[Football] Refereeing at this World Cup

[Shooting Star]

Maybe time has addled my brain, but am I right in thinking that the general consensus after an international tournament is that the refereeing standard is a lot better than in English football and we usually bemoan why our refs can’t be as good as those internationally? If my memory serves me right, after the initial weirdness of VAR in 2018 it was pretty well implemented in Russia.

I’d say this World Cup has seen some pretty low standards of reffing, epitomised by last night. Has the international standard dropped? Is VAR to blame?

 

[Cowfold Seagull]

Spot on. Overall it has been disgraceful.

 

[studio150]

Given the standard, Michael Oliver may referee the final, now that England are out.

 

[Weststander]

Before last night, some awful refs had officiated quite a few Qatar WC matches.

Failing to dish out yellows for scything players down on brilliant counter-attacks, bottling giving out second yellows, general incompetence with their assistants in giving corner/goal-kick decisions to clearly the wrong team, arrogantly dismissing blatant fouls as no foul.

Even the sweep-bad-news-under-the-carpet BBC commentators stating “We won’t see this referee again”.

[Not posted with xenophobic admiration of EPL refs, the current bunch are awful].

 

[Milano]

VAR has made the refs lazy. The 2nd pen last night was just nailed on, stonewall, the ref is waiting for VAR. His approach seemed to be ‘give nothing’ as VAR will intervene if necessary.

 

[Eeyore]

Always been the same. Referees are not given enough respect. They will always get decisions wrong. Every match. They are human.

I cannot remember a referee that didn't. They get a disproportionate amount of grief. That's probably why a lot of folk can't be bothered going into it now.

Most times Albion get beaten the rubbish referee thread appears on here in the hour. Says it all really.

 

[Titanic]

It is a massive improvement to the general watchability of football that the referees are letting a lot more physical contact go now. All physical contact is not a foul.

It is also a 'good thing' they are adding something closer to the right amount of added time.

 

[Randy McNob]

VAR has made the refs lazy. The 2nd pen last night was just nailed on, stonewall, the ref is waiting for VAR. His approach seemed to be ‘give nothing’ as VAR will intervene if necessary.

I think the problem there is some refs have given pens only for VAR to overturn them. If youŕe a ref you don't want to be seen to make wrong decisions frequently so they let decisions go and wait to see if VAR intervenes. I'd do exactly the same

 

[schmunk]

Given the standard, Michael Oliver may referee the final, now that England are out.

Yet I've seen lots of complaining about his reffing of the Croatia-Brazil match, so...

 

[nicko31]

World Cup but not World Standard officials, Saturday was a disgrace.

 

[Insel affe]

I think we paid the price for the awful referee of the 18 cards brandished in the Argentina, Dutch game.
FIFA probably told Wilton Sampaio, lets not have a repeat of that, and we suffered.

 

[CheeseRolls]

I think there are two things being interpreted differently in this World Cup versus the Premier League

1 Contact in the penalty area, does not automatically mean a penalty.
2 If the attacking player runs into a defender or defenders and falls over it does not automatically mean a free kick.

I prefer both of these interpretations and think the Premier League should take note.

The one thing neither gets right, is foul throws, which must be the easiest thing in the world to fix. Portugal's first goal of 6 against Switzerland was a terrible attempt at a throw in. I would have loved to have seen this one cancelled out for a foul throw. It may not have been material in terms of the scoreline, but it would have been correct to call it.

 

[Slum_Wolf]

I think there are two things being interpreted differently in this World Cup versus the Premier League

1 Contact in the penalty area, does not automatically mean a penalty.
2 If the attacking player runs into a defender or defenders and falls over it does not automatically mean a free kick.

I prefer both of these interpretations and think the Premier League should take note.

The one thing neither gets right, is foul throws, which must be the easiest thing in the world to fix. Portugal's first goal of 6 against Switzerland was a terrible attempt at a throw in. I would have loved to have seen this one cancelled out for a foul throw. It may not have been material in terms of the scoreline, but it would have been correct to call it.

Yep, part of me enjoyed watching players from the 'big 6' fall over and not get anything from the ref. As you state, Premier League take note...

 

[JBizzle]

I think there are two things being interpreted differently in this World Cup versus the Premier League

1 Contact in the penalty area, does not automatically mean a penalty.
2 If the attacking player runs into a defender or defenders and falls over it does not automatically mean a free kick.

I prefer both of these interpretations and think the Premier League should take note.

The one thing neither gets right, is foul throws, which must be the easiest thing in the world to fix. Portugal's first goal of 6 against Switzerland was a terrible attempt at a throw in. I would have loved to have seen this one cancelled out for a foul throw. It may not have been material in terms of the scoreline, but it would have been correct to call it.

You're right. That said, it's a strange one because I do think that in some games (Argentina v Netherlands) the refs have been "whistle-happy", whilst in others (England v France) you almost have to assault someone to get a foul. So the consistency has been a bit off, but I do also think that it depends on where the ref usually referees. Domestic interpretations of rules always conflict with FIFA directives when all refs come together on this scale.

I think both of your examples are really good points. Ultimately, the "awful" ref v France gave us 1 pen, changed his decision for the 2nd and didn't give the first one. All of those decisions, appeared correct. I also didn't think the "foul" on Saka was a foul. It's 100% one you'd get in the Premier League every week, but it's also not one I want given as a foul every week. Tap on the shoulder, bang, down on the ground.

As an addition, I know the PL have already vetoed it, but I'm a BIG fan of the added time rule here. So wonderful to see Emi Martinez on the end of a 90+10 goal concession after his team resorted to 10 mins of timewasting antics.

 

[macbeth]

I think there are two things being interpreted differently in this World Cup versus the Premier League

1 Contact in the penalty area, does not automatically mean a penalty.
2 If the attacking player runs into a defender or defenders and falls over it does not automatically mean a free kick.

I prefer both of these interpretations and think the Premier League should take note.

The one thing neither gets right, is foul throws, which must be the easiest thing in the world to fix. Portugal's first goal of 6 against Switzerland was a terrible attempt at a throw in. I would have loved to have seen this one cancelled out for a foul throw. It may not have been material in terms of the scoreline, but it would have been correct to call it.

I think if the refs in the PL were going one way or another then people may be a bit more accepting, this issue, as always, is consistency. take your first point for example, yes there is generally more penalisation of contact in the PL, but then you get stuff like our penalty shout against villa, which inconceivably goes against that principle, arguably on an occasion where any ref in the world should penalise that contact.

unfortunately this comes from the top, as the PGMOL is run like an old boy's club and the leadership/coaching is appalling. this may change when Howard Webb becomes chief, which is happening imminently I believe