How do we do it?

In tennis a player can challenge a call and computer and video replay verify the call. Each player is allowed to challenge three times per set. If the call was incorrect, then the challenge is not deducted from their allotted three chances. If the original was correct, then the player only has two more chances.
In soccer this can be instituted on certain calls where a team feels that it has the capability to change the outcome of the game. In this way it is up to the players' discretion and judgment whether they want to challenge the call or not. This could be very critical on goals that were not counted or on penalty kicks.

Was this the referee's fault? According to the player that attacked him, it was. The problem with referee subjectivity in making calls is that no matter what, it is always the ref's fault.




Notice how the referee was not able to pull out the red card until he got confirmation from one of the other referee's that actually saw the incident. Debate actually went around that the assistant referee did not actually see the incident, but instead he saw it on the replay on the big screen. If this was the case, the red card should not have been handed out according to FIFA rules.

USA in FIFA 2010

With just 81 days until the start of the FIFA 2010 World Cup, national team coaches and managers are making their final decisions on the national team lineups that will compete in South Africa. Scouters are busy putting together strategies and game plans to match up players against their opponents. However, with all the planning and preparation, it all comes down to how the team performs on game day. Or does it?
As we have seen, games are not always determined by the players' performances. Unfortunately, the outcome of games can be determined much more subjectively-- that is, of course, by the referees' deciding call. Games can and have been won and lost by the referee's and officials ruling the games. So what does this mean for the upcoming World Cup--the world's biggest stage for sports?
The U.S. perspective can be quite negative. After beating #1 Spain and nearly coming away with the win against the resulting #1 Brazil last summer in the FIFA Confederations Cup tournament, a lot of fans are expecting a good performance out of the US team in this years World Cup. But the same could be said of the 2006 US team who entered the tournament as the #4 team in the World and didn't even advance out of the group stages. In fact, their first round exit with a 0-2-1 performance ranked as one of the worst World Cup performances in history. Yet it could have easily turned out much different. Controversial calls by the referee's in the game against Italy (the eventual World Cup Champions) resulted in two red cards given out to US players, forcing team USA to play with only nine players on the field. They nearly pulled out a win, but finished in a tie at 1-1. However, because they were unable to get the result, team USA had to win against Ghana. However, because of the two red cards handed out in the Italy game, team USA had to play without two of their starters. Another controversial call resulted in a Ghana goal off a penalty kick-- a penalty kick that, according to the replay, should not have been awarded. After all was said and done, the US went home without a single win.
While comments have been made by FIFA officials suggesting that changes might be made in the future to include video replay, they made it clear that such changes would not be in effect for the World Cup in South Africa. Should the US have a chance to advance in the tournament, they may have to have luck on their side, hoping that the referees' calls go their way.

Risk of a Referee

Anyone who has ever performed or competed knows the stress and pressure that one feels before a performance or a game. Nervousness takes over just before the start. We as coaches or spectators feel empathy for those nervous athletes just about to compete, yet no one ever even thinks about what the officiator or referee is feeling.
Referee's are probably under more pressure than any performer on stage or athlete on the field, especially the referees of soccer matches. World-wide, soccer, or "football," is the the most popular sport with perhaps the most passionate fans and followers. As a referee, you already know that every call you make will upset one side or the other, yet you still have to make the critical call to control the game with little time and under tremendous pressure. It is a decision made on the spot in front of stadiums full of riotous fans.
If you don't believe that that is a lot of pressure, consider the consequences. A couple years ago in Toronto, Canada, a riot broke out as a mother of a Under 8 boy's soccer player attacked a referee because she disagreed with a call that was made. Just a few weeks ago, a referee was attacked after sending off a player with a second yellow card offense during a game between Bulgaria's Slavia Sofia and Russian club Anzhi Makhachkala. In 2005, a player was put in prison for the attack on a referee after being given a red card. According to Daniel Miletic from The Age, the referee "suffered a broken cheekbone and nose and a sunken right eye socket."
The worst however was an incident in a soccer game in Maryland in August 2002 where an ejected player stabbed the referee. According to Hyattsville police, a man was charged with attempted first-degree murder for an attack on the soccer referee. The attack occurred minutes after the man had been ejected from a "non-sanctioned adult league" game. Doctors informed police that had the knife been slightly longer, the victim would not have survived.
The National Association of Sports Officials (NASO) receives more that 100 reports annually involving physical contact between coaches, fans, athletes and officials.
With such risks as their own personal safety involved in a game, referee's face an incredible amount of pressure. Often times they are forced to make a decision which is impossible to make. So much is expected of them while little of what they do is appreciated.
We talk a lot about what is fair in the sport of soccer and how unfair it was for Ireland. Yet, what we fail to realize is that is was just as unfair for the referees who were expected to make the fair call while not being in a position to do so because they couldn't see what actually happened. With video replay, referees will be capable of make fair calls in those critical game changing moments.
With all the pressure and risks involved, referees can use all the help they can get.

