Anyone catch the error in FIFA's post?

A few days ago, I posted a "By the Numbers" article from FIFA here.

Eagle eye JAFO picked up a pretty glaring error in the posting by FIFA. Not a little thing like an incorrect spelling of a word or two, but a serious error that I have since reached out to FIFA about (lets see what they will do).

Can anyone find it?

Comment below and lets see what we have ...

Say WHAT!?!?

So here is a funny story for you regarding just what an impact small gestures and non-verbal communication have.

Over this last week or so I have had the pleasure to be sitting at a bar review class, specifically for those who wish to practice before the USPTO in matters of patent law. The only way to be admitted for practice is through a brutal exam (the "Patent Bar") that spits up and chews out about 50% of those who take it and has done so year on year in varying degrees for some time now.

This class (by PLI) was held at Suffolk University School of Law in downtown Boston, a truly beautiful setting and school. So instead of trying to commute for these days, about an hour each way, just to sit in class for about (11) hours a day, I stayed in town nearby.

So about 7:30 in the morning I was walking to class on a Thursday and was passing by the Omni Parker House (a nice place if you get the chance to visit) and there was a very nice sedan there with a driver waiting to pick up someone. It was clear the driver's client was about to arrive as he was waiting there, door open, very attentive and ready to go. I admit I slowed my pace just a little to see who was going to pop out of the Omni ... I am a little bit of a voyeur, and while not a "star watcher", I am a people watcher and looked to see what would develop.

What happened next was not what I would have expected.

A meter man (masculine of maid) sauntered by and caught the eye of the driver who was illegally parked, albeit for the legitimate reason of waiting for his fare. The next exchange was priceless.

Meter man looked at Driver ... Driver pointed at the open door indicating his fare was imminent ... Meter man  tapped his citation book ... Driver closed the door and drove off. Not a single word was spoken.

It was fantastic. I think I audibly said "wow" too. Yes, I am a dork.

Now, am I suggesting that tapping your pocket where you keep your caution is a good mechanic to warn a player? No, I am not. In fact I particularly dislike that mechanic personally, but have seen it used with effect.

What I am saying is that when you have an understanding with a player, or a team, a lot of talk may mean nothing, a simple gesture may get it done without more. A palm in the "stop" position is a very powerful hand signal, and usually gets the point across even without a word.

Next time you are out, focus on your NON-VERBAL communication and see what you can accomplish without saying a word. By doing this, you are quietly building your arsenal of ways to help control a match using a minimalist approach.

Like with other things in life, starting small and working your way up leaves you options if you need them later. If all goes well however, the "worst" non-verbal cue you'll need, is a smile. =)

World Cup Alphabet Soup

Well it has been a week since the final, and to be honest I feel a little, empty. Here is an A - Z look at World Cup 2010 to hopefully fill some of that void.

A Look Back At World Cup 2010: From A to Z

And like that…. It’s gone. Thirty days. Sixty-four matches that yielded 145 goals. Thirty-two nations. One Champion.

Another World Cup has come and gone, leaving hundreds of heart-stopping memorable moments in its wake. For the casual fan, you’ll have to wait four more agonizing years to get your fix again. For more ardent soccer fans, have no fear: The EPL starts up next month as Chelsea looks to defend its title. And with the natural shakeup and transfer activity, who’s the favorite to win the UEFA Champions League?

OK, enough about that. Let’s take a look back at the moments that will forever be etched in our memories from the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. From A to Z.

Full story continues here, courtesy of the San Diego News Network.

World Cup afterthoughts

The party is over and the World Cup has left South Africa, and generally the reviews have been very good. FIFA president, Sepp Blatter, praised South Africa’s efforts in hosting this year’s World Cup by giving them nine out of 10.


Praise for World Cup hosts
Before leaving Johannesburg, Blatter gave “Big compliments to South Africa and to the people of this country. Also, big compliments to the South African government for meeting all the guarantees they made for the successful organisation of the World Cup” writes the Daily Dispatch.

