WEEKLY WHINE

Interaction: Men's World Cup referees

Myers: Hello, and welcome back to Yokohama for our second Korea/Japan 2002 edition of Interaction, where this week we're discussing the officiating at football's showpiece event. A number of teams have taken issue with the referees, including Slovenia, Italy, Turkey, Brazil, and France. Do the referees need spectacles? Or are the players once again leaving their senses of reality on the sidelines? I'm Debbie Myers. Joining me here are some interesting panelists to discuss this issue. First, South African referee coordinator Mr Festus Gratitude.

Gratitude: Good evening.

Myers: We also have Swedish referee Ms Kvenna Boldspil.

Boldspil: Hello there.

Myers: Next to her, Scottish referee Mr Phil Black.

Black: Good evening.

Myers: And our last guest this evening, the coach of the Ecuadorian women's team Las Desnudas, Ms Selma Puyín.

Puyín: Hello, Debbie.

Myers: Thank you all for joining us today. Festus, let's go to you first. What's your overall reaction to the officiating we've seen so far?

Gratitude: Well Debbie, the important thing to remember is that the referees and their assistants run around a lot during matches. Sometimes they get tired. But the referees we've seen at this World Cup have not fallen over yet. So I think they're doing a wonderful job.

Myers: Noble sentiments there. Kvenna, what do you think?

Boldspil: I went to Saitama for the Cameroon-Saudi Arabia match last week, and I was quite impressed with the referee, Norway's Terje Hauge. His whistle blowing was loud and decisive, and when he pointed for a free kick, everyone knew it.

Myers: I think most people would agree with you there. Phil, your take on the officiating?

Black: I was, of course, eagerly anticipating the Paraguay-South Africa match, in which Hugh Dallas served as fourth official. Hugh is Scotland's best referee by far. I've worked with him on many occasions, and I always like the way he warns players to shut up when they need to shut up.

Myers: That's certainly some high praise. Selma, what have you noticed so far?

Puyín: Some of them were good, but others were not so good.

Myers: Well, that's something to think about. You've all had mostly good things to say about the officiating. But have there been any underwhelming performances that stand out? Phil, let me ask you first who you think the worst referee or assistant we've seen so far is.

Black: It certainly can't be Hugh Dallas, that's for sure. It's probably some other person, like Kim Young Joo from the Brazil-Turkey match. Hugh Dallas would have booked Rivaldo, at least.

Myers: How about you, Kvenna? Who has been underperforming?

Boldspil: I'd have to say that Kyros Vassaras, who did the China-Costa Rica match, was looking pretty weird. It seemed like he was ticking off fouls in his little book and then showing the yellow card to players when they reached a certain number of fouls, regardless of whether they were actually bookable offences.

Gratitude: Well, I don't agree. Kyros seemed to be doing a pretty good job, and I think most of the bookings were deserved. In my mind, the worst official has been one off the pitch. Someone somewhere in FIFA's upper echelons was dense enough to force Costa Rica to misspell Mauricio Wright's name on his jersey. When Costa Rica first faxed in their squad list, they had a typo and put "Wrigth". Some dooblehead wouldn't let them change it to "Wright" in time for the China match. What a maroon.

Myers: Hm, interesting. Perhaps we'll be able to talk about that more a bit later, but for now, we've got to go to the questions. As usual, you have a number of ways to contact us, which you can now see on your screen. That is, unless you're facing away from your screen. With that said, here's our first question, and it's by E-mail from Srecko in Slovenia. He wants to know why his nation's coach, who is coincidentally also named Srecko, was sent off in yesterday's loss to South Africa. Festus, you're our South African. I presume you were at that match.

Gratitude: Indeed I was.

Myers: What happened?

Gratitude: It was in the first ten minutes of the second half, I think. The coach, Srecko Katanec is his name, was yelling at his players throughout the match. I think the referee -

Myers: Ángel Sánchez.

Gratitude: Right. Sánchez, who's from Argentina, I think was getting irritated. I think the fourth official, Jan Wegereef, was particularly annoyed as he was standing closest to Katanec. Sánchez and Wegereef seemed to be working quite well together - it seemed like they both simultaneously decided that Katanec had to go.

Myers: And yet, after the match, Katanec said that he had not done anything to deserve a dismissal. Selma, you're a coach. Have you ever found yourself in a similar position?

Puyín: Sometimes, yes. Earlier this season I was sent off because I showed the fourth official my... never mind.

Myers: You showed the fourth official what?

Puyín: Um, I'd rather not discuss that.

Myers: Hm, interesting. Okay, we have another question now, and it's from Paul in Barbuda. Paul, are you there?

Paul in Barbuda: Hi there.

Myers: Hello Paul. What's your question?

Paul in Barbuda: Well, I was watching the Italy-Croatia match, and I saw Italy have two goals disallowed when the assistant referee called something. I also saw two Cameroonian goals waved off when they were playing against Saudi Arabia. Those decisions could all have huge ramifications. What I'm wondering is, what is the mechanism for dealing with errors by the assistant referee?

Myers: Okay. Phil, how would it be handled if the assistant referee makes a mistake?

Black: There was one time I remember, when I was watching a match that Hugh Dallas was officiating. It was Kilmarnock against... Motherwell, I think. One of the Kilmarnock players scored, and the assistant held up his flag for offside. But Hugh was positioned just right to see the play, and he could tell that it was not offside. So he just disregarded the assistant's flag. It takes a really smart referee to say to one of his assistants, "Nope, you're on crack".

Myers: I see. Well, let's return to Festus's story about Mauricio Wright's kit for Costa Rica. By any name, Wright was playing well for los Ticos, scoring their second goal on a header. Tonight, Costa Rica meet up with Turkey with a place in the second round on the line. Festus, what will Mauricio's shirt read this time?

Gratitude: Well, someone told me the other day that FIFA finally let him be Mauricio Wright. It seems that they had to call up Herediano, the Costa Rican club for which he plays, and confirm his name. Why they couldn't just go up to him and ask "How do you spell your name, Mauricio?" is beyond me.

Myers: Kvenna, you've got more than ten years of experience in the Swedish leagues. Has anything like this ever happened to you?

Boldspil: No. Never. I deny that completely. You can't prove it was me!

Puyín: Something like that did happen to me once. It was our season opener two years ago, and we had misspelled María Cevallos's name in our squad list. We were trying to prove to the league officials that her name was actually Cevallos, and finally one of our other players had to show the officials her tattoo that said "Property of María Cevallos" on her... never mind.

Myers: [pause] Well, I think that's going to have to do it for us this week. Before we leave I'll just thank Mr Festus Gratitude, Ms Kvenna Boldspil, Mr Phil Black, and Ms Selma Puyín for joining us this week. We'll remain here in Yokohama for the remainder of the tournament, and next week we'll discuss which players have improved their stock in the race for transfers. Our guests will be general managers from an English and a Spanish club, an official from the USA's Major League Soccer, and a Tokyo cabdriver. Good night.

Gratitude: What was that about a teammate with a tattoo?

Puyín: Well, the two of them always liked to go to... never mind.