• Blog,  Interviews,  world cup

    Mike Hester enjoys the priviledges of a top referee

    World Cup Referee Mike Hester had a good 2010 with an invitation for the World Cup in South Africa. But that’s just the start. He’s set his target on refereeing during the 2014 tournament. And now in 2011, the road to that WC in Brazil has already started. “It’s a realistic target”, says Mike Hester to the Dutch Referee Blog. “In refereeing, you are only as good as your next game. As a referee, you can only live one day at a time so it is important to keep working towards that next performance. Of course, there are many opportunities coming up over the next four years and the World…

  • facts and statistics

    World Cup referee facts and statistics

    Referees in this World Cup are mild to the players according to the card stats. They’ve given 101 yellows and 9 reds after 29 matches. Remarkable is the low average of yellow cards (3.5 per match), especcially when you compare it with the average of 4.8 cards per match at the World Cup in Germany in 2006. I’ve tried to find some interesting referee facts (with the help of Fifa statistics). First the World Cup 2010 referee facts: Tallest referee Wolfgang Stark (Germany) with 191 cm Shortest referee Joel Aguilar (El Salvador) and Benito Archundia (Mexico), both 170 cm Average height 181,3 cm Longest international career Benito Archundia since 1993…

  • Interviews,  world cup

    World Cup referees are important for New Zealand

    Two head referees from the same country at the same World Cup tournament is quite unique. This year there are three countries which provide more than one refereeing team: Uruguay (Larrionda and Vazquez), Mexico (Archundia and Rodriguez) and New Zealand (Hester and O’Leary). The situation for the latter country is a more exceptional. There was never a referee from the New Zealand leading a match. Michael Hester from Auckland (NZ) had the premiere in last week’s World Cup match between South Korea and Greece. The Dutch Referee blog contacted Ken Wallace, the New Zealand Football Referee Development Officer. In this interview he talks about about refereeing in New Zealand and…