South African officials are also very pleased with the tournament. At a news conference, President Zuma stated that “"We are sure that the investment we have made will contribute to increased tourism, trade and investment. This will ultimately create new opportunities and bring in the revenue for us to address social challenges."

The South African transport minister, Sibusiso Ndebele, praised transport operators for their efforts in ensuring smooth transportation for all during the World Cup, and stated that an improved public transportation system will be one of the key legacies of the tournament, writes the Mail & Guardian.

Before the start of the tournament, the media spent a lot of time writing about the South African crime rate and the dangers football fans and journalists would encounter by going there. However, heavy investment in security meant that South Africa managed to host an almost problem free World Cup.

A poll conducted among 400 South Africans even shows that 85% of South Africans now have more hope for a positive future for all South Africans than they did before the tournament, writes Sport24. 

Actually, the tournament ran so smoothly that it has actually caused problems for President Zuma, raising expectations that his government can meet a series of unfulfilled promises in the same bold fashion, writes IoL.

The media seems to agree with Sepp Blatter that South Africa did a great job in hosting the World Cup

Critical voices asks questions
But, of course the critical voices who were there before the World Cup are still posing difficult questions now. The cost of the preparations soared while new stadia were built instead of renovating existing ones, and people ask whether this kind of spending on one event is economically responsible in a country where so many people live in poverty.

Questions about South Africa’s actual economic gain have resounded again and again since before the start of the tournament, and the brand value and the legacy left by tournament will take years to measure, argues Dr Udesh Pillay in the New York Times.

But the one who arouses the main part of the critical voices is FIFA. They have been declared the big winners of the World Cup, claiming $ 3.3 billion in television rights and marketing revenue, and have throughout the tournament been criticized for their strict marketing policies, for keeping local traders far away from the steady earnings they would get around the stadia, for not paying taxes in South Africa and for basically taking over the country.

Comments from the media
Business Day’s Paul Hoffman argues in the article "Beneath the glow of Fifa’s untaxed empire" that “Gratitude for cracking the nod from FIFA to host it should not blind the South African public to the less attractive features of the World Cup — those for which FIFA is responsible.”

Also Marina Hyde from the Guardian looks critically at the power FIFA exerts over its host countries. “We already knew FIFA could trump a medium-sized government. What South Africa underlined was the fact that FIFA can trump constitutional rights, cementing the organisation's status as a sort of travelling oligarchy, enjoying all the benefits of power with none of the disadvantages, like having to provide healthcare or be remotely accountable”, she writes in her article "Sepp Blatter's slick patter sticks in South Africa's craw".

South African cartoonist Zapiro has throughout the tournament produced comical sketches giving a critical comment  the World Cup. With his cartoon, "The Holy FIFA Empire", he shows Sepp Blatter controlling the whole world while calling the roman emperors, the rulers of the British empire and Genghis Kahn amateurs.

On Indyweek.com, Chris Gaffney comments, in the article "Brazil 2014: Looking back, looking forward, going nowhere here", on FIFA’s way of managing events like these, looking ahead at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. “South Africans really were wonderful hosts, spending public money freely so that the Swiss-based monolith could rake in a record profit. It won’t take long for FIFA to count their US$3.3 billion in revenues (for the month); it will take South Africa many decades to pay off the party” he writes.

And unless something changes radically, the same future lies ahead for Brazil he argues. “The World Cup and Olympics need to be massively reconfigured, re-scaled and re-thought, or they will continue to destroy environments, economies, communities and lives around the globe.”

Story credit to Playthegame.org.

Veterans' Cup Descends on Lancaster

The Veterans’ Cup is the Adult Association’s annual tournament for teams with players over age 30. There are teams in brackets all the way up to an Over 60 division, and they come from all over the country to compete for the trophy. There are even teams from Japan and South Africa. There are no playoffs to determine who gets here. Any team that wants to pay the fee can play. This year it is taking place in Lancaster and runs through Sunday.

