IFAB has rejected UEFA proposal to avert the "Triple Punishment"

Swedish referee Jonas Eriksson sending off Martín Demichelis for DOGSO (c) dailymail.co.uk

Following an official request by UEFA, warmly supported by president Michel Platini (hereyou can find the news), IFAB has discussed in today’s meeting  the opportunity to change or avert the “Triple Punishment”.  The final decision is that nothing will change. The Triple Punishment has been confirmed, therefore a referee will have still to send off a player in case of DOGSO. The hope is  that a red card can occur only in mandatory situations, nevertheless everything will remain under the full discretion of the match officials. 

Apart from that, IFAB has also discussed further issues, deciding in this way: a player will be banned in case of messages under his shirt (especially after a celebration), the usage of head covers has been officially ratified,  no technology on the pitch to help the referee apart from the GLT already in use, the experiment about sin bins will continue at amateur level. 

Finally, FIFA secretary  Jérôme Valcke  has stated that LotG will be changed and  clarified in certain points, especially about the discussed topics, in order to make them even more detailed.

 

 

  

IFAB considers Implementation of Video Replays

World football's lawmakers, the International Football Association Board (IFAB), have laid out their agenda for their 128th general annual meeting that is going to take place on 1st March 2014 in Suisse Zurich. This agenda is nothing else than a blueprint for modern football: for the first time ever, there are official considerations to implement video replays for match officials.

They care about football...the IFAB.

In general, the agenda heralds several areas for discussion and alterations in terms of rather technical laws such as the players' equipment or the definition of dropped balls. The more interesting parts are listed under "any other business" - quite an understatement in light of the scope these three issues might have.

Thus, IFAB will discuss on the establishment of sin bins, i.e. an "orange card", which allows referees to dismiss players for a specific period of time as an element of recreational football. Furthermore, the frequently debated "triple punishment" is going to be subject to discussions following the proposal of UEFA. Finally, and most important, IFAB is going to discuss on introducing the opportunity of video replays, also called "video devices", for referees. In controversial match situations that are of great relevance, referees would be able to check their decision or take a decision at all after consulting the video pictures - like in ice-hockey.

What I personally regard as the end of football, as the end of the spirit of the game and the end of human refereeing, might be appreciated by some of you. Instead of writing an analysis, I would like to hear your point of views and arguments on this affair (and also on the other topics illuminated above).

International Referees and Assistant Referees 2014 (UEFA)

Please find the full referee and assistant referee lists for the European zone governed by UEFA in the pdf-documents attached.

	Referees
	Assistant Referees

FIFA referee Liesveld escaped burning car

Dutch FIFA official Richard Liesveld had a guardian angel: During the trip to the Eredivisie match between Roda Kerkrade and Vitesse Arnhem, he had just escaped his car in time before it began to blaze. It burnt out completely.

Liesveld, who accompanied Björn Kuipers to the European Championship 2012 as Additional Assistant Referee, heared a strange noise while driving so he stopped at the first gas station, Dutch FA’s press officer said. He noticed nothing at first glance and wanted to continue, but then some people who wear near to the car warned him that his car was burning from underneath. Liesveld could get out safely, but was not able to take his referee equipment with him. 

A witness said on Twitter that they couldn’t get closer (see picture above) because glass was going everywhere.

Ed Janssen replaced Liesveld in the match, so that the match did not have to be cancelled. The Dutch Police is investigating the case. The Dutch FA has stated that it had been a technical issue.

Courtesy by DutchReferee.com

Brych to head intercontinental officiating team into The FA's anniversary match

It happened four times in football's history that an English referee took charge of a World Cup final. For The FA, that has been reason enough to nominate a quite unorthodox refereeing team for their anniversary friendly between England and Scotland.

Felix Brych (GER) (c) tz-online

Elite referee Felix Brych of Munich has been selected to head an intercontinental team of match officials comprising pre-selected World Cup assistant referee Alessandro Rocha De Matos of Brazil and South Africa's Enock Molefe, who ran the lines at FIFA World Cup 2010 along with Jerome Damon. Suisse Alain Bieri completes the team as fourth official. The officials' nations are targeted at represent the hosting nations of the four World Cups where English referees handled their finals (George Reader at WC 1950 in Brazil, William Ling at WC 1954 in Switzerland, Jack Taylor at WC 1974 in Germany and Howard Webb at WC 2010 in South Africa). 

