FIFA Detains Women in Orange Dresses

You just can't make this stuff up ...

At last, a human rights cause to draw even the most rugby-obsessed Afrikaner into the World Cup: some Dutch-effect women have been detained for wearing orange dresses at Soccer City. Details of this rapidly developing international incident remain contested, with the oppressors (the young ladies) telling a slightly different tale to that being spun by the victim (Fifa). The fallout has seen ITV pundit Robbie Earle fired, and at this rate Prince Harry may well be implicated by dawn … but here are the facts, such as they can be established. ...


Full story here, courtesy of www.guardian.co.uk.

Even Sepp's Doing It ...

FIFA Pres. Joseph S. Blatter launches Twitter page.

Full Story here.

And for those who want to follow him on Twitter, go here.

That's netting to joke about

Earlier we spoke about the critical need to inspect the ball, not only before the match but also during any change of a ball as required by the Laws of the Game [LOTG] (see pages 13, 21, and 77). Doing this small thing can save a match from going into disrepute.

Today, a quick comment regarding pre-game inspections and goal safety. While some areas of inspection are less critical than others, one that requires early scrutiny is the condition of the goals used during a match. Particularly, if these goals are properly anchored down. Here too this is a requirement of the LOTG (see pages 9 and 77).

This one is not about a game going into disrepute, this very simply is to save lives.

Don't believe me, look here for a blog entry from Mary Ellias of Virginia detailing the death of her 10 year old son Hayden tragically killed by a goal that fell on him. This post states in part , "What I remember seeing was our son lying face down lifeless on the ground".

A series of law suits were filed, and one of the named defendants was USSF. You can bet your badge that whoever was refereeing that match was asked some very upsetting questions.

That discomfort however is meaningless in comparison to the tragic loss of a young boy and the pain to his family and friends.

Next time your out refereeing, take an extra second, just one, to make sure the goals are anchored and appear safe. If they do not, my opinion is not to start that match until they are, or abandon it, if they can not be made so.

Check a goal - Save a life.

FIFA's got bugs???

For the soccer geek and just plain geek ...


Malware Watch: Adobe zero day attack, malicious FIFA-themed spam, exploit serving Virus Alerts

Researchers from WebSense are reporting on three currently active malware campaigns, attempting to trick end users into opening malicious HTML files, or automatically exploiting vulnerable PCs relying on the recent Adobe zero day flaw (CVE-2010-1297). ...

Full story continues courtesy of ZDnet.com.

1 + 1 == 10

It can take great courage from a referee to send a player off. It can take even greater courage from a referee to give a player a second caution which results in a send off.

On 13-JUN in the ALG v SVN (report) and SRB v GHA (report) match we saw send offs for second cautions. I am not here to critique the decisions ... the referees are there, I am not. To get the larger refereeing community thinking however, I offer the following.

Lets recall first where this comes from in the LOTG. See page 35 in Law 12 which states that:
"A player, substitute or substituted player is sent off if he commits any of the following seven offences: ...
... receiving a second caution in the same match."

So, reflecting on the recent post about cautions, and my comment about getting something back in return, lets extend the thinking in this context as to why this is critical.

Look at the results from the two matches, the cautions, and second cautions. Both second cautions were for "run of the mill" cautionable stuff, not anything "over the top" (theatrically speaking). This makes me reflect on why and how the initial caution was given to each player, and while I will not go into great detail here about it, there is a relevant general point.

Make sure a player "earns" their cautions. In the two cases here, both of the first cautions were for fouls, both the second cautions were for handling the ball inside the penalty area. Once by an attacking player, once by a defending player.

These were earned cautions in all (4) cases. Imagine if one of the cautions was trivial or "ticky-tack" in nature. The level of dissent, which was none in this case, would have been much more pronounced.

Think about a local match when a player is having a bad match and says something in frustration ... maybe even something that could be worth a caution. How about kicks the ball away in frustration. Should it be a caution? Well ... maybe ...

Let's say you book them, and later in the match, they do something really dumb that mandates a caution, like not retiring the distance on a free kick ... red card? The LOTG say yes, but does that do the player, the game, or you as referee any justice? Again my answer is maybe ...