Many players take their annual vacations from work just to play at this event. They have a good spirit, are mature enough to know that they are lucky to still be competing, and enjoy it for what it is. The games are full length, with added time and overtime if necessary in the knockout rounds. The players are older and do not move as fast as they once did. However they still remember how to play. They are talented, and include some former professionals such as Mike Burns and Jay Heaps, among many others.

The biggest complaint heard about the refereeing was about referees not taking the game or the players seriously enough. This complaint was heard more often from the women’s teams. After a slide tackle in a Women’s Over 50 game, one referee asked, “Why are you doing that at your age?” Not the best thing to say. Fortunately these kinds of incidents were not heard very often, and there were many more positive comments than negative ones.

The real challenge of refereeing at this tournament is not keeping up with play or even recognizing fouls. It is learning to manage adult players who have a different motivation for playing. They are not kids any more. They play with pain, and they have to get up to go work on Monday. They play for the camaraderie and to suspend, even if only for 90 minutes, the reality of their inexorable march toward middle-age and the day they cannot play any more. They are looking for a little respect.

The referees overall did very well. They come from all over the country too. It has been hot this week. Hot weather separates the men from the boys. It also separates the women from the men. As the morning overcast layer burned off and the temperature climbed, it seemed the men started showing the effects. They looked a little haggard in the referee tent, and walking to and from the fields. Meanwhile the women seemed to suffer no ill effects. The strong survive, and the others wilt.

Soccer is life.

Being the numbers guy I am ...

Here is an interesting article from FIFA that details the 2010 World Cup "by the numbers".

Full article here, courtesy of FIFA.

Holy Orange Batmam

No comment from me, but worth reading here, courtesy of ESPN.

Thank You Readers!

Number of days: 30
Number of hits: A few thousand

Being able to get some good conversation going around the world from FIFA referees to the in town volunteer linesman: Priceless.

Thanks to all of you for making that possible!

PAUL HOFFMAN: Beneath the glow of Fifa’s untaxed empire

THE general euphoria and feelings of thankfulness following the 2010 World Cup have seemingly precluded anyone from now assessing Fifa’s role in the tournament. Gratitude for cracking the nod from Fifa to host it should not blind the South African public to the less attractive features of the World Cup — those for which Fifa is responsible.

On the field, these manifested themselves in palpable unfairness in the decision making for which Fifa’s match officials are responsible. Fifa claims they got it right 96% of the time. The problem is that when they got it wrong, they did so spectacularly. As a consequence of refereeing errors, it can be argued that England bowed out early and Mexico lost a match it could have drawn. Fifa president Sepp Blatter apologised, but whether corrective action is taken remains to be seen.

Had Fifa put in place a simple review system using modern technology, a far fairer outcome was easily achievable. There has been a chorus of criticism of the antiquated way in which the process of adjudication of the matches is still carried out 10 years into the 21st century. If Fifa does not take steps to improve this situation soon, one can expect to hear cynics claim there are murkily suspicious reasons for keeping the current system of refereeing in place.

It is, however, off the field that Fifa’s role is open to even more criticism. The process by which Fifa selects the country in which the tournament is held every four years is both opaque and unaccountable.

Full article continues here at Business Day.

Refeerees Get an "A" in World Cup 2010

Referees were right 96 percent of the time at the World Cup, according to a study by FIFA's referees' committee.

The study looked at key decisions such as free kicks, penalties and goal decisions but did not examine minor rulings such as throw-ins.

The data was collected by video examination carried out by referees committee members and FIFA instructors, Jose Maria Garcia-Aranda, head of refereeing for the sport's governing body, told Reuters.

Full story continues here, courtesy of Reuters.

Gotta love Wikipedia ... Unless your Sepp

See why here courtesy of ESPN.

Veterans Cup - here we come

I head for Veterans Cup tomorrow and will endeavor to keep up Pete's standard of reporting. I attended the Referee meeting on Tuesday and my take away from the meeting was "this may not be the World Cup but a lot of people have spent a lot of money to attend. Approach these games with respect and professionalism"

Football + Money == World Cup in the US

U.S. World Cup bid for 2018 gets boost

The 2010 World Cup is history today, leaving behind a checkered legacy.

