AND NOW WE GO TO THE VIDEO TAPE:
Referee Kevin Friend somehow missed Luis Suarez and his now infamous bite to the arm of Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic but the rest of the world along with stadium video cameras didn’t.
Suarez received a ten-match ban for his indiscreet little nibble on Ivanovic’s sleeve in Sunday’s 2-2 English Premier League draw at Anfield.
The incident dominated sports coverage worldwide.
Everyone from former boxing champ Mike Tyson to Prime Minister David Cameron weighed in on the issue, with a number of hilarious social media posts that went viral.
We should also mention that thanks to ‘Mr. Teeth’, RedCardTheRef set a new traffic record for single-day visitors, with 575 on Wednesday and single-week visitors with 1779 many of whom stopped by to read our criticism of the Football Association’s ruling on Suarez. Not bad considering we just started operating this URL at the end of January. Cheers to you Luis, you put Doctor Evil’s little biting sidekick Mini Me to shame…Gee whiz, if this were an episode of Leave it to Beaver you would have been grounded until at least the county fair. Stay hungry Luis! As you continue reading down, feel free to look at the dinner menu kindly provided by a very clever Ryan Gibson and England’s Daily Mail:
BJORN KUIPERS AND OFFSIDE OPEN FOR INTERPRETATION:
It all depends on how you interpret the laws of the game, and the offside rule is definitely open for interpretation.
A few of our readers argued this week in their comments that they had no problem with Dutch referee Bjorn Kuipers decision to allow Dortmund striker Robert Lewandowski’s 50th minute goal during their 4-1 demolition of Real Madrid on Wednesday.
I was certain that Lewandowski appeared to drift into an offside position two seconds before he converted to give Dortmund a 2-1 lead.
The devil was too much in the detail on this one though as both the referee and his assistant didn’t believe Lewandowski to be interfering with play on his momentum-changing strike.
There is a real grey area in the application of the offside rule which can be quite confusing.
To some Lewandowski was clearly offside a second before receiving the ball but quickly adjusted into an onside position an instant before the ball was played to him. But to others like one of our readers, whose full comment can be read below, we were dead wrong!
“You’ve clearly watched a very different match. Are you sure you watched Dortmund – Madrid? Because all three examples of wrong decisions by Kuipers were RIGHT decisions.”
Several Real Madrid raised their arms for offside and protested to Kuipers, who refused to listen to their arguments.
Some officials would have blown the offence down on the spot, deeming Lewandowski to be interfering with play since he was directly in front of the Madrid goal. Others take a much more liberal approach to the rule, and instead choose to give the complete benefit of the doubt to the attacking team.
Kuipers also awarded a soft penalty kick to Dortmund when Marco Reus went to ground all too easily after a slight nudge from Madrid’s Xabi Alonso saw Kuipers point to the spot.
After the match Los Blancos manager Jose Mourinho steered clear of talk about the officiating and decided to place the game clearly on the shoulders of his players who despite Kuipers contribution were clearly outplayed on the night.
LIES, LIES, LIES: MUSSOLINI AND ARGENTINE GENERALS HELPED FIX WORLD CUP TITLES:
The beautiful game’s and it’s appeal to the masses is the perfect vehicle for any corrupt political leader to further enhance their propaganda machine. Most know that the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin became one of Hitler’s vehicles enhance his misery across Europe and the world, but few are aware of the World Cup and its involvement with facist regimes military dictatorships.
Witness the results of a recent symposium of scholars and journalists in Zurich, Switzerland has revealed Argentina’s 1978 World Cup triumph and Italy’s 1934 victory were influenced by military dictatorships.
Israeli professor Raanan Rein told The Associated Press he was certain that Argentina’s brutal military junta fixed the Albiceleste’s 6-0 semi-final win over Peru after collaborating with their government ahead of the match. Italian writer Marco Impiglia said that fascist leader Benito Moussilini “ensured” refereeing decisions went the way of the Azzurri. Since our game is a vehicle of liberation and understanding to so many, what the findings really reveal is a sickening reality of the age we live in and how much more needs to be done to guard against match-fixing.