Some friendlies on 14 and 15 August:

England - Scotland
Referee: Felix Brych (GER)
Assistant Referee 1: Alessandro Rocha De Matos (BRA)
Assistant Referee 2: Enock Molefe (RSA)
Fourth Official: Alain Bieri (SUI)

Italy - Argentina
Referee: Wolfgang Stark (GER)
Assistant Referee 1: Jan-Hendrik Salver (GER)
Assistant Referee 2: Mike Pickel (GER)
Fourth Official: Paolo Valeri (ITA)

Portugal - Netherlands
Referee: Paolo Mazzoleni (ITA)
Assistant Referee 1: Mauro Tonolini (ITA)
Assistant Referee 2: Riccardo Di Fiore (ITA)
Fourth Official: João Capela (POR)

Germany - Paraguay
Referee: Ivan Bebek (CRO)
Assistant Referee 1: Tomislav Petrović (CRO)
Assistant Referee 2: Miro Grgić (CRO)
Fourth Official: Christian Dingert (GER)

Ecuador - Spain
Referee: Wilmar Roldán (COL)
Assistant Referee 1: Wilson Berrio (COL)
Assistant Referee 2: Rafael Rivas (COL)
Fourth Official: Carlos Vera (ECU)

Switzerland - Brazil
Referee: Deniz Aytekin (GER)
Assistant Referee 1: Guido Kleve (GER)
Assistant Referee 2: Markus Häcker (GER)
Fourth Official:

Sweden - Norway
Referee: Michael Oliver (ENG)
Assistant Referee 1: Stuart Burt (ENG)
Assistant Referee 2: Simon Bennett (ENG)
Fourth Official: Anthony Taylor (ENG)

Belgium - France
Referee: Craig Thomson (SCO)
Assistant Referee 1: Alan Mulvanny (SCO)
Assistant Referee 2: Damien Macgraith (IRL)
Fourth Official: Yves de Neve (BEL)

Turkey - Ghana
Referee: Matej Jug (SVN)
Assistant Referee 1: Robert Vukan (SVN)
Assistant Referee 2: Gregor Rojko (SVN)
Fourth Official: Darko Ceferin (SVN)

Hungary - Czech Republic
Referee: Howard Webb (ENG)
Assistant Referee 1: Mike Mullarkey (ENG)
Assistant Referee 2: Simon Long (ENG)
Fourth Official: Mike Dean (ENG)

Bosnia & Herzegovina - United States
Referee: Damir Skomina (SVN)
Assistant Referee 1: Primož Arhar (SVN)
Assistant Referee 2: Marko Stančin (SVN)
Fourth Official: Irfan Peljto (BIH)

Ukraine - Israel
Referee: Ivan Kružliak (SVK)
Assistant Referee 1: Roman Slyško (SVK)
Assistant Referee 2: Tomáš Mókoš (SVK)
Fourth Official: Serhiy Skrypak (UKR)

Austria - Greece
Referee: Richard Trutz (SVK)
Assistant Referee 1: Martin Balko (SVK)
Assistant Referee 2: Peter Chládek (SVK)
Fourth Official: Ján Valášek (SVK)

Romania - Slovakia
Referee: Neil Doyle (IRL)
Assistant Referee 1: Wayne McDonnell (IRL)
Assistant Referee 2: Ciaran Delaney (IRL)
Fourth Official: Ionut Marius Avram (ROU)

Bolivia - Venezuela
Referee: Imer Machado (COL)
Assistant Referee 1: Alexander Guzmán (COL)
Assistant Referee 2: Cristian De La Cruz (COL)

Finland - Slovenia
Referee: Simon Lee Evans (WAL)
Assistant Referee 1: John Bryn Roberts (WAL)
Assistant Referee 2: Philip Thomas (WAL)
Fourth Official: Bryn Markham-Jones (WAL)

