Instant replay?

Kicking Back Comments: Take a look at the story below ... it is actually pretty interesting. The first half rails about the FIFA presidential elections and how corrupt they are. Nothing new there folks.

The second part however has some quotes from various EPL coaches and a fan. What astounds me in reading these and doing further research on the topic, is there seems to be an idea that things will be made "right" by the use of replay and other technology.

Now, I have stated that I personally am not a fan of replay or goal line technology. Tools to help referees communicate batter (e.g. radios), you bet, I am a BIG fan of that. Anything beyond that puts us on the slippery slope however. I am failing to see however why the use of technology corrects all THE game's "wrongs" as seen by ... well just about everyone.

One analogy is in the NFL where review is used fairly sparingly. Are we really going to allow Sir Alex and his ilk to openly challenge a referee decision by (as the NFL does) tossing a red flag into the pitch? To what end? He will then argue THAT decision if it does not go his way, as he generally does today. Note further, this is for the "clear" incidents ... but as we know, THE game is generally a world of grey when it comes to Law 12.

Long story short, technology is a wonderful thing that can solve many problems as it has in general society and industry. Comments from the below article continue to solidify the though in me that the use of such technology to "assist" in adjudication of a match will cause more problems, and not solve the one it was intended to solve. A classic case of the law of unintended consequences.

Alan Green: Fifa will keep on stalling over video evidence

Late last week the President of the Asian Football Confederation, Mohammed Bin Hammam, announced that he’d be standing against Sepp Blatter in the Fifa elections on June 1. I wouldn’t get your hopes up.

For a start, he’s so much against the head of world football that he campaigned on Blatter’s behalf in the last two elections and, far from delivering a radical and detailed plan to re-design Fifa — an essential you’d think — and the sport as a whole, Bin Hammam’s announcement was couched only in vague promises. ...

See the complete story here, courtesy of the Belfast Telegraph.

Cute, but not helpful

Take a look here at Don Garber and Sunil Gulati's  recent comments (or complete duck) regarding the FIFA presidential elections.

While both in their own way clearly decided to stay away from the controversy, my question is, why? While Gulati does cite that "Chuck Blazer have got us represented ..." (sic), why not get on board with someone?

Besides, Chuck does not represent the US explicitly, he represents CONCACAF. Now I can see why Mr. Garber would take a pass as while he certainly has a dog in the fight, it proxies through Mr. Gulati.

I can't fathom why Gulati took a pass. He is there to lead ... so please lead Mr. president. Take a stand. Worse case is we get shunned from the football world if you back the wrong guy. Not sure how it can get too much worse ... but I would think we would be willing to get behind someone and take a risk.

Fight, fight, fight !!!

Kicking Backs Comments: You know it's not good when you start with something like this: 

"FIFA will be doomed if Hammam became the president," Velappan told The Associated Press. "It would be very detrimental."

Blatter ally slams Mohamed bin Hammam's FIFA presidency bid

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — A former top official of the Asian Football Confederation slammed Mohamed bin Hammam on Monday for challenging Sepp Blatter for the FIFA presidency, saying the organization would be "doomed" if the Qatari wins.

Peter Velappan, a Blatter ally who was the AFC's general secretary from 1978 to 2007, said bin Hammam's pledge to bring "new blood" into the leadership of world football was "the joke of the century."

The Malaysian's comments underscore bitter divisions that could increasingly become public following last week's announcement by bin Hammam, the current AFC president, that he would run to replace the 75-year-old Blatter.

"FIFA will be doomed if Hammam became the president," Velappan told The Associated Press. "It would be very detrimental." ...

See the full story here, courtesy of the Canadian Press.

Presidential Politics

World Football in Focus - Warner the Kingmaker in FIFA Presidency Battle

(WFI) Controversial CONCACAF president Jack Warner has emerged as the key powerbroker in the battle to win the FIFA presidency.

Warner controls 35 of the 208 federations who will decide the next FIFA president at its congress in Zurich in June, and sources with knowledge of FIFA politics have indicated that he is the key figure in the electoral race. CONCACAF have indicated this week that they will likely vote as a bloc. ...

See the full article here, courtesy of World Football Insider.

Kicking Back Comments: My favorite quote in the article is this:

In a nutshell, Bin Hammam proposes giving huge amounts of FIFA power to confederation heads. The plan, according to one FIFA insider, is “to appeal to the vanity of confederation heads, such as Warner.”

Just classic stuff. What was that tweet from @fakesepp? Oh yeah.