If a player has earned the cautions, no matter how dumb they may have acted, you are required by the LOTG to act. If a player puts themselves in that position, they have earned what was coming to them. Look at GHEZZAL today for ALG. A shirt pull to bring a player down right when he came in as a substitute, and later trying to control a ball with his arm when attacking in the penalty area. No doubt, no question, one, two, done.

There are times when it will not be so easy and the player does a couple of things that mandate a caution. Those are the breaks. As a referee you can not excuse behavior that mandates a caution in the LOTG, but you should work with players to let them know when they are treading on thin ice regarding discretionary ones.

Send off those players who have earned the shame of going home early. Do so however based in their own behavior. Don't be forced into sending a player off by not thinking through what each misconduct really means to the game.

Justice for those who love the game ... even in the face of adversity ...

Players vote Joyce top umpire in baseball

By Tom Singer / MLB.com

06/13/10 7:16 PM ET

In a recent poll conducted by ESPN The Magazine, Major League Baseball players voted Jim Joyce the best big league umpire. ...

Full story here courtesy of MLB.com.

Even POTUS was watching ENG v USA ...

... or is this a great Photoshop?


Take a look at the reflection on the conference room table ...


I know I was smiling with the draw. Maybe POTUS was too.

Photo Credit: Studio 90

Simon Says ...

... get something back.


So what do I mean by that?


I mean if you give a caution to a player, you better get something back for it.


Simon did ... lets see how.


Take a look at the official match report, you can get it here. There are a couple of things that stand out. First, there were what I would call an "average" number of fouls for the matches played so far. We will see in the month ahead if that stays true to form. Second, we saw with (6) cautions what is an "above average" number of cautions thus far ... in fact this now places FRA, ENG, and USA in a tie for 1st for cautions. Were so many needed? Lets review what they were. 


In the 26', MILNER was booked for Persistent Infringement. Did anyone catch the referee holding up two fingers when he was booked? He was letting everyone know this was his second foul, and as it turned out, his last of the match.


By the way, did anyone catch who he fouled? It was CHERUNDOLO. Hang on a sec, that's important.


In the 39', CHERUNDOLO was cautioned. Sound familiar? He committed that one foul and that was it.


So, Simon says stop with a caution to (2) players, and neither commits another foul in the match. I would say he got something for those.


In the 47', DEMERIT knocked down a ball with his hand and got exactly what he deserved, a caution. That as cautions go, was an easy one. But note, if Simon does not give that one, his World Cup experience I predict would have ended early.


In the 60', CARRAGHER landed a nasty over the ball tackle on FINDLEY. While the caution was warranted, I was wondering if Simon was thinking red given the challenge. Remember who was fouled here too.


In the 61', GERRARD goes over the ball onto the knee of DEMPSEY (the goal scorer).


By the way, after these cautions, neither player committed another foul the entire match (keep in mind they still had 30' to go plus stoppage time). Not bad ... certainly got something there.


Even Harkesy when calling the match on ABC was saying after the GERRARD foul, that it changes the mindset of the defender after a caution ... the part he did not say was if the caution was the right decision, and was delivered with effect.


Finally, in the 74', FINDLEY (the recipient in the 60') finds GERRARD with a tough tackle, and yes, that too was his last foul called of the match, but I am sure wanted it to count on a guy that just really tackled one of his own.

So in looking over the cautions that Simon gave, he got something back for each and every one of them. He either got (a) that player to stop, (b) set an example for OTHER players to stop, (c) did not allow retaliation to go unpunished so there would not be more, and (d) protected the integrity of the game from silly stuff.

So, the next time you are ready to raise a caution in the air for all to see, stop and think ...

What are you going to get out of it that will help your game that day?

If the answer is nothing, don't even take it out of your pocket, it would be meaningless.

Do you know this man?

Match: ENG v. USA

If you don't, you should. His name is Carlos Simon, hails from Brazil and will be the referee for the ENG v. USA match.

