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Referees in the media (week 33)
‘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. “I very seldom have trouble. I find it is all about being able to respect players but operate control, instead of diving into your pockets for yellow and red cards. It is quite simple, really.” John Leeman (79), honoured for 65 years of refereeing. And he’s still out on the pitch most weekends. With the increased tempo, heat and pressure in Serbia it was clear what toll that takes on your body and how important it is to put the…
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Portugese national league ‘reddest’ in Europe
Players in Portugese national league get the most straight red cards per match in Europese national leagues. Each five matches in 2010/2011 season Portoguse referees showed (on average( one straight red card. Belgium, Spain, Romania and The Netherlands complete the top five of countries with hard players. Or are the referees just mild in countries like Norway (1 straight red in 21 matches), Czech Republic (1 in 15) or Ukrain (1 in 14)? In the infographic below, you can see the ‘reddest’ country based on data from Worldfootball.net and Futebol365.pt. How darker the tint, the less matches are played on average before a straight red card is handed out. The…
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Ed Janssen: impartiality of a referee?
Feyenoord fans and Dutch media criticised the decision by the Dutch FA that Ed Janssen will referee Wednesday’s ‘relegation’ game between Feyenoord and VVV Venlo in the Dutch top league. The problem: Janssen had a youth soccer career at the club from Venlo. Dutch referee boss Dick van Egmond sees no problem in it, because all refs should be impartial. A referee can only not get a match from a team in the town in which he lives. No problems, says the Dutch FA. You think there’s a problem? The funny thing is, local website venlonaren.nl found out Ed Janssen already has refereed VVV Venlo three times, but not in…