Japan - Uruguay
Referee: Szymon Marciniak (POL)
Assistant Referee 1: Pawel Sokolnicki (POL)
Assistant Referee 2: Radoslaw Siejka (POL)
Fourth Official:

Poland - Denmark
Referee: Yudai Yamamoto (JPN)
Assistant Referee 1: Toshiyuki Nagi (JPN)
Assistant Referee 2: Shinji Ochi (JPN)
Fourth Official: Marcin Borski (POL)

Mexico - Côte d'Ivoire
Referee: David Gantar (CAN)
Assistant Referee 1: Joe Fletcher (CAN)
Assistant Referee 2: Daniel Belleau (CAN)
Fourth Official: Edvin Jurisevic (USA)

New FIFA Referees' Committee

FIFA has made two significant changes in their Referees' Committee: Angel Maria Villar Llona from Spain has resigned for still unknown reasons as well as Belgian Michel D’Hooghe who was the deputy chairman in charge of competitions.

Jim Boyce of Northern Ireland (c) uefa.com

New President of the Committee is Jim Boyce (photo) from Northern Ireland who is vice-president of the FIFA Executive committee and was the IFA president from 1995 to 2007.
Jilong Zhang from China PR remains the only deputy chairman and Worawi Makudi from Thailand is added as a member.

This is the new committee:

Chairman: Jim BOYCE Northern Ireland    

Deputy Chairman: ZHANG Jilong China PR    

Member: Worawi MAKUDI Thailand    

Member Competition:

Carlos ALARCÓN Paraguay    
Badara SENE Senegal    
Jorge ROMO Argentina    
Peter MIKKELSEN Denmark    
Toru KAMIKAWA Japan    
Carlos BATRES Guatemala    
Magdi SHAMS ELDIN Sudan
Lee HARMON Cook Islands    
Ingrid JONSSON Sweden    
Jorge LARRIONDA Uruguay    
Abdulrahman AL DELAWAR Bahrain
Celestin NTAGUNGIRA Rwanda    
Alfredo TRENTALANGE Italy    
Terence BABWAH Trinidad and Tobago (Medical Committee)

Member Development:

Belaïd LACARNE Algeria    
Michal LISTKIEWICZ Poland    
Ted HOWARD USA    
Lambert MALTOCK Vanuatu    
Katriina ELOVIRTA Finland    
Jacqueline LELEU Australia    
Subkhiddin MOHD SALLEH Malaysia    
Mike RILEY England    
Oscar RUIZ Colombia    
Hector VERGARA Canada    
James SEKAJUGO Uganda (Medical Committee)

Roberto García awaits "highlight of his refereeing career"

On Saturday, Mexican referee Roberto Garcia will officiate the eagerly-awaited FIFA U-20 World Cup Turkey 2013 final between France and Uruguay in Istanbul. The 38-year-old will be assisted by his compatriots Jose Luis Camargo and Alberto Morin, with the Ivorian Noumandiez Doue serving as fourth official.

Roberto García consideres his final honour as "invaluable" (c) FIFA.com

After taking charge of the match for third place, among others, at the FIFA U-17 World Cup 2011 in his homeland, Garcia’s nomination to referee this final represents the next step in his career. FIFA.com caught up with the official for his thoughts ahead of the title-decider.

FIFA.com: What does it mean to you to have been nominated as referee for the FIFA U-20 World Cup Turkey 2013 final? 
Roberto Garcia: When I heard about it I was just incredibly proud and happy. I was delighted for my family and my two assistants too. Without doubt it’s the highlight of my refereeing career so far and a huge step forward for me in terms of my future. However, I've never forgotten how much hard work has gone in to me getting this far.

How did your family react?
Thankfully they’ve been very supportive of me and have encouraged me every step of the way. I called them as soon as I found out and obviously they were all over the moon. They went absolutely crazy!

What kind of match are you anticipating between France and Uruguay?
I expect it to be a very demanding game. Both teams have exceptionally talented and, above all, experienced players in their ranks. I think it'll be a fast-paced, hard-running encounter.