Here is the whole story about the match:

Match Date: 12-JUN-2010
Match #: 5
Venue City: RUSTENBURG (RSA)
Group: C



Referee: SIMON Carlos (BRA)
Assistant Referee 1: HAUSMANN Altemir (BRA)
Assistant Referee 2: BRAATZ Roberto (BRA)
Fourth Official: MAILLET Eddy (SEY)
Reserve Assistant Referee: MENKOUANDE Evarist (CMR)

His "official" stats can be found here from FIFA.

What else do we know?
Well, this is Mr. Simon's 3rd FIFA World Cup, which by any standard is pretty amazing. He apparently is currently a journalist (some report formally), and a former trade union worker.

He has come under recent fire in Brazil for a local match between Vasco and Botafogo where, as record has it, both coaches went to the Brazilian authorities regarding his performance with the denial of an injury time penalty to one team. Also, from the last World Cup, he was sharply criticized regarding a end off of Teddy Lucic from Sweden in their second round match against Germany.

While no referee is without controversy, this man is considered one of the most seasoned Brazil has to offer, and will be a treat to watch him as he begins what is certain to be his last FIFA World Cup.

The Living Daylights

For those who have not seen the opening match of the 2010 World Cup featuring South Africa and Mexico, we were treated to a good match in all aspects, in particular was the refereeing. Irmatov, did an excellent job of ushering in the World Cup at an elevated, yet controlled pace.

One incident of note that I wanted to highlight was that at the 37:08' mark, where the Senior Assistant referee,  RAFAEL ILYASOV, made a brilliant offside call. A still of the video is below, and while hard to see, here is the gist.

The still is at the moment that the ball was flicked on by a Mexican player on the 6 yard box. It was flicked to the Mexican player inside the 6 yard box (the only one).

ESPN has a neat video technology that shades from the 2nd the last defender (remember the one that is where  we judge offside from) to the goal ... think of it as the "offside zone". Below we can see the RSA goalkeeper (wearing red) and the shaded area back to the goal, that is the "offside zone", and there is a Mexican player standing right inside of it.

It was really close though (in real time) as the amount of time for the ball to travel about 3 yards at about 40MPH is quick. Couple that with the RSA player going one way, and the MEX player going the other ... and bing, bing, we were pulling the ball out of the back of the net.

There are a couple of ways to go with this one from here (at least). One angle for later is similar to the Joyce post from before ... when should this one stand as a goal, even if offside? World Cup? Opening match? FIFA wants goals ... right?

As I teased before, I will answer this one later ... I am ducking again.

Now is the time to ask, when is even - even? Or how does one judge when a player is even with another and preclude an offside decision?

One way to think about it is if the two players are, when looking across the field, overlapping each other substantially when the ball is played. One question that is often asked, is if there is "daylight" between them, or specifically their torsos.

Simple question, impossible circumstances. This can be hard to do with everything going fast, or if you are asked to do this across the width of the field, which in this case is around 75 yards (look at the marks on the field in the still).

If you look above, or saw the match, you can see there is a bunch of "daylight" between the RSA keeper, and MEX forward that puts the ball in the net. Like I said, it was close, and moving at 100 miles an hour made it that much harder. ILYASOV got it right though, 100% in my opinion.

So when that is you running a line, and there is "daylight" between the 2nd to last defender and the attacker, with the attacker ahead of the 2nd to last defender, raise the flag if they are gaining an advantage from that position as they are offside.

It bears noting that the "experts" calling the match for ESPN got it dead wrong and really dug themselves a pretty good hole about it. It still boggles my mind that folks involved in the game at such a high level genuinely have no clue understanding one of the laws of the game that has such critical bearing on the result.

For those looking for the official match report, it can be downloaded from FIFA here.

Got your game on?

With the 2010 FIFA World Cup upon us (schedule can be found here) there are some neat media items floating around that some geeks and fans of the game alike might find interesting in keeping up to date.

This is particularly important to me as (a) I was just informed that I have to take the kids exactly during the same time that the USA's 1st match is on, and (b) I will be traveling a bit and need to be up to date about what is going on, to in part, report it here.

Some examples of good sources, to follow the World Cup on Twitter are at http://twitter.com/FIFAWorldCupTM or check out #WC2010, or #MNT for all the action!