SADLY TO SAY NO SEX TO REPORT HERE, BUT PLEASE DON’T TOUCH MY JUNK:
A Kenyan referee is suing the country’s national football federation stating he was left impotent after a coach grabbed and squeezed his testicles in a pitch invasion.
Martin Wekesa is seeking $240,000 after the alleged assault occurred when Sparki Youth team assistant Daudi Kajembe was enraged after Wekesa sent a player off.
MLS FEELS GOAL-LINE TECHNOLOGY CROSSES THE LINE:
Major League Soccer won’t be rushing to sign on for goal-line technology. North America’s top-flight league cited budgetary concerns and followed the lead of UEFA boss Michel Platini who has also given the alleged technological fix to referee incompetence the thumbs down.
“[The cost] had us take a step back and pause and try to figure out: Is the value of having goal-line technology worth investing millions and millions and millions of dollars for the handful of moments where it’s relevant?” he said. “And our view has been that we’re going to wait and see how it works out. We certainly don’t need to be the first league that has it.”
The English Premier League and FIFA have already approved use of the technology to solve the age-old problem of goal-line disputes. The new equipment will be tested at this year’s Confederation Cup in Brazil while the EPL will use the Hawk-Eye system next season.
UEFA uses a two officials behind each goal to solve goal-line disputes and spot infractions. Platini recently said the technology would cost the governing body $66-million to install for European competitions.
….AND NOW FOR THE SEX:
The Singapore business man at the centre of the sex-for-match-fixing scandal was recently given a fresh charge of theft for allegedly stealing evidence state prosecutors said on Friday. Eric Ding Si Yang was accused of trying to rig an Asian Cup football match by hiring prostitutes for three Labanese referees. As he was being interviewed by the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau on Wednesday, investigators claim he tried to hide a personal receipt issued by a law firm.
(Thanks…We knew the sex part - even though it is only alleged sex - would draw your attention to RedCardTheRef.com and get you to share our link with others)
GOING INTO THE BOOK WITH OUR WEEKLY NUTS AND DOLTS!:
An Indonesian Super League player has been banned for life by the country’s governing body after punching a referee in the face during a recent match. Referee Muhaimin required four stitches in hospital to close a wound in his face after Persiwa Wamena striker punched him for awarding a penalty to to Pelita Bandung Raya during last Sunday’s match in the West Java capital of Bandung. A pretty graphic video is available at the end of the article….Officiating his first Chelsea game since being cleared of racism charges by Blues John Obi Mikel, referee Mark Clattenburg stayed out of the headlines this time as Chelsea beat Swansea 2-0. Mikel failed to see any minutes for Chelsea and remained on the bench for the entire match….Speaking of EPL referees, Chris Foy currently leads our EPL Worst Referee poll over Howard Webb by 40 votes but his lead is shrinking. We began surverying back in February and since we have seen 100 votes cast. Foy drew the ire of Chelsea fans for missing an obvious stomp by City’s Sergio Aguero on David Luiz. The poll is located at the top left of your screen so scroll up and vote now….Former Italian international coach Marcelo Lippi - who now coaches Chinese first division club Guangzhou, was ejected from his club’s 3-2 loss to Japan’s Urawa Reds in Asian Champions League action on Thursday. Despite their 3-2 loss, Ghangzhou advanced to the knockout stage of the tournament. Lippi was enraged with two controversial penalty kick decisions that went against his club and kicked a water bottle in frustration leading to his dismissal. A veteran soccer commentator criticized Lippi for not being more familiar with Chines footballing culture….. Newbe referee Robert Madley was kept busy in his first-ever Premier League match dishing out three red cards in West Bromwich Albion’s foul-filled 3-0 win over Southampton. West Brom’s Marc-Antoine Fortune and the Saints Gaston-Ramirez were given their marching orders after a dispute over Gaston-Ramirez’ foul. Southampton’s Danny Fox was the next to hit the showers early after his two-footed challenge on Steven Reid…..Bulgarian referee Ahmed Ahmed has been removed from the European nation’s football union referees’ list for the remainder of the season after he disallowed an equalizing goal by first division champions Litex in their match against Levski with no explanation. The Bulgarian Football Association has already suspended six referees for poor decisions in domestic league matches this season…Ex-world soccer powerbroker Jack Warner resigned as national security minister of Trinidad & Tobago some 48 hours after a regional soccer group’s ethics panel accused him and another top former official of enriching themselves through fraud.