How will you prepare yourself both mentally and tactically for the final?
It's important not to get too wound up and to stay fully focused. You need to try and maintain the same level of healthy tension you've had at the tournament in previous weeks. My assistants and I are a very experienced team and we're really looking forward to the final and welcome the accompanying responsibility that brings. The tactical preparations are important too. The instructors in FIFA's Refereeing Department will prepare us perfectly with, amongst other things, numerous video clips of the games so far, which we'll analyse together. We’ll also simulate and practice certain match situations during our daily practical training with players. To enhance our preparations we have access to the DVDs of all of the games played here to date and on top of that we'll have a tactical match discussion with FIFA's Technical Study Group (TSG).

How important is teamwork and solidarity between you and your colleagues?

It's invaluable to me. It helps in taking care of all the administrative, technical and medical side of things surrounding each game. It wouldn't be possible for everything to run smoothly without that sense of togetherness and a good collective morale. It's extremely important to all of us. That's why we have a special ritual: immediately before each game we embrace, forming a tight circle, and we encourage each other.

How did you start out as a referee?
Ever since I was a small boy I've always been incredibly passionate about football. I made it into the second division in Mexico as a player and when I was 23 a good friend of mine persuaded me to do the basic refereeing courses. I'm happy to admit I enjoyed it immensely right from the off.

Vanishing spray has been used for the first time at a FIFA tournament here in Turkey. What are your first impressions of it?There's no doubt that it’s a huge help for us, especially when it comes to maintaining the required ten yard distance between the ball and the wall at free-kicks. As a result I think we're going to see more goals from free-kicks in future.  

 

How did referees prepare to use vanishing spray prior to the tournament? 
In May all 52 refereeing candidates went to a seminar on the topic in Rio de Janeiro, where we were given excellent and very interesting training about it. In the first few weeks here in Turkey we also had some practical training sessions with vanishing spray so that we could get used to implementing it during games.

After the tournament finishes, the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™ is just around the corner...
That’s true. I would love to be at the World Cup in Brazil next year. In Massimo Bussaca we have a fantastic instructor who’s preparing us for that and who conveys the philosophy we represent as referees in a wonderful way. But to be honest, at the moment all I’m thinking about is the U-20 final in Istanbul. That’s the most important thing right now.

source: FIFA.com

Vanishing spray partly meets with refusal

No - New Zealand referee Peter O'Leary, whom you can see in the photo below, does not draw new lines on the football pitch. He is one of 69 match officials who are being equipped with a vanishing spray by FIFA at the ongoing Under-20 World Cup in Turkey.

Mind your feet! (c) RP Online

In an official press release, FIFA explained their decision to implement this equipment that is already deployed for years in South American football as follows:

"The spray is aimed at giving match officials the opportunity to mark a line on which the defending team must line up its defensive wall before a free kick is taken. Produced by the Argentinian company Fair Play 9.15 Limit, the spray marks a white line on the grass, which indicates clearly any attempted encroachment by players aimed at narrowing the angle or affecting the taking of the free-kick."

Furthermore, it was clarified that the spray vanished between 45 seconds and two minutes of being applied. It consists of a non-contaminating foam being procuded in an ecofriendly way.

The echo of the referees who are already using this spray is still to come. In the German Bundesliga and 2nd Bundesliga, 33 out of 45 have voted against the application of this technique though. A German Bundesliga referee, whose name is unknown, ironically stated: "That's just what we needed! In future we will carry a backpack and gauge the distance between the position of the ball and the wall of 9.15 with a yardstick." 

DFB Refereeing Officer Lutz-Michael Fröhlich admonished that they "must keep in mind that the officials are not fraught with technical aids". Additionally he said: "In the end they [technical aids] reduce the referees' concentration on the actual task of assessing match situations and handling matches with personality."

What's your view on this experiment?

What's behind the amendments of Law 11

During the last weeks, the world's football governing body FIFA announced that the offside rule would be changing from 1st July 2013 targeting at the aim to simplify the definition of passive offside for the match officials, players and also supporters.

The press has widely managed to confuse football fans around the globe with wrong descriptions and analyses of those amendments, so that even UEFA referee committee member Herbert Fandel stated that "this medial hype was fully unnecessary". But how do these changes exactly look like? Those aspects which have been added or changed are written in bold letters.