Each of these others (and more) can be found on iTunes.

First, is the official soundtrack for the FIFA 2010 World Cup, Listen Up! Some seem to love it, some seem to hate it. Please don't shoot the messenger.

Second, is a free iPhone app from ESPN that has news and match tracking for ongoing (and possibly) played matches. There may be one for the iPad too for those who have one.

Finally, there is a free podcast from ESPN reporting on news and match events from the World Cup. Content so far is good and if you have a drive to work (like me) may be worth a listen or two, especially on match days.







How about some links? We got 'em. Check these out:
SOURCE: When Saturday Comes

World Cup College Clever lads, these. Not only do they preview the games thoughtfully, they approach football from impossible but entertaining angles too, for example looking at why Zeno's paradox means that John Terry's lack of speed won't be an issue. Sample quote: "Because we are cognitively predisposed to relate our personal circumstances to external events and occurrences, we have little difficulty developing an affinity with a group of people (that we've never met) representing us, via shared nationality, in a sporting tournament." That's why you blindly love England.

FIFA official site It may sound obvious, but FIFA's official site is, as official ones go, the full ten yards better than any of its sister sites. There are few better places for historical stats, or up-to-date news on less-covered countries like Honduras and Paraguay. Even its features bravely attempt a slightly more original angle than the mainstream media, although the prose is in that clunky territory you might generously say is aimed at a global audience. And don't expect any probing investigations of corporate backhanders. Sample quote: "This year the prize for the most original motivational approach surely goes to Japan, who rounded off their build-up in Switzerland with a visit from members of Japanese boy band Exile. During the event, Takeshi Okada's men were presented with a banner and some origami cranes in the team's colours." It will be the origami cranes wot win it.

AllAfrica.com There are, apparently, environmentally friendly vuvuzelas made out of South African seaweed – that's the kind of priceless fact you can pick up at this site devoted to the tournament's six African participants. The ugly design is ten years out of date, but again this is a good location for non-mainstream news and features in what sometimes reads like quasi-poetic, dictionary English. Sample quote: "Already the exclusion [from Nigeria's squad] of Victor Anichebe and Ikechukwu Uche is causing ripples, while that of the former has taken an international dimension with his club, Everton Football Club of England, knocking Nigeria for misinforming the world about the player's physical condition." Although the world may have just missed that story in the light of the BP oil catastrophe, the perpetually jittery financial markets and Israel's attack on the Turkish aid ship heading for Gaza.

Got more? Send them along and we'll post them here.

History Repeating Itself?

So on my way to work this morning bombing down I-95 in Providence, I saw this sign. The little one on the left (sorry about the rainy shot).

Now I am a fan of sport (in general) and can understand the inclusion of 1950 and obviously 2010 on the banner ... but 1776?

Is Saturday a prelude to war?

One person that may be thinking so is Carlos Simon, the referee. One way he might handle it is through the use of misconducts. Look at the following AP article for some thought on what we may see ...

Card shark: Ref for England-US loves yellow
Source: AP

We may need this ...

In poking around the FIFA site I ran across the "Official Documents" Section. It can be found here.

All the documents looked interesting, two of which caught my eye right away and figured I would share.


First, is the 2010 FIFA World Cup Fan Guide (download here).

The second is the FIFA Disciplinary Code (download here).

I have to believe we will get good use out of both in the month ahead.

US Soccer Referee Directive: Dissent (Viewer Warning - Explicit Language)

Hey Rooney, F*%@ you too! This may have been the thought of the referee the other night when England played a friendly against Platinum Stars and was mercilessly berated for his efforts.

Recently guardian.co.uk reported on an incident of a foul mouthed Wayne Rooney during a "friendly" in South Africa that have lead some to paint him as a target to get sent off by inciting him to eruptive dissent. From the cited story, "The USA, England's first opponents on Saturday, have already suggested they might play on Rooney's perceived fragile temperament with this an indication that the player can be on edge. "Rooney insulted me," said Selogilwe. "He said: 'Fuck you.' He is a good player when you see him on the television, but when you see him on the pitch he just keeps on insulting the referee."

So lets get local about this ... what do you do when you are faced with dissent?

