have hit the net if it had not hit Kewell's arm, therefore, goalscoring opportunity denied, so it is very much a red card.

Sorry it was.

The ball was on target and would have hit the net if it had not hit Kewell's arm, therefore, goalscoring opportunity denied, so it is very much a red card.

I require a slight confirmation here. Does it have to be intentional? Or even an unintentional hand which prevents a sure-shot deserves a red?

The rules are, for the last time:

If you stop a goal with your hand, you are given a red card whether it was deliberate or not. You are the last man and denying a clear goal scoring opportunity. If you handball on the line, you are red carded. End of!

My bad. Didn't read your earlier post.
Ok so. Then Kewell's sending off was right.
Still, refereeing has been shocking, no doubt. Just spoils the fun in the game many-a-times.

No doubt at all, mate. You just have to look at the stop/start nature of every game to realise it. The ref's blowing their whistle has killed the football.

I don't think the Refereeing has been to bad considering the Refs used. Two bad decisions yesterday but on the whole not to bad

Howard Webb has been the best referee at this world cup by miles. That sums it up really, the other refs should be ashamed!

Nah tbf, Webby has been decent and that linesman ITV keep bumming

The referee's have been shocking at times and there has been some absolute howlers , but that is part of football , the human element . I know it's a cliche but "ya gotta take the good with the bad" . The major problem i see is that the referee's seem to be handin out yellows for fun , let the games flow for fucks sake

Sums it up an English ref stands out for his professionalism and ability to control the game.
How hard is it to have a standard that ALL officials have to meet?
The only difficulty is a self important,pompous arsehole that thinks he is rule maker and can alter the whole structure of football step forward shithead Blatter.
Today he has apologised for the mistakes with the disallowed goal and an offside ruling in some other game and said once again that goal line technology will be reviewed??? Does he think we're as stupid as he is?
As soon it becomes patently clear how inefficient some FIFA officials are and consequently the ruling bodies Blatter is out on his arse, it can't be any other way, so Blatter and his cohorts are basically cheating themselves.

When you see a confident Mexico smash the ball into the crossbar, and almost score twice in the first 5 minutes against Argentina...............

and then a minute later you see Argentina awarded a non goal that was clearly offside, you realise what a farce this world cup has been.

After that, everything that happens is different. The same thing applies in the case of lampards goal not counting.

Teams like Mexico and England, are decent sides... but not strong enough to be able to win in the face of horrific refereeing.  As a fan and a lover of world football, I am bitterly disapointed that many matches have been ruined as a spectacle and a contest by a string of shocking refereeing decisions.

The entire tournament has been compromised by this, with several teams lucky to still be in contention, and others unlucky to be on the plane home. It would have been nice to see how many matches would have panned out,  without the mindless and atrocious interference from officials.

I guarantee that before this tournament comes to a conclusion there will be more contraversy, and who knows which team shall next be denied their world cup destiny.
We shall never know what the natural destiny of several teams would have been had the officials got things correct, but the sad thing is they were never allowed to find out.

Four years of waiting, qualifying, and expectation all to be ruined in a split second by a substandard referee or linesman that should never have been there.
Until these people are replaced by technology the world cup will remain a joke, and at the end of the day be held aloft by the team who escaped with the least number of travesties by referees. 
Perhaps the ludicrous red card of Kaka came at the right time for Brazil, who have now maybe got their dose of bad medicine out of the way early in the tournament.
Spain have enjoyed an armchair ride, and benifited nicely from refereeing errors, so maybe they are due for their bad medicine just when it counts the most.    You heard it first here.... so dont be surprised when it comes.

The Referee's in this WC have been either great or abysmal. Its been 2 distinct outcomes.

The no goal for the 2 US match's and the Lampard goal were so blatantly wrong it is amazing. Not too mention the Tevez offside in the Argentina match.  Which 2 referees even talked to eachother and still got it wrong.

In a sport which can easily go 0-0 any goal is immensly Important. If FIFA cant adopt goal line tech or replay tech, then it's a massive black eye for the game. For any team to get knocked out of the WC on a blatant missed call is a disgrace. FIFA better get their sh*t together or its going to turn the sport into a joke.

I'm sick of all this rubbish refereeing. I am Australian and I am sick to death of the way the refs treat us lower footballing nations. See Vidic's handball against Germany??? If Kewell got red, Nemanja should've got red.

It is quite pathetic.

I agree YANK, they've either been fantastic or terrible. I have to say I think I saw one of the finest referring performances I've ever witnessed today with the Holland v Brazil game. Nishimura Yuichi should be hired by the Premier League next year. He was awesome, no nonsense, didn't let the players get away with little cheats that ref's seem to allow these days, and actually got almost every decision right. Thought he was great today and a cut above the rest of the ref's in South Africa.

Results: How do you rate the World Cup referees?

Thanks for voting!
What do you think of the referees' performance at this World Cup?

    * Exceptional 0.8% (27 votes)
    * Acceptable 5.72% (192 votes)
    * Woeful 93.48% (3138 votes)

Total votes: 3357


taken from the heraldsun   website    after the spain v paraguay  latest debacle   

i rest my case     

the world cup has been turned into a circus  and the officials are the clowns 

I would like to congratulate Howard Webb and his team for being the first English men since 1974 to referee a World Cup final,it is a great honnor to be chosen and a well deserved one.Howard is one of the Premierships finest and among the best in Europe and highly respected plus he has the experience for a high profile game eg The Champions League final,so I say Good Luck Howard and have a great final.