Ref shocker at Swiss-Ukraine game
Posted by DavidM in World Cup | 27 June 2006
FIFA have today announced that they are to launch an investigation into the refereeing in the Switzerland-Ukraine game last night. Football's governing body are extremely concerned about the performance of the referee and have promised a full review.
In a statement, a spokesperson said, "We have seen a highly consistent level of refereeing throughout this tournament and it is disappointiing that it can be blighted by the actions of one individual. We have given the referees clear briefings, been absolutely precise with the interpretation of the rules and worked hard to ensure they all comply."
The spokesperson continued, "Benito Archundia's future is being severely questioned after he failed to produce a yellow card for the first 58 minutes of the game. He had several opportunities to book defenders where attackers fell to the ground and rolled around a bit, but ignored FIFA directives, took matters into his own hands and decided not to produce the card. This is unacceptable."
"Compare this to the excellent performance of Valentin Ivanov who managed to produce 16 yellow cards and four red, with only 25 fouls committed in the game between Portugal and Holland. And Graham Poll used his initiative positively when he realised he was below target and cleverly increased his card count by yellow-carding the same player three times. These are the benchmarks for referees in the tournament and Archundia has failed to live up to them."
FIFA is worried that, by following Archundia's example, referees may allow games to flow and potentially even be enjoyable.
"We were lucky last night that the two teams playing had no intention of trying to win. If that hadn't been the case Mr Archundia's actions could have been catastrophic and led to an exciting, glorious spectacle. Our directives are clear." said the spokesperson, "If a players makes a challenge and the attacking player falls over, stumbles or looks at all inconvenienced the referee must yellow card the player committing the tackle. Especially if the other player is so injured that they feel the need to roll along the ground several tmes. It is only through these measures that we can ensure the game is continually interrupted and no team progresses with all their best players eligible to play."
Comments
surely this is a wind up? ivanov was even worse. 25 fouls with 20 cards, thats not good, thats a joke