This latest World Cup was not the international draw FIFA and South Africa had hoped it would be, and fans worldwide saw tracts of empty seats throughout the Cup.

But what was bad news for FIFA and SAWOC might turn out to be very good news for the United States’ hopes of landing either the 2018 or 2022 World Cup. Because this past World Cup failed to meet financial expectations, the United States -- which no one doubts can sell can sell out every World Cup game -- suddenly looks like an even more attractive option.

Full story here, courtesy of Fox Sports.

Side by side analysis of WC Final is up on www.massref.net

Check it out here.

Full unedited versions will be posted here at Kicking Back in the days ahead.

Unsung hero award: Héctor Vergara

The other day I was gently reminded by a comment here (thank you CWY2190) of the storied career of this man, Héctor Vergara (FIFA bio here).

His contribution to GER v. URU in the 3rd place match was his third game as an assistant referee at the 2010 World Cup and with the appearance, Vergara will set a FIFA record for most World Cup games as a combination of referee and assistant referee with 14.

A FIFA referee since 1993, Vergara has quite a list of laurels to his name including the following:

International Tournaments Refereed

• 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa
• 2010 FIFA World Cup Qualification Matches
• 2010 UAE Games
• 2009 FIFA Club World Cup
• 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup
• 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany
• 2006 FIFA World Cup Qualification Matches
• 2005 FIFA Club World Cup Japan 2005
• 2004 FIFA Athens Olympic Games
• 2004 FIFA Athens Olympic Qualifying Tournament - Mexico
• 2004 FIFA Toyota U-23 International Tournament - Qatar
• 2003 Football Confederation (CONCACAF) Gold Cup - Mexico
• 2002 FIFA World Cup Korea/Japan
• 2002 FIFA World Cup Korea/Japan Qualification Matches
• 2002 Football Confederation (CONCACAF) Gold Cup
• 2001 FIFA U-20 World Youth Championship
• 2000 Olympic CONCACAF Qualifying Tournament
• 1999 CONCACAF Club Championship
• 1998 FIFA World Cup France Qualification Matches
• 1995 FIFA U-17 World Championship
• 1993 FIFA U-17 World Championship

FIFA Referee Profile 2004

• 1999 CONCACAF US Cup
• 1998 CONCACAF U-20 World Championship Qualification Tournament
• 1998 CONCACAF Caribbean Shell Cup
• 1997 CONCACAF US Cup

This will be Vergara’s last World Cup for certain, and perhaps his final elite matches. He’ll turn 44 in December, and as we know FIFA’s mandatory retirement age is 45. In addition to the above, he has worked 130 internationals, and now 14 of these at the World Cup, breaking a record.

Like almost all of his colleagues, this is a part-time dream as his day job is executive director of the Manitoba Soccer Association. Recently he stated in a recent interview with a Canadian newspaper, “I just want to make my family and friends proud.”. Well sir, I do believe you have accomplished that, and so much more.

More than 50 World Cup fans killed in terrorist attacks

A sad story indeed, and a facet of the world we live in today.

Bombers Kill More Than 50 in Attacks in Uganda Capital

KAMPALA, Uganda — At least three bombs exploded Sunday in a synchronized attack on large gatherings of World Cup soccer fans watching the televised final on outdoor screens in this normally peaceful capital, turning a boisterous night of cheering into scenes of death and panic. The police and witnesses said more than 50 people were killed, including some foreigners, among them at least one American.

Full story here, courtesy of the New York Times.

A programming note ...

Real life gets in the way again.

While many of you will be serving at Veterans Cup this week and weeks end, I have the dubious pleasure of attending a bar review class in Boston for the rest of the week and the weeks end. My access and time will be limited, so I have a series of posts and re-posts for you all that are of mostly World Cup flavor that I found interesting.