Maradona's Hand of God

Diego Maradona, known to be one of the best soccer players of all time, has made made his mark on soccer history. Despite his many accomplishments as a soccer player, he is most widely known for a little trick he got away with.
Maradona was a star player and captain for the Argentina national team that won the title. in the 1986 World Cup. However, their journey to the championships could be compared to France's game against Ireland.
In the quarter-final round of the tournament, Argentina barely got by in defeating England 2-1. Both goals were scored by Diego Maradona. One was a spectacular goal in which he wove in and out of six England players in a 60 meter run and scored. This goal is viewed by many as the goal of the century. The other goal, however, is even more famous. It is known today as the "Hand of God."
In a cross delivered into the box, Maradona made a penetrating run toward goal to receive the ball. Then in a lightning quick move, he jumped into the air and hit the ball into the goal WITH HIS HAND. The referee apparently did not see this infraction and waved on the goal which would ultimately be the difference in the game sending Argentina onto the semifinals and sending England home empty-handed.
Video replay and photos of the game show Maradona clearly hit the ball in with his hand. It's an argument that England can make for a long time, but the result still stands.
Video replay, now being considered by FIFA after the France vs Ireland incident, has the potential to promote fairness in the world's most popular sport. In a game where scoring is infrequent, a missed call, like in the case of the "Hand of God," completely changes the game.
Maradona was awarded the Golden Ball for his performance in the 1986 World Cup, but you can say that he got a little help for the "Hand of God."

France Gives a Hand in Ireland's Elimination

There is nothing more frustrating for players and for spectators than watching a game be decided by the referee. When subjectivity is brought into the game, fair play is often not displayed on the scoreboard.
November 18, 2009. The Republic of Ireland faced up against France in a game in which Ireland had to win in order to qualify for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. All was looking great for Ireland as they were up 1-0 and dominating the run of play. After 90 of hard battle, Ireland held off France. However, because France beat Ireland 1-0 in the first qualifying game, the game was extended into extra time for a tie-breaker. At the end of the first extra time period, the entire nation of Ireland rose up in disgust when the head referee, Martin Hansson, signaled that France had scored after France team captain, Thierry Henry, illegally controlled the ball with his left hand before kicking past the Irish goalkeeper to teammate William Gallas for the goal; the goal that would eliminate Ireland from the 2010 FIFA World Cup, sport's biggest stage.
"Henry almost caught it and walked into the net with it," Irish striker Keane said of the incident.
Beyond the blatant handball, replay showed that a couple of French players may also have been offsides during that play. Regardless, the referees were given the power to decide the winner of the game and ultimately eliminated the Republic of Ireland.
It was a "night of shame for football." It left a bitter taste in mouths of many soccer fans worldwide and put into question the fair play standards of FIFA. Fair play is actively supported by FIFA through the Fair Play Award and the Fair Play Trophy. However, after refusing to do anything in regards to this game, the issue has been raised again against FIFA about instant replay and goal line technology, which FIFA had, time and again, opposed and refused.
Talk has been made of future use of instant video replay after the World Cup, but how many instances "unfair play" is needed before FIFA decides to conform? This is not the first instance in which a big game was decided by a missed call by the referees.

A Game Out of Control; BYU vs New Mexico

In the 2006 FIFA World Cup Final, the referee's (with perhaps the help of video replay on the big screen) were able to make the right call and hand out a red card to Zidane. Now what about all the times when the red card was not handed out when it was merited?
The Mountain West Conference women's soccer semifinal game between BYU and UNM became the most popular soccer game in the nation when parts of the game were aired on ESPN. UNM defender Elizabeth Lambert was shown punching, kicking, and yanking BYU players to the ground by their hair—all of which somehow went unnoticed by all three referees on the field. “That is a straight red card!” exclaimed Mountain West soccer analyst Mark Rogondino on a number of occasions during the game.
During the live broadcast of the game aired on November 5, 2009, many of these infractions were caught on tape and seen by the viewers. Soccer analysts Mark Rogondino and Bill Riley who were calling the game had this to say as it was happening:
Mark: “Our referee right now is going to have to get this one in order. Lambert is very fortunate to still be in this game. The referee has missed a couple of cards here. That is a straight red right here! There is no doubt about it. That is a straight red!”
Bill: “That is unbelievable, is what that is.”
Mark: “That is two opportunities and our referee here, Joe Pomantle, has had and he missed them both.”
The referee’s clearly made a lot of mistakes in this game and missed a lot of opportunities to get a hold on the game. When this happens, the players suffer, the teams suffer, and the game suffers. "You can never control the officiating or what they call," she said. "We want to make sure that this doesn't become a distraction," said BYU head coach Jennifer Rockwood after the game.
See videos aired on ESPN:

Clearly the referee’s allowed the game to get way out of hand, but this is not a unique case in the fact that video replay could have aided in a big way. Luckily, the rough play by New Mexico did not alter the outcome of the game as BYU came out victorious with a 1-0 win. However, BYU did not play at the top of their game in the following round when they lost the championship 1-0 to SDSU. Could the game with New Mexico have had lingering effects? We cannot know how far the effects of one bad game can go. One bad call can change the whole outcome of tournaments and seasons. Next time, I will discuss the repercussions of one bad call and how it changed the world for the country of Ireland.