Remember we were talking about all these neat memorandum and position papers being online for the world to see at US Soccer. Well, here (.pdf download) is the one for dissent. It is a good read in spots, in particular it goes into the three reasons why dissent must be managed. From the memo:

• Erodes the authority of the referee;
• Reduces the enjoyment of other participants and spectators; and
• Can spread if left unchecked.

Further it goes into what three elements can be considered when determining an action for dissent. Again from the memo:

• Public

• Personal

• Provocative

Now, while the LOTG require a caution when dissent occurs, there is a subjective element when one referee feels that threshold has been breached. It can change under the circumstances, even in the same match.

Lets take some examples to illustrate these points.

In a Saturday match somewhere in Podunk USA, a player misses a shot in a one goal game and immediately after shouts "Oh (insert favorite one or two word explicative here)".

Dissent? Lets think ...

Does it erode authority of the referee or match control? Probably not.

Does it affect the enjoyment of the match for all? Probably not.

Can it spread? Probably not.

Was it public? You bet - everyone heard it.

Was it personal? No.

Was it provocative such that others will be incited by the matter? Doubt it.

Is it dissent and therefore deserves a caution? I don't think so. Just some frustration. I would probably respond by publicly jogging over and having a quiet word, maybe not even about the explicative, just to show some presence and acknowledge publicly that I will deal with it.

How about this one. In a Saturday match somewhere in Podunk USA, a foul occurs and immediately after shouts "Oh ref, that (insert favorite one or two word explicative here)".

Ask yourself the same questions as above, what did you get?

How about now. In a Saturday match somewhere in Podunk USA, a foul occurs and immediately after shouts "Oh ref, YOU (insert favorite one or two word explicative here)".

How about this. In a Saturday match somewhere in Podunk USA, a foul occurs and immediately after shouts "Oh ref, YOU (insert one minute trade without and foul language here)".

Same answer? I don't think so. I may be able to excuse the first as frustration, but the second is getting personal, and if done openly, loudly, and publicly, for me likely gets a caution. The third gets a caution. If a player can not calm himself down after a short period of time, he needs help to do so.

Last one. In a Saturday match somewhere in Podunk USA, a foul occurs and immediately after shouts "Oh ref, YOU'RE MOM (or other relative) (insert favorite one or two word explicative here)".

Here, they are done, send them home for foul and abusive language. Something so personal regardless of loud, soft, public, or not must be dealt with. To not do so invites big trouble. Get rid of that player or coach, the game does not need them, and neither do you.

There are lots of ways to dealt with these issues before they even become issues, and the position paper lists these well and we will deal with these later as well. Here is one now. Do some homework. Case in point:

Look at what the USA is planning, to make Rooney pop. Get him under a caution and you neutralize him for part of the match. Send him off and get a huge advantage.

Do you think Mr. Simon is thinking about this leading up to his match on Saturday?

Bet on it.

We'll watch together how he deals with it.

Thank you all!

Over the last couple of days I have been overwhelmed with the number of folks reaching out as kicking-back gets off the ground.

Thank you all for your time in reaching out, and for the kind words, and insights into history from you all.

Please keep them coming! I can be reached here with comments, questions and suggestions as to where our blog should go.

Show me the money!!

I caught an article the other day where this very satirical cartoon of Joseph "Sepp" Blatter, President of FIFA came from. It goes into some interesting detail about how much money FIFA is theoretically going to make in the 2010 World Cup. This article from playthegame.org, estimates FIFA will make between $3.2B and $4B (yes Billion with a B) over the course of the tournament.


Now a disclaimer, and it is above and beyond the Legal Stuff disclaimer. I am not knocking FIFA for making money, and I certainly do not agree with everything the linked web site states about this, or some other topics they report on. I have spent a significant amount of my life attempting to attain membership into this organization as a referee, and if really lucky I may be able to do so via another avenue someday. So believe me when I say, I am not knocking them.

It did get my wheels spinning however regarding the inflection point of money and refereeing at the local levels. For the remainder of this post, please ignore the professional level on up. It is a given that money plays a role and just how much we will explore sometime later. For now it is worth exploring to the youth and amateur referee some places where money plays a role.