I will be checking in and may find the time to post additional information, and certainly will find time to monitor comments from the existing posts (you guys are burning up the latest post on Webb). Also, as soon as the massref post comes out, I will link to it here too as that I am sure will get the juices flowing. Also, on my return I have permission to post the full and unedited versions here for your reading pleasure.

For those at the Veterans Cup, any updates from the fields are appreciated, and I am sure we will be hearing from JAFO, Nigel, and maybe a Kicking Back guest contributor that was just over in South Africa and is writing furiously about the sights, sounds, and politics of the World Cup. Stand by for that one, it looks good!

I wonder what Newton thought?

Well friends, now comes the hard work. Work where we take apart a match and see what we as referees could have done differently, or better.

As before I am not going to share an opinion here about how Webb did specifically. I will reserve this one for a piece I am writing side by side with a National coach that will be posted on www.massref.net in the days ahead breaking down the final (report here). Today, I will ask a simple question, with what I believe is a very complex answer.

Do the laws of physics change for matches like these? In other words is a foul in a "regular game" the same as a foul in a "big game"? Should these matches be called the same way?

Take the following example:
I was sitting in Fat Patty's last week with the whole Region I crew after a steamy week of matches. We were having lunch and watching the URU v. NED match (report here). At one point in time, a NED player bicycled a kick and cracked a URU player in the mouth. Almost immediately there were cries of "RED CARD", "SEND HIM OFF". In reply there were cries of "WHAT, ARE YOU KIDDING? THIS IS THE WORLD CUP".

Now here was a group of very experienced referees who saw the same incident and came to two very different conclusions. Some, wanted to apply the laws as they exist and deal with the player for what they did. Others saw the pageantry in the match and just assume let the player off with a caution. What is a referee to do?

I would opine this is an untenable position for a referee at times. While the referee is certainly charged with applying the Laws of the Game in Law 5, and is also impliedly charged with upholding the Spirit of the Game, where are referees charged with upholding the pageantry of the Game? When is a foul not a foul, or a misconduct not a misconduct for the entertainment value of the game?

Granted I am oversimplifying an extraordinarily complex answer at levels such as the World Cup. I do believe however these answers become simpler the further down the "food chain" the match is. Let me use it as a spring board to make a point about matches we do everyday.

With the incident above from the World Cup final, I believe Webb painted himself into an untenable corner. For those players in that match, the bar was set that the foul in the above picture was a caution. So anything up to and including repeat offenses of this foul would receive no more than a caution. I believe the players responded accordingly in this match.

Take the incident local now. Would you allow this as a caution? Why or why not? As a referee you must always be aware of what the "tone" or "level" the match is at. There is a line that you draw as referee that if players dance over it, action must be taken. Depending how far over the line they go, will dictate the response from the referee.

A minor incursion may provoke only a mild rebuke, a look, a quiet word. A more substantial one, an "ass chewing" or misconduct. Go way over the line, and you have little choice in the matter. As referee, YOU set where that line is and how to deal with folks who go over it. Note that the line can and does change from match to match, and can even change within a match depending on how things are going. Sometimes the players need the ball taken away ... sometimes they need the ball more.

Understand that the tools you have such as cautions and send offs give cues to the players as to where that line is, and what the "tone" of the match will be. Players are looking for these cues from you, just like you as referee are looking for cues from players. Work with the players to help them understand where your "line" is, and your match management will show well for it.

Do I believe the laws of physics change for matches such as the World Cup Final? Yes I do. But I also believe that all the way up to that point everyone did just fine with the Laws as they were meant to apply. For a match, this single match, to contort the Laws, and the person charged to apply them, certainly did defy physics. History should remind us however, as it did here, that funny results can occur if we defy the Laws of Nature, and the Game.

Looks like quite a party

Spain's World Cup victory parade, in pictures:
Full post is here, courtesy of the BBC.

HBS + World Cup == World Cup Leadership Lessons

Very interesting article here, courtesy of the Harvard Business School.
Kudos to Dennis McCarthy for tweeting this one.