Vader Wrote:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
> The FIFA has explicitely demanded their refs to be very strict. I
> don't think that this ref was stricter than the others in the
> beginning. The difference is that most other teams got the message
> right after the first yellow cards - Holland and Portugal didn't.
> After all it was not the ref who made the fouls, it were the players
> and they should be bashed for it.
I'm sure you get the occasional feeling in your job that you're simply not in control of who you're teaching - I know I do. There were times when I first started out when they were almost bashing the hell out of me, when you lost your temper and basically started shouting at them. That's the feeling I got last night watching the match. The players had little respect for each other, but they had zero for the ref. Every other ref in this tournament has had some common sense about them, and if possible talked to a player about why he should have booked him, occasionally giving him the benefit of the doubt.
Perhaps it was to the letter of the law, but common sense should alway prevail. If you do lose the players and silly tackles continue to fly in you always get the 2 captains together and deal with it. This guy didn't do any such thing, he just ran up, brandished a card, and then ran off (if he wasn't surrounded by team personnel).
ITV said themselves that this guy had reffed one of the 1st games in the tournament, and were shocked he'd got another game.
It's not all about cards and whistles.