So think about your local matches on Saturday. What does money have to do with them? Well, I live in a town that has a really nice athletic complex, and to offset that cost, there is a fee that we pay, per player, per registration. So I have sunk several hundred dollars into each of my little cherubs before they even get to the field. When they get there, I really appreciate when a referee shows up, on time, and in a uniform, any uniform.

This has nothing to do with their competency as an official, it has nothing to do with being fair or that little Jimmy and Jenny are having fun. It has to do (for some) with, I paid for this? 

Sounds harsh huh ... it is. This is a whole new level of being judged for a referee ... a monetary one.

Here is another one for you.

So State Cups are going on in just about every state right now, and from there some will earn a spot to their Regionals, and for a very few from there, the Youth Nationals. Guess who is at these tournaments ...

College recruiters.

Did you know that a private college these days costs about $26,000 per year?

That is insane.

What may be even more insane is the large number of high school players that are competing for the small pool of scholarship monies, and the lengths parents will go to make sure their kids get a shot at it. There is a reasonable argument that this is something good parents do while not taken to the extreme. [One day I will relate the story about a local youth meeting I was in where a mother jumped to her feet and exclaimed, and I mean *EXCLAIMED*, that her daughter was going to be the next Mia Hamm. Her daughter was 5 and the mom's complaint was about how poor the coaching was at that level ... no BS, true story]  If I am ever faced with the situation I will let you know what I decide as as I sit here tonight writing this, I can't say with certainty what I would do.

So what else is at stake in such matches?

Coaches jobs.

Yep, even some youth club coaches do exceedingly well for a salary and losing a Regional Championship match may be a ticket to getting fired. That was tough to get my head around at first. Here I was 19 or so years old and I was told that a coach could lose a job because of my decisions.

It was a lot to consider back then.

My only though is be aware of it at the level you are refereeing at. For the referees in South Africa now, their country is on their shoulders and that weight is far more than someone losing their job. In some cases it can be much, much more. (Remember Andrés Escobar?) From there it trickles down ... all the way down to that 6 v. 6 match in the park on Saturday morning.

Doesn't mean as referees you should change a thing for this reason, certainly not any calls. It is just something else to be aware of and think about when you are out there.

Was that blog, or Blago?

From the real to the unreal.

So, lots of folks have blog out there that say a bunch of neat things, and some covering topics that are, well, interesting. For anyone who has been following the tweets about the US National Team, there was a tweet today from USSOCCER  that pointed to the MNT Blog. For those of us who are ex-players, or just want to get a glimpse into what is going on, this is a good place. Particularly right now when the boys are in South Africa.

Here is another fun one from US Youth Soccer on an incredible array of topics that some will find interesting for certain.

A Bove Majori Discit Arare Minor

In memory of Stephen A. Kokolski.
June 8, 2010 - 11 years departed.








Applications for the Stephen A. Kokolski Memorial Scholarship Fund continue to be accepted. Any registered soccer referee who is pursuing a degree in engineering as a freshman or current college student are eligible for an award. Request an application by writing to: Scholarship Fund. 70 Oak Point, Wrentham, MA 02093.


Donations are also still being received and are warmly appreciated. These also may be sent to: Scholarship Fund. 70 Oak Point, Wrentham, MA 02093.

Take me out to the ball game ... what ... wait a minute

Fenway Park to host soccer game July 21

The Boston Red Sox have announced that Fenway Park will host an exhibition soccer game between Celtic FC of the Scottish Premier League and Sporting Clube de Portugal, commonly called "Sporting," on July 21.

The Fenway Football Challenge will be the 19th soccer game at Fenway, but the first since 1968. It will be broadcast live on NESN, with kickoff at 8 p.m.

Tickets ($20-$120) will go on sale at noon on June 22 at tickets.com.

Story courtesy of Boston.com

Run Forrest ... RUN!

A very interesting article regarding Brian Hall's training for the 2002 World Cup, and World Cup refereeing fitness generally from CNN's Heath pages.

(CNN) -- For two years leading up to the World Cup, Brian Hall exercised four hours almost every day. ...