You get what you get, and you don't get upset

Sir Alex Ferguson hit with five-match touchline ban by FA

Sir Alex Ferguson has been banned from the touchline for Manchester United's next five matches and will have to watch the FA Cup semi-final from the stands after being found guilty of improper conduct at a Football Association hearing.

Ferguson has also been fined £30,000 after the FA decided to take a hardline stance over his decision to fight the charge rather than accept he had gone too far in his criticisms of the referee Martin Atkinson after the defeat at Chelsea earlier this month. ...

See the full story here, courtesy of guardian.co.uk.

Kicking Back Comments: When do we think MLS will take a similar stance in protecting its referees from similar untoward barbs from MLS players and coaches?

Another FIFA investigation on the horizon?

From the NYT:

Player Claims of Beating and Threats: A soccer player from Montenegro who fell out of favor with his Russian club said he was beaten into terminating his contract by armed men and feared for his life. A team executive dismissed the claim as “pure idiocy.” Nikola Nikezic, who played for Kuban Krasnodar in the Russian Premier League, outlined what happened in a letter to Sepp Blatter, FIFA’s president.

MLS: Year 16

MLS heads into 2011 season bullish over its future

Just nine years ago, MLS commissioner Don Garber made the difficult decision of eliminating two of the league’s 12 teams. Major League Soccer was on shaky ground, with the future of the six-year-old league looking very much in doubt.

Fast forward to today. MLS is set to begin its 16th season with 18 teams, two of which will be making their debuts in the Pacific Northwest. Where there was once just one soccer-specific stadium in MLS, now there are stadiums across the country and another will open in the Kansas City market this summer. ...

See the full story here, courtesy of Fox Sports.

Kicking Back Comments: An interesting article to be sure. I'll be honest with you, the first year the league came to be when I was working in it, I though, and actually said out loud to some, that I expected MLS to last 10 years tops and then collapse under its own financial weight. I am glad I was wrong.

While I believe THE professional and international game is still stagnating in the US, it is not without significant effort on the part of MLS and its owners to keep a professional league going for this amount of time. Previous to this was the NASL of 'ole which survived 17 years (source), a far cry from the other professional leagues of the modern day, such as the A-League, or WUSA.

Without these business leaders and owners, I would opine, we as referees would be ill equipped and likely not even considered for participating on the world's stage. I'll be one of the first to say that there are some facets of the business side of sport that are unseemly to me, but the bottom line is we could not be successful without these business aspects. We as referees need at the very least, to acknowledge that fact ... and to be successful at the professional level, embrace it.

Baharmast Selected for 2011 NASO Gold Whistle Award

*** NASO PRESS RELEASE ***

RACINE, Wis. — Esse Baharmast, a 1998 World Cup referee and 1997 MLS referee of the year, was selected by the National Association of Sports Officials (NASO) as the recipient of its 2011 Gold Whistle Award.

“Esse Baharmast represents all the qualities of professionalism in officiating,” said NASO President Barry Mano. “His personal ethic, his hard work and his caring about the officiating community is without parallel. When he was on the pitch, his conduct and capability brought a special credibility to the match. Away from the game itself his influence has been even greater. He teaches, mentors and helps other officials excel. He has a unique talent for that. Esse represents officiating in a way that makes every one of us proud. He is such a credit to our industry.” ...

See the complete NASO press release archives here. Previous recipients of the award can be found here.

Kicking Back Comments: Esse is certainly one of the great referees of our time. Based on his resume and accomplishments is certainly deserving of this laurel.

 Special thanks to C.W. Rice for bringing this forward.

A tip of my cap to the classics

Image courtesy of Mere Cie

For those who read the comments here at Kicking Back, you are often times treated to some cunning insight from folks, and at times very personal exchanges.

I can assure you the folks who put up comments and those in return from me are straight from the heart.

In a recent exchange with refereeing guru, Wally Russell, I learned that he is one of the very few US importers of Balilla, B&D, and Acme whistles.

He recently shared one of the great truths about referees and their art:

If we budgeted more time to reading and correcting body language and listening to and perfecting nuanced whistles tones for effect and match control, our performance as referees would evolve limitlessly....

Just think about that for a second and ask yourself, is how you are refereeing causing ripples in the water? This is a topic we have, and will continue to tackle in the future.

Guru Russell spent many late night hours over chicken fingers and Risk, slowly smoothing out my rocky shores, talking about these and many other issues. For that help and perspective I am forever grateful.