In a brief statement Sunday night, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar said that Warner offered to resign from her Cabinet and that she accepted his decision. She had raised eyebrows last June when she named Warner as the national security minister, calling him a “man of action.”….Can’t say as we blame Edmonton FC head Colin Miller for his sideline tirade which led to his dismissal by referee Silvu Petrescu in Wednesday’s 3-2 CONCACAF Champions League loss to the Vancouver Whitecaps. Petrescu inexplicably pointed to the penalty spot after after Whitecaps striker Camilo Sanvezzo took an obvious dive, and then tied the game on the spot kick. Before the former Canadian international defender and coach had arrived back after the long walk to the dressing room at Commonwealth Stadium, the Whitecaps scored the winner to take the first leg.
….AND NOW BACK TO THE VIDEO TAPE:
And now we dip into our video vault of seen and not so seen referee incidents from around the world.
Still Hungry for more Luis Suarez?
Well we have seen a lot of Luis Suarez clips but this one takes the cake. A great compilation of Luis Suarez incidents over the years…Oh that crazy Luis!:
Referee attacked in Indonesia
From West Java Indonesian Referee Muhaimin receives four sitches in hospital after Persiwa Wamena striker comes out swinging after PK call:
Player attacked by linesman
From Russia with Love…Russian youth league linesman Musa Kadyrov launches a barrage of kicks and punches at a young player - Kadyrov has been banned for life:
Kuipers wasn’t that bad.
The first penalty situation was correct, cause not every contact is a foul.
The second Lewa goal was also correct, cause its very difficult to make such close decisions in realtime and I think even in slow motion it wasn’t offside by a margin of milimeters.
Last but not least the penalty was also correct, cause Alonso doesn’t reach the ball and bump into Reus. That’s a foul. A dumb one and nothing brutal or goal-preventing, but that doesn’t change anything.
Wow, you got pretty much every one of these calls wrong. Congrats! At 42 minutes Varane barely touched Reus and anyone who saw it in slow-motion will admit that it wasn’t a tripping or dive. Reus just lost his footing, but you simply can’t call every single touch in the box a penalty. Afterwards it wasn’t just the denied penalty that had Dortmund players disconcerted, but the throw-in, which lead to the Madrid goal should never have been awarded to Real, that’s what made Dortmund players lose their concentration.
I don’t see a mistake from Kuipers’ side on the second goal and for the penalty, it’s clear that Alonso did not mean to knock him over, but he came down on him so hard nonetheless, that it was a clear-as-day penalty. No two ways about that one. Alonso was simply clumsy.
You should have written an article about the referee’s job in the Bayern-Barca game, plenty to talk about there, but Kuipers did an excellent job.
You’ve clearly watched a very different match. Are you sure you watched Dortmund - Madrid? Because all three examples of wrong decisions by Kuipers were RIGHT decisions. Like the previous commenter said, at the first ‘penalty’ the Real Madrid player seems to have hardly touched Reus, if he touched him at all (in fact, Reus seemed to touch the Madrid player, not the other way around). Reus tripped himself, he wasn’t tripped by the defender. Not to mention that this supposed offense took place just outside the penalty area.
And I do not understand how you could claim Lewa’s second goal to be offside. I watched the replays; Lewandowski was CRYSTAL CLEAR not offside when the ball was played to him.
And then, at the 2nd penalty, you claim that Reus went to the ground himself. Really, I ask again, did you watch the correct football match? Reus was slammed into from behind by a defender. How is that not a penalty? ESPECIALLY when you claim that the ‘first’ penalty WAS a penalty, and this one is not? You turn the world upside down. Kuipers was excellent - he let the game flow, but kept everything under control. He even booked Ozil for calling for yellow cards, thats just awesome.
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