2006 FIFA World Cup: The last time around

The 2006 FIFA World Cup is remembered by most as the soccer tournament plagued by yellow and red cards. Players received a record-breaking 345 yellow cards and 28 red cards. It seemed as though more attention was given to the referees than to the players.
The 2006 World Cup ranked as the fourth most watched event in television history, garnering an impressive 26.29 billions non-unique viewers over the course of the tournament. Great stories and dramas unfolded as Germany, the host country, defied expectations and gave their critical fans something to cheer about and as Ghana, in their first World Cup, advanced to the second round after defeating top-ranked USA and Czech Republic in the group stages. Yet, what most people remember about the World Cup is not these great stories. Instead they remember the controversies of USA’s red cards handed out by Jorge Larrionda in their game against Italy and the controversial calls made by Markus Merk in the USA versus Ghana game, just to name a few. In the round of 16 match between Portugal and the Netherlands alone, Valentin Ivanov handed out 16 yellow cards and 4 red cards. In the World’s greatest stage for sports, it is a pity that the lime light was stolen by the sports officials.
Who’s to blame?
Complaints were made throughout the tournament that the referees were controlling too much of the game. They exercised too much power and made too much of an impact on the results. Yet, the problem seemed to run even deeper. FIFA officials and FIFA President Sepp Blatter received criticism for making rules too strict and taking discretion away from the referees, (BBC Sports. 26 June, 2006). This, according to Five Live Sport summarizer Chris Waddle, had a huge impact on the run and ruling of the games.
“[Bad tackles and diving are] part and parcel of the game—it’s up to the referees to punish these things. It is what they are there for. If everybody watching the game can see someone cheating or a bad tackle, why can’t the referee see it?”
“Because they are not allowed to. They are under so much pressure they must judge everything according to the letter of the law.”
The Solution
Arguments go back and forth on who the blame belongs to, but after all is said, what is to be done?
Video replay can be the solution. Under such pressure circumstances, referees need help making crucial calls that have the potential to greatly influence the game. In the second round of the tournament in the game between Italy and Australia, Italy was awarded a penalty kick in the final minute of the game which up to that point had been played to a 0-0 tie. The replay clearly showed that no foul was committed in the box, however, good acting convinced the referee. Italy went on to win the World Cup.
In the final of the 2006 World Cup between France and Italy, the Golden Ball winner (the award given to the player voted as the best player of the tournament) Zinedine Zidane of France was sent off with a red card after violently head-butting Italy’s Marco Materazzi in the chest. The incident was replayed throughout the arena, but much discussion was made between the referees before making the correct decision. Yet, after the call was made, much discussion continued as to whether the referees actually saw the incident occur or if they had seen it replayed on the big screen. Why? Because the “letter of the law” states that officials cannot make a call if they do not see it happen with their own eyes.
What about the other calls that were not made because the referees did not see? What about the calls that the referees did make because of what they thought they saw? Video replay resolves these problems.
With the 2010 World Cup fast approaching, what do we look for this time around? We are here to watch the players, not the referees.

Why Not Video Replay in Soccer?

Many sports now use video replay to help regulate the game and insure fairness. Just the other day, I was watching a tennis match where they were able to determine whether or not the ball was out of bounds through video replay. There are so many close calls that would be impossible to make a fair judgment on without video replay. The same is true in the sport of soccer. So why is it that we haven’t instituted such technology in the world’s most popular sport?

“The case for using video replay in soccer is a strong one, because the sport's history is littered with thousands of contentious moments, moments that meant games could have turned out differently if the referee at the time had the benefit of video replay,” commented John Molinaro of CBC Sports, in an article written in 2007. In this article, he comments on the controversy of the Italian match up between Juventus and Napoli where the heavily favored Juventus lost 3-1 because of bogus calls made by the referee which awarded Napoli two penalty kicks in the second half. “[There were] two controversial penalty calls that not only changed the face of the game, but may have long-term ramifications on the final standings.”

With such controversial consequences that may be heard around the world, why would FIFA refuse to institute the obvious solution—obvious to everyone else in the world? Here are some of the arguments they make against video replay:

• Video replay will interrupt the flow of the game.

Yet, anyone who has ever watched a game on TV realizes that interruptions happen anyways whenever there is a hard foul, and injury, or even a streaker on the field.

• Keeping video replay out of soccer helps to preserve the integrity and respect the history of the sport.

Yet many changes have been made to the rules of the game just within in the last 20 years. With development of the sport, changes are inevitable.

• Video replay would undermine the referee’s position.

Many referees would agree that there are a number of calls they are uncomfortable to make during a game. No matter what the referee calls, someone is always going to be upset. Under such a huge load of pressure, video replay can only help their job and protect them.

All in all, a lot is invested in the sport of soccer and a lot can be, and often has been, lost on a single bad call. With the World Cup in South Africa approaching, much more attention is going to be focused on the sport and also on the many controversies of the last World Cup. How are they going to avoid making the same mistakes? Many believe the use of video replay is the answer.