It has been said that a "Balilla is the Maserati of whistles." I would agree as that is what I have used throughout my career, and continue to use to this day. I find there is nothing like it.

As spring approaches and your are in need of a new whistle and appropriate lanyard or chain, stop by Mere Cie. You will not be disappointed with the tremendous selection of classic whistles.

What an endorsement!!

As some may know Mohamed bin Hammam is ready to take on Sepp Blatter against in June for the presidency of FIFA.

There may be some skeletons in his closet however that may be an issue. From Guardian:

FIFA EX-COM VP Chung Mong-joon stating that Bin Hammam represented "a serious lack of transparency, democracy and rule of law". "I am afraid that he behaves like a mentally ill man …"

... and a ringing endorsement from a friend.

... standing by Bin Hammam in 2009: Indonesia's FA president Nurdin Halid – twice allowed by Bin Hammam's Asian Football Confederation to run his FA from inside prison while serving time for embezzling humanitarian aid. Halid: "Mr Hammam has my full support. His vision is second to none!"

I don't know what is worse. The devil you know, or the one you don't.

See the whole story here, courtesy of  guardian.co.uk.

Slow on the uptake?

Fifa denies it was slow to deal with fixing fears

Fifa has denied being slow to react to fears that two international friendly matches were being targeted by match fixers.

The games between Bolivia and Latvia and Estonia and Bulgaria are now the subject of an investigation by the world governing body, who have opened disciplinary proceedings against six match officials.

Officials from the Estonian FA had alerted Fifa and Uefa to their concerns over the organisation of the games two weeks before the fixtures were played in Turkey on 9 February. The games went ahead and a reported €5m (£4.3m) was gambled on the Estonian match, a 2-2 draw. Industry insiders have suggested the "over two-and-a-half goal market" as the key area in a gamble originating in the Far East. ...

Full story continues here, courtesy of The Independent.

Thank you @FakeSepp ... It's a gift that keeps on giving!!

** Reader warning: Some of @FakeSepp's tweets are somewhat off color and free of any political correctness **


If you get the chance though, check it out ... especially the birthday tweets (#happybirthdaysepp)

Welcome Ed Rae and Erich Simmons

Just as it is a desire to referee at the highest level, there are those of us (myself included) who desire to assess at the highest level as well.

In the US, these folks are termed "Referee Inspectors" and a description of their role is here from US Soccer, and below:

REFEREE INSPECTORS
U.S. Soccer will appoint certain National Assessors as Referee Inspectors. This designation is at the discretion of U.S. Soccer and is reviewable at any time. Referee Inspectors will be empowered to assess all games but specifically at the Pro-Level and international level. In addition, all National Referees and National Candidates must have at least one of their annual assessments as a referee conducted by a Referee Inspector.

It gives me great pleasure to announce both Ed Rae and Erich Simmons as two of the newest US Soccer referee inspectors for 2011.

Please join me in congratulating them on this significant accomplishment!

The caper of the green thong, and the red card.

** Viewer warning: Some video material here may not be appropriate for young audiences. **

Special thanks to Andy and Dick for bringing this one forward so quickly and to Ed and Nigel for their insightful comments.

You might think this was the title of a Sherlock Homes novel gone horribly wrong. It is however a recent incident which occured in the UK.

Dorchester Town player-manager Ashley Vickers was shown a red card for violent conduct after a pitch invasion by a man, sporting only a bright green thong and socks, during the Blue Square South clash with Havant & Waterlooville. A blow by blow article can be found here from Mail Online.

If you haven't seen the video, it is here, and below.

So I have (2) questions for us here:

1. Does the referee have the authority to take this action against the player for what he did to a spectator?

This answer is a clear yes. From the LOTG in Law 12 under "Disciplinary Sanctions" on p. 26 states:

A player who commits a cautionable or sending-off offense, either on or off the field of play, whether directed towards an opponent, a team-mate, the referee, an assistant referee or any other person, is disciplined according to the nature of the offence committed.

In this case the offense must be "violent conduct" as simply no other reason for sending off would lie in this case.

2. Should the referee have taken the action against the player?

Here is where the magic lies. In this particular situation, in this particular match ... probably. As was written over email to me by a particularly knowledgeable source on the topic, it put the referee in an untenable position that he just had to act. It is similar to the player who instead of saying a curse under his breath when he misses a shot, rings the top rafter of the stadium with a stream of curses. Unfortunately, the referee has to act in those cases. This may have been one.

