Referees in the media (week 5)

‘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.

Tony Soprano at the right.

“What are you doing, ref?”

Tony Soprano in the HBO series The Soprano’s (season one, episode 1) I’ve been watching.

“We’ve got some reports that people are buying referee outfits in districts too … so I wouldn’t be surprised to see some penalty flags get thrown at some members of Congress’ offices.”

Jamie Henn, communications director for 350.org, during a protest against the Canada-to-Texas Keystone XL oil pipeline where activists where dressed as referees to ‘blow a whistle’.

“Their preparation for officiating at UEFA matches will start here.”

Pierluigi Collina about the new international referees. Read full interview from Turkey training camp on Uefa.com.

“Our referees even visited him on Sunday. We were however shocked on learning that he had died. It is very unfortunate we have lost one of our best upcoming referees.”

Ugandan referee David Ssebunya died a day after the Cooper test.

Reactions from referees who’ll go to EC 2012

Uefa has selected twelve referees for the European Championship 2012 in Ukraine and Poland.

You can find the Uefa list with twelve referees and the fourth officials here. I’ve searched the internet for reactions from each appointed referee, which you can find below.

European referee boss Pierluigi Collina on Uefa.com:

“The 12 are all referees from the elite group, so they are the top referees in Europe. They have all refereed UEFA Champions League matches during the past two seasons. What they can guarantee are two main elements – quality and experience. And only one referee, Howard Webb, was at UEFA EURO 2008. So there has been significant turnover.”

Cüneyt Çakır from Turkey was appointed after a lapse of sixteen years without a Turkish referee at a European Championship. The Turkish FA the selection of Çakır a “historic achievement“.

Jonas Eriksson from Sweden on the website of the Swedish FA:

“I am extremely proud, happy and grateful to be one of the twelve referees who will go to the European Championship finals and can enjoy this tournament. I want to send a big gratitude to everyone in Swedish football: from refereeing colleagues and observers to the players and coaches who all in different way have developed me as a soccer referee.”

Hungarian FA praises their referee Viktor Kassai as ‘one of the best referees in the world’. And called it ‘no surprise’ that their fellow countryman is elected for the tournament in Ukraine and Poland.

Bjorn Kuipers was pretty happy he got called personally by Pierluigi Collina to tell him the good news. “A very nice conversation.” Watch the interview Dutch media had with the referee from The Netherlands:

Stéphane Lannoy from France got much support from his national referee chief Marc Batta.

“This is clearly a confirmation of the skills of Stéphane, you do not qualify for a World (2010) and a European Championship without proof of quality. But after enjoying this appointment, Stéphane will have to continue to work hard to prepare for this next stage.”

Pedro Proença from Portugal was selected instead of fellow countryman Olegario Benquerenca. Referee boss Vítor Pereira thinks Portugese referees are all good quality: “This appointment seems to be a reflection of the overall quality of the Portuguese arbitrators and arbitration, their commitment and dedication to refereeing.”

Nicola Rizzoli from Italy has been chosen as one of the twelve, but has not made a statement yet. Neither has the Italian referee organisation.

Damir Skomina from Slovenia had not talked to the media yet.

German referee boss Herbert Fandel congratules Wolfgang Stark with his place at Euro 2012.

“Wolfgang Stark to the Elite of European referees. He has represented the German referees excellently at the World Cup in South-Africa. The nomination for the EC is a confirmation of his constant performance in latest years.”

Scottish FA’s latest news is about Renfrewshire referees who show their respect for veterans. Hope for them they didn’t miss Craig Thomson appointment for Euro 2012.
UPDATE: John Fleming, Scottish referee boss is delighted: “Firstly, I am absolutely delighted for Craig. He is a tremendously hard-working referee and this is great news for all referees in this country.”

Carlos Velasco Carballo from Spain is very happy with his appointment.

“For me, the choice of UEFA and the possibility of being in the Euro Ukraine and Poland is a very special emotion and above all, a dream come true.”

Howard Webb completes the list of twelve. A picture of him got uploaded on Uefa.com long before the list was online, but until the final list was published there was still some doubt among British people on Twitter wether Martin Atkinson would be chosen from the UK.
UPDATE: British FA congratulates mr. Webb with some words of David Elleray, Chairman of The FA’s Referees Committee: “We are delighted that following the Champions League Final and World Cup Final appointments, Howard has once again been appointed to a major international tournament.”

Referees in the media (week 41)

‘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.

Referees deserve it once to get some extra attention in the spotlights.

States the Dutch FA (KNVB) because of the week of the referee in the Netherlands.

“I play a bit with the referee.”

Admits Bosnian player Miralem Pjanic before the match against France after accusations from French defender Adil Rami that Pjanic is a cheat.

“There now seems to be two types of officials in the game, those who want to be the centre of attention and those who prefer to stay anonymous.”

Says Andrew Cole, journalist at The National, an English newspaper in Abu Dhabi.

“I think the goal line can be easily controlled by two additional assistant referees.”

Uefa referee boss and former top referee Pierluigi Collina doesn’t want goal-line technology.

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.

Referees in the media (week 30)

‘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.

“Each company’s respective technology will be scrutinised across a broad range of criteria, in both daylight and floodlit conditions”

by Fifa’s spokesman in the Guardian about the fact that Fifa is going to test nine systems for goal-line technology.

“Fidel and I both saw clearly the goal they took away from us”

By Venezuela’s president Hugo Chavez, who was watching football with Fidel Castro and saw the referee disallow a goal.

Would a red card for denying obvious goalscoring oppurtunity be honest if a goal is scored (from a penalty kick). Give that card only when the goal is not secured.

By Uefa’s referee chief Pierluigi Collina, who’s waiting for IFAB’s review of the DOGSO rule.

“I enjoy myself everytime I’m able to whistle (a match)”

By Fritz Klein, a German referee who became 75-year-old last Friday and has refereed for 50 years now.

Referees in the media (week 29)

‘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.

“With hard work, determination and commitment I’m sure the OFC referees will be just as good, if not better, than the top confederations.”

By Japanese FIFA fitness instructor Toshio Utsumi, who has to prepare the Oceanian referees O’Leary, Kumar and Namo for the u20 World Cup in Colombia, on the website of OceaniaFootball.com.

“I don’t know if it was because I’m a female too, and they’re used to being refereed by men. Or maybe because I was younger than them.”

By rugby referee Sarah Bennison in The Guardian, who faced disrespect from female players officiating their matches.

Oostrom in police magazine

During work (as police officer, jth) and on the pitch I constantly have to make decisions. So, during my job I practise for refereeing, and vice versa.

By talented 21-year-old referee Ingmar Oostrom in Dutch police magazine Korpskrant. Oostrom wants to become the youngest referee in professional football in The Netherlands. He needs one more promotion to get appointments for matches in Jupiler League, the second level in Holland.

“The fact that our associates go abroad is not only because the get economically important offers. Our leaders are picked because of their technical qualities, not for other reasons.”

By Marcello Nicchi, president of the Italian Referee Association (AIA), in newspaper la Repubblica. He regrets the fact that referee bosses Collina and Rosetti went to respectively Ukrain (2010) and Russia (2011).

We just finished a really incredible day and are nearly at the end of our WWC 2011 journey.

By American refereeing trio on their blog after just after having whistled in match for 3rd place between Sweden and France.