FOOTY FAIR

Clásico Corruption Allegations Rock La Liga

2015-10-23T08:00:00.000-04:00

Spanish football could either be on the verge of one its most explosive match fixing scandals in years or it could be a story of hearsay, but regardless a story coming out of La Liga this week is sure to raise some eyebrows.

According to reports in the Guardian and the Independent, a linesman has allegedly been instructed to