Listen on stands to ref’s explanations during match

Referee’s got a lot to endure during a soccer match. Fans, coaches and players are the biggest critics, even if they’re most of the time not good informed of what actually happened.

Dick Jol's twitter photo

That’s why the referee organisation of West-Friesland initiated a exhibition match on the 8th of November where former professional referee Dick Jol explains all his crucial decisions publicly via the stadium sound system. “It also forces a referee to declare his decisions in clear and concise terms and, if necessary, give some extra explanation”, says initiator Rodric Leerling in a statement.

The referee came up with the idea due to his life in the New York area, where he saw the so-called referee-signal-system in American football. “Players, coaches and supporters will all benefit from this way of refereeing. We organise it in the first place to create a better understanding by them for the role and position of the referee in amateur football.”

In professional football there is lots of discussion in the media about difficult or sometimes wrong decisions by a referee. Video use is not allowed for the refereeing trio, but center can easily communicate with his officials. The amateur referees in The Netherlands are most of the time on their own, because there are not enough volunteers to also get neutral AR’s for most of the matches.

Leerling hopes everyone gets a better idea of how referees on the pitch deal with all sorts of trouble with players and coaches. It’s also a way to promote the ‘job’ of the referee and make it more attractive to young people.

When: Tuesday 8 November 2011 at 19:30.
Where: SPORTPARK ‘T KRIJT, Wilhelminastraat, Zwaag.
Match: sv Westfriezen 1 – vv Schagen 1
Referee: Dick Jol

The idea is unique in European soccer, says the organisation committee.

‘It feels good to do something back for Japan’

Dick Jol, former international referee, officiated in a charity game between Japanese players and Ajax yesterday for the victims in Japan. “The atmosphere was fantastic.”

“Ten years ago I lived for four months in Tokio, Japan. The people there are great. They’ve done so much for me, were so hospitable. It feels good to give the people from Japan something back.”

Besides refereeing in the Asian country Jol also changed and renewed the referee committee. “The system was not good at that time. People who give their friends a good assessment. I was new there, so could appoint new assessors and that resulted in complete different marks.”

Jol expects sore legs on Thursday, the day after the match. “You won’t forget how to whistle, but running will become a bit difficult when you don’t train that much anymore. I do just one training each week.”

Video of the tv show Pauw and Witteman (names of the two hosts). It’s in Dutch and maybe there’s a country restriction.
http://pauwenwitteman.vara.nl/typo3conf/ext/vara_flashplayer/player/player.swf

German Markus Merk best referee of last decade

German referee Markus Merk has been ranked as the best referee of the last ten years by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS).

An explanation how the referees got ranked is written on the IFFHS website. Most referees (44) on the list with 63 come frome Europe, with most representatives from Italy (7). The only Dutch referee is Dick Jol with 14 points, the same as Michael Riley and Carlos Simon. The only woman in the list is Nicole Petignat on place 54.

One day earlier IFFHS named Howard Webb as best referee of 2010, followed by Asian surprise Ravshan Irmatov.

UPDATE: IFFHS has also added the list with the best referee since 1986. Collina is topping the list, Merk is second and Milton Nielsen on three. Number 5 Oscar Ruiz is still refereeing, but is not very close to first spot.

The IFFHS list with the best referees of the last decade.

1. Dr. Markus Merk Deutschland 135
2. Óscar Julián Ruiz Colombia 104
3. Ľuboš Micheľ Slovensko 96
Jorge Luis Larrionda Uruguay 96
5. Dr. Pierluigi Collina Italia 94
6. Roberto Rosetti Italia 91
7. Kim Milton Nielsen Danmark 84
8. Frank De Bleeckere Belgique 82
9. Massimo Busacca Schweiz 81
10. Manuel Enrique Mejuto González España 73
11. Anders Frisk Sverige 70
Graham Poll England 70
13. Urs Meier Schweiz 65
14. Horacio Marcelo Elizondo Argentina 62
15. Howard Melton Webb England 61
16. Héctor Walter Baldassi Argentina 60
17. Valentin Ivanov Russia 51
18. Luis Medina Cantalejo España 49
19. Herbert Fandel Deutschland 47
20. Benito Armando Archundia México 44
21. Gilles Veissière France 37
22. Terje Hauge Norge 36
Claus Bo Larsen Danmark 36
24. Carlos Arecio Amarilla Paraguay 35
25. Hugh Dallas Scotland 31
26. Ravshan Irmatov Usbekistan 30
27. Vítor Manuel Melo Pereira Portugal 28
28. Wolfgang Stark Deutschland 27
29. Viktor Kassai Magyarország 25
30. Carlos Luis Chandia Chile 24
31. Carlos Alberto Batres Guatemala 18
32. Marcio Rezende de Freitas Brasil 17
33. Alberto Udiano Mallenco España 16
34. Peter Fröjdfeldt Sverige 15
35. Carlos Eugenio Simon Brasil 14
Dirk Zier Gerardus Jol Nederland 14
Michael Riley England 14
38. Ali Mohamed Bujsaim UAE 13
39. Saad Kameel Manei Kuwait 12
40. Stefano Braschi Italia 11
Martin Atkinson England 11
42. Toru Kamikawa Japan 10
43. Arturo Dauden Ibañez España 9
Nicola Rizzoli Italia 9
45. Antonio Jesús López Neto España 8
Gamal Mahmoud Ahmed Ghandour Egypt 8
Hellmut Krug Deutschland 8
48. Eduardo Iturralde González España 7
Gianluca Paparesta Italia 7
Marco Antonio Rodríguez México 7
Massimo De Santis Italia 7
Stefano Farina Italia 7
Yuichi Nishimura Japan 7
54. Alain Sars France 5
Mark Alexander Shield Australia 5
Graham Barber England 5
Kyros Vassaras Greece 5
Nicole Petignat Schweiz 5
Martin Hansson Sverige 5
Olegário Manuel Bártolo Fautino Benquerença Portugal 5
61. Tom Henning Övrebö Norge 4
62. Eric Poulat France 3
Ubaldo Aquino Valenzano Paraguay 3