Tag Archives: Euro 2012

Referees in the media (week 24)

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‘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.

The first winners of the European Championship football are set: the referees.

logo Frankfurter Allgemeine ZeitungFrankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in an analysis after one third of all matches during Euro 2012.

“I’ve always loved watching football, but never got involved in playing it. When I went on a course to learn how to become a referee it was terrifying, but also the most amazing thing I’ve ever done.”

Lorraine Deschamps is appointed MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List. ‘The mother-of-two became one of only two women to qualify as a level four tutor for football referees, around 14 years ago’, writes the Harrow Times
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“Managers and coaches educate players regarding discipline, but need referees and assistants to be strong when required so that the players improve their own game by becoming clear on what is acceptable and what is not.”

Scottish referee Lorraine Clark blogs about the Celtic Female Referee Seminar.

‘The colour of Eriksson’s hair makes Holland win’

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Netherlands has a good chance to beat Germany at tonight’s Euro 2012 clash in group B. At least, if we base our conclusions on referee’s hair stats of previous matches between the two teams.

Dutch graphic design student Bart Corré analysed all previous 38 matches between the two teams for his graduation thesis (pdf). Germany scored 56 points in them, Holland 44. The Netherlands will also not win based on the nationality of the referee: both teams scored totally 7 points each with a Swedish referee. Tonight’s referee is Jonas Eriksson and this important clash in group B is his first match of the tournament.

It’s also not the colour of the referee’s shirt which makes Holland win. Actually, the Germans have won more games (out of 35) with a man in black on the pitch. It’s not the age of Eriksson, who became 38 years old on the 28th of March this year. The average age of referees in matches Holland won is 42.

None of that all. It’s the colour of the referee’s hair which ‘proves’ that Holland is going to win. Eriksson’s brown hair should bring my country some luck. Germany has just won 4 out of 14 matches with a brown-haired referee, compared to six victories for The Netherlands. That’s the best Holland can rely on, or maybe their quality will do …


Photo description: Orange dot means Dutch victory. Black dot means German victory. Grey dot means draw. Variable: hair colour of the referee.

Some other remarkable stats:
– Holland has never won with a bald referee.
– Holland vs. Germany 24 – 16 (in yellow cards)
– Holland vs. Germany 3 – 1 (in red cards)
– England has the most referees with a match between Germany and Holland, resulting in 9 points for Holland and 15 for Germany.