Note however is this the right thing to do for THE game or its participants? Look at the reaction of the players after the send off. The referee just about had to run for cover after he send the player off. That to me does not smack of the right decision for THE game.

Even if players are upset about a send off, their emotions are generally offset by each other. Half generally agree, half generally disagree. Here, we seemed to have nothing but disagreement on the topic. That should be a clue that justice was not served here.

Another email comment from another very knowledgeable and philosophical source stated that if justice is not served, "players may be outraged to the point of assault." It would seem that we come awfully close here and if not for the referees backpedaling ability, one may have indeed occurred.

I would opine that the decision is technically correct in this case, but justice was not done.

Let me hang a scenario out there and see if you still come up with the same answer of a send off ...

Same match, same basic circumstances, except the spectator that came charging into the field, was not to just be a nuisance, but to cause serious harm to you, the referee. In this case before the invader can get to you, the same result of #6 tackling the invader occurs, ending the potential standoff, and saving your behind from that harm.

What then? Do you really send that player off for violent conduct?

If so, you are certainly consistent in the application of the LOTG. But is it justice?

Now ask yourself why is a referee out there? To enforce the laws, or to manage the match to a just outcome?

No answers today ... just food for thought.

Not far enough ...

Love of money endangering game: Pele

Pele, Brazil's greatest footballer, said he believed high salaries and greedy players were a danger to the modern game.

See the whole story here, courtesy of Reuters.

Kicking Back's comments: He is right on several fronts, but does not go far enough. Love of money is also driving THE games caretakers in some cases to do not what is for the good of the game, but for what is good for a very privileged few.

Gone are the days of cheering for a home team made of folks from your hometown. Note this is not an issue unique to soccer at all. Big name talent, here today, gone tomorrow, for another city and a bigger paycheck.

One place you do see "homegrown" heroes is in refereeing. These few folks that make it to "the show" are local heroes to those who take the time to know who they are, and reflect on what they have accomplished.

For me these folks have names like Hasek, Socha, Bratsis, DiPlacido, Dias, Mauro, Resendes, Bennett, Woo and Supple. You don't see these folks trotting off to another city for a bigger paycheck or fancy new sports car. These folks are here to stay in the hometown they helped forge. For me, these are household names that serve as a continued reminder of what can be achieved, right around the block, when you really put your mind to it. Greatness need not change its zip code.

Hometown heroes all, and true defenders of THE game to the last.

34th Annual Needham Invitational

It's that time of year again folks ... youth soccer tournaments!

One of my first and best experiences with youth soccer was at a Memorial Day Tournament. It was an incredible experience for me. Mild spring days, freshly cut grass, groups of referees, and good youth competition. You just could not go wrong.

It hearkens me back to my patch collection ... that I still have yet to do something with. Amazing memories.

The other day, I received the below email from the Needham Invitational Tournament. One that I have attended many times, and one that rivals the best youth tournaments in the US.

The folks who put on this tourney are top shelf, as is the tourney itself. If you have the time, I can make no stronger recommendation than to participate as a referee, assessor, volunteer, or spectator. It is an experience you will never forget.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The largest and the most prestigious tournament in New England the Needham Invitational Soccer Tournament which is held Memorial Day weekend May 27,28, 29, and 30. It is on its way of becoming the one of largest tournament in US.

1. Over 600 teams
2. Over 40 fields
3. Over 400 referees

The player participation includes teams from throughout the United States and Canada. Referees are drawn throughout United States including Virginia, Michigan, New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Maine, and this year we will have referees from Switzerland, England, Canada.

Aside from the fields and the players, the success of any tournament is measured by quality and commitment of referees. Last year over 70% of Massachusetts grades seven and under referees were at this tournament. Including assessors from all over New England, Baltimore and Washington DC.

The Needham tournament committee is also announcing we will Continue the mentoring program throughout the tournament special referee and assistant referee clinics will be added to the program including Academy to be announced in near future.

Additionally the Needham referee committee this year has added several new features to its program.

A- Centralized assigning. All Referees will be assigned out of two locations Waltham, Medfield.
B- Each site will have assigned referee Marshall to help support every referee
C- Food and water will be provided on every main site
D- We will implement a bonus program not only for high school students but also college students.
E- We will provide tournament T-shirts and other memorabilia.
F- One of the most competitive payment structure for referees and ARs in Massachusetts

Our objective is not only to appropriately covered the games but most importantly to use the tournament to develop referees to their highest level possible, by appropriately assigning them with other experience referees that could mentor and develop the individual. 

Reminder: you must be certified referee in order to referee in Needham tournament if you are out of state referee please send your reference’s lakoghlanian@fgxicom

Please go to the website below and sign in. Reminder if you have already signed up you do not need to do anything.

http://www.needhamtournamentreferees.org

Respectfully,
Needham referee committee

I'm with Sepp on this one

English FA could have sanctioned Rooney, says Blatter

NEWPORT, Wales (Reuters) - The English FA would have been within its rights to sanction Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney following an elbowing incident last week, FIFA President Sepp Blatter said on Saturday.

The FA said it could not retrospectively take action against Rooney for elbowing Wigan Athletics' James McCarthy in the back of the head in a Premier League match because, under FIFA rules, as referee Mark Clattenburg had already given a foul against the England man for obstruction, they could take no further action. ...

See the complete story here, courtesy of Reuters.

Kicking Back Comments: For my money Sepp has this one exactly right. There is no reason that a league should not jump in to further sanction a player, even if that player was already dealt with by the match referee. The FA's move to not further sanction Rooney for delivering an elbow to McCarthy is deplorable. Then to further compound the story by saying that they were really just protecting the integrity of the decision of Mark Clattenburg is just cowardice on the part of the FA.

Granted, no referee likes to have such a situation occur that the league has to step in and take further action. In my day it happened to me personally a couple of times. When I got over myself that I should have seen the whole incident and dealt with it differently ... the bigger picture prevailed. That picture was it was better to get it right than to just let it go.

As referees we certainly try to get it right all the time. But alas, sometimes we miss ... not often but we do. At the professional and international level while there is great scrutiny of referees, there is also great opportunity for leagues to stamp out the type of behavior Roo engaged in here. Leagues can also mete out much harsher punishment that a referee ever could, and really put some bite into a sanction.

I'm with Sepp, and say let them. Adding onto a particular sanction to further enforce a point started by a referee does nothing but drive that point home to the owner of the actions, and other players who may consider the same in the future.

Chuck slams FIFA ... again.

Fifa member Chuck Blazer slams World Cup organisation

A Fifa executive member has attacked the number of South American and African places for the 2014 World Cup.

Chuck Blazer, secretary-general of Concacaf, is angry North America, Central America and the Caribbean have not been given an extra spot in Brazil. ...

Full story continues here, courtesy of the BBC.

Kicking Back Comments: Where is the fury over the lack of referee's from the region in 2010? I have to say though, he does seem to want to mix it up a bit with his own ilk ... that is, at least in the press.

Our Neighbor to the North

Kicking Back's Comments: In an unsurprising (but good for CONCACAF) move by FIFA, Canada has been selected to host the 2015 Women's World Cup. It was disappointing that where there were seven bidders originally, only Canada remained after Zimbabwe dropped out on March 1st, making FIFA's decision a Hobson's Choice. 


While our FIFA Women's panel is not very large, it is led by one of the best (IMHO) woman international referees, Kari Seitz. I am interested to see, who will be picked for this prestigious tournament, and equally interested to see if Pia's salary goes up in 2015, her World Cup Year.


FIFA passes off to Canada

FIFA HAS KICKED the ball into Canada’s corner. Now it’s up to Canadian soccer to do something with it.

Thursday’s announcement that Canada will host the 2015 Women’s World Cup was hardly unexpected since the Canadian Soccer Association was the sole bidder remaining from the seven that originally showed interest, but its selection will have a ripple effect across the country. ...

See the full story here, courtesy of ChronicalHerald.ca.

Hold that line!

Law-makers set to continue goal-line testing

Soccer's law-making body is expected to approve more experiments with goal-line technology systems on Saturday, but there is still a long way to go before any hi-tech device helps a referee make a decision.

A year after goal-line technology was rejected by the International Football Association Board (IFAB), the item is back on the agenda following tests carried out at FIFA's headquarters in Zurich under the auspices of the Swiss-based technology research institute EMPA.

Although all 10 systems trialed failed FIFA's stringent tests last month, there has been a notable shift in the board's attitude towards using a hi-tech system. ...

See the whole story here, courtesy of Yahoo Sports.

Kicking Back Comments: *Yawn.* You mean to say that FIFA (IFAB) can't make a clear decision. Shocking. Now I have already gone on record as saying that I don't like the goal like technology idea as THE game is human ... however it would appear that technology is getting in the way of making this work. I say that both from reading the story, and also from a recently retired FIFA AR who saw the tech in action and stated that it just does not work well.