Hawk-eye system makes referee crazy

Hawk-eye system: watch signals that a goal is scored.

Goal-line technology: watch signals goal.

The hawk-eye system worked a bit too well in Dutch Eredivisie. Referee Danny Makkelie went crazy because of this new technology, which was used for the first time during a match in Dutch top league last weekend.

The reason: nobody had thought about the youth players from home team Utrecht who were trying to shoot the ball on the bar during halftime, says AD Sportwereld, a Dutch newspaper. Every time the players shot the ball in the goal, Makkelie’s watch buzzed and the text “goal” was shown.

Read more about how this system works.

The goal-line technology system is turned on two hours before the match to test it. It was the first time the system was used and technicians didn’t dare to turn it off because they were not sure if they could turn it back on.

Check out the video how referee Danny Makkelie scores to test the system

Referees in the media (week 25 – 29)

‘Referees in the media’ will be published at the beginning of the week on the Dutch Referee Blog and provides remarkable or interesting quotes and links to articles worth reading.

Because of my honeymoon an overview of the last four weeks.

“I think in the future we will not stop the match, but we will give information to the referee, the (match) delegate and the clubs, and say that we suspect that this match has been fixed, and that we will be monitoring this match even more closely.”

Norwegian FA president Yngve Hallen told Reuters about informing a referee when they suspect a match result is going to be fixed. As Reuters wrote: “The FA then took the unprecedented step of cancelling the game between Ullensaker/Kisa and Ham Kam.

“I am not just wholly against goal-line technology, I am against technology itself because then it is going to invade every area of football.”

Uefa president Michel Platini still fears a ‘flood of other forms of technology’ after goal-line camera’s are introduced.

“I know that Portugal’s Pedro Proença refereed the 2004 UEFA European Under-19 Championship final and he went on to take charge of the UEFA Champions League and UEFA EURO 2012 showpieces, so that is all the inspiration I need.”

Danny Makkelie is inspired by Pedro Proença. Next week he’ll make his debut in the Champions League.

“I played football for five years before I had to choose between playing and refereeing. I felt I had more chance of reaching the top level as a referee so I went for that.”

French female referee Stéphanie Frappart thinks it’s possible to climb up to Ligue 1, French highest level, although that would be a ‘very difficult and huge step up’.

Referees in the media (week 49)

‘Referees in the media’ will be published at the beginning of the week on the Dutch Referee Blog and provides remarkable or interesting quotes and links to articles worth reading.

“After the match we change clothes, fill out the match form and send it via iPhone.”

International referee Danny Makkelie from the Netherlands on the modern way of sending the match report in the weekly section on the Dutch FA website.

“It was a real shock and probably the most disappointing decision of my career.”

Graham Poll about missing the Euro 2004 in Portugal.

“The top two is the same every season, of course.”
One of the players in the Scilly league on group of islands on the south-western tip of England. The comptition contains two teams who play each other 16 times a season, all under supervision of referee Paul Charnock. Read more about this in the Fifa Magazine (page 56 and further)

“Let adversity be your catalyst and greatness will be yours.”

The motto of Adrian Skeete from Barbados in an interview with this blog.

“This will ensure that referees’ education is of utmost importance for the referees and assistant referees to perform correctly and perfectly in the field of play and also to update themselves with the latest technical knowledge in assistantship.”

Said UAE Football Association General Secretary Yousuf Mohd Abdullah during the AFC first ever elite course for assistant referees.

Referees in the media (week 35)

‘Referees in the media’ will be published each Monday on the Dutch Referee Blog and provides remarkable or interesting quotes and links to articles worth reading.

I was convinced the offence was just inside (the penalty area).

By Danny Makkelie, who admits his fault by giving a penalty instead of a free kick just outside the penalty area.

“We all like to be as anonymous as possible.”

Canadian referee Carol Anne Chenard is happy that she was not in the newspapers because of her performances.

“I will be proud and thinking how fantastic it is to be here.”

Says Björn Kuipers before the European Supercup between Barcelona and Porto last Friday.

“We don’t want to see referees mobbed by players, where players run from long distances to crowd the ref. This could even be punished by a red card.”

Pierluigi Collina announces that referees should be more protected and offenders need to be punished harder.

Ik was er van overtuigd dat de overtreding er net binnen was.

Pol van Boekel promoted on international list

Dutch referee Pol van Boekel has been promoted to category two on the international refereeing list. He’s on the Uefa list since 2007. Uefa doesn’t want to publish the full list at this moment.

The 35-year-old Van Boekel made his international debut during the U17 match Slovakia-Serbia on 26 March 2008. He’s officiated 19 official international games, including five Europa League matches.

Dutch international referees:
Björn Kuipers and Kevin Blom on the Elite List.
Eric Braamhaar on the Premier list.
Bas Nijhuis and Pol van Boekel on the category two list.
Richard Liesveld is a category three referee.
Danny Makkelie is on the cat. 4 list.

Pieter Vink, who was on the Elite List, stopped because he wants to give young refs a chance and because he got death threats via his daughter’s lunchbox.