Current version

New version effective from 1st July 2013

In the context of Law 11 – Offside, the following definitions apply: (…) ·         “interfering with play” means playing or touching the ball passed or touched by a team-mate ·         “interfering with an opponent” means preventing an opponent from playing or being able to play the ball by clearly obstructing the opponent’s line of vision or movements or making a gesture or movement which, in the opinion of the referee, deceives or distracts an opponent ·         “gaining an advantage by being in that position” means playing a ball that rebounds to him off a goalpost or the crossbar having been in an offside position or playing a ball that rebounds to him off an opponent having been in an offside position

In the context of Law 11 – Offside, the following definitions apply: (…) ·         “interfering with play” means playing or touching the ball passed or touched by a team-mate ·         “interfering with an opponent” means preventing an opponent from playing or being able to play the ball by clearly obstructing the opponent’s line of vision or challenging an opponent for the ball ·         “gaining an advantage by being in that position” means playing a ball I) that rebounds or is deflected to him off the goalpost, crossbar or an opponent having been in an offside position II) that rebounds, is deflected or is played to him from a deliberate save by an opponent having been in an offside position A player in an offside position receiving the ball from an opponent, who deliberately plays the ball (except from a deliberate save), is not considered to have gained an advantage.

Interpreting these amendments, one has to clarify that they are only changes "on the paper". In fact, nothing has really been altered, the definitions "interfering with an opponent" and "gaining an advantage by being in that position" have merely been specified. Following the old form of Law 11, the assistant referees had to assess whether an action by a defender who e.g. deflected the ball had been deliberate or not. This led to some confusion not only within the refereeing team. FIFA has now differed between "deliberate saves" by a defender (offside) and defenders who "deliberately play" the ball (e.g. a return pass, no offside here). Furthermore, FIFA's goal surely was to clarify what is meant by a deflection or rebound.

The following two videos can additionally function as explanations for the amendments I and II of the definition "gaining an advantage by being in that position".

In this UEFA Champions League match between Schalke 04 and Arsenal FC, Arsenal forward Olivier Giroud received a long pass by one of his team-mates which was "deflected" by Schalke defender Joel Matip having been in an offside position when the ball was played. Italian assistant referee Renato Faverani did not raise his flag though. Taking into account the new rule, it becomes clearer why. First it must be clear that Matip did not unintentionally deflect the ball by his header. He clearly went towards the ball with intention and thus deliberately played the ball: 'A player in an offside position receiving the ball from an opponent, who deliberately plays the ball (except from a deliberate save), is not considered to have gained an advantage.' Additionally, Giroud did not press Matip, he did not challenge him. Assistant referees do not have to care about the question of whether Matip's action was successful or not, the intent to do so was deliberately made and this is what it is all about.
For this reason, it is no offside offense.

Same goes for the next example taken from 2010 World Cup 1/8 final match between Germany and England, where Uruguayan Mauricio Espinosa took a correct offside decision, as Rooney gained an advantage by being in that offside position despite a deflection of a defender. A totally correct decision under the old rule and but a wrong one taking into account the new instructions.

Rooney did not make pressure on the German defender and hence did not challenge him. The touch the German defender made with the ball was intentional, he therefore deliberately played the ball. Offside in 2010, no offside starting from 1st July.

A quite current and for sure the easiest example for what is meant by a rebound occurred at this month's Confederations Cup in the match between Italy and Brazil.

Assistant referee Bakhadyr Kochkarov unfortunately missed this offside position. Dante, having been in an offside position, got the ball from a deliberate save and a rebound off the goalkeeper. Thus, his passive offside position became clearly active.

Now an example for what is meant by "challenging a player". Jan-Hendrik Salver correctly raised his flag for offside in the World Cup 2010 match between Slovenia and England.

Slovenia's player #11, having been in an offside position (the deflection at the English wall is to be considered as undeliberate), challenged the English goalkeeper so that it became an active offside offence due to interfering with an opponent.

FIFA moreover attached several exemplary videos at their amendments of the Laws of the Game that can be found on José García Aranda's website.

All the videos posted here are only for educational and not for commercial purpose.