NO INSULT AFTER ALL.
By Robert Evans
Saturday, July 1st, 2006 at 7:41 am in General.
The three American officials at the World Cup are on their way home…but not in disgrace, I’m pleased to say.
Two of them—Kevin Stott and Greg Barkey—had been part of the crew that worked the Australia/Croatia match when one Croatian player was cautioned three times by the referee, Graham Poll of England, without being sent off the field. To be fair to Barkey, he played no part in the mistake, because his only function was to be ready to replace an assistant referee in the event of an injury. The other four officials, however, equipped with radio communication, should have caught the error at the issuing of the second caution.
The President of FIFA, Sepp Blatter, got involved by commenting to the press that the mistake was inexplicable, given that all four officials are supposed to record events as they happen. That started speculation that Poll, a highly-rated professional referee from the Premiership in England, would be sent home before the quarter-finals, even though he is one of the most experienced international officials in the tournament. Life at the top of this most public and visible of sports can be hard and unforgiving.
I expected all three Americans to be sent home, since they were only in the development group, not used as Referees or Assistant Referees, but serving only as fourth or fifth officials. On June 23, FIFA issued a press-release acknowledging the error, and complimenting Poll on his distinguished career as “…an exceptional referee and a great sportsman…” There was no mention of the other three officials involved in the mistake.
On June 28, FIFA published the list of officials retained for the duration of the World Cup, and in doing so, exhibited great diplomatic tact. All the development officials were eliminated from the tournament, Poll and his two assistants were sent home, and there was no mention of the error as being the reason. No one can now say that our referees, or Poll and his assistants, were sent home because they screwed up.
On the FIFA website, you can read the official FIFA match report of the Australia/Croatia game. In what seems to me like a final gesture of diplomacy, the report makes no mention of three cautions to one player. Perhaps, after all, it never happened…
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July 2nd, 2006 at 11:51 am
Graham Poll showed great character when he took full responsibility for the confusion. The thing that passes unmentioned is that the administrative confusion, the officiating crew’s failure to properly record and react to the cautions, seems to have stemmed from confusion on the field caused by Poll’s not having isolated and clearly identified the player, each time Poll showed the yellow card. Minor sloppiness in using the cards, invented just to avoid such communications breakdowns, was the root cause of the problem. It bears asking whether there was a wireless intercom confirmation between the officials, to confirm that, yes, it was player so-and-so who committed each act of misconduct and was to be recorded in the book. The communications technology COULD have helped.
July 25th, 2006 at 12:54 pm
I think it is clear that the process of “sending home” refs isn’t practiced anymore. Not making the second round of games for some referees has nothing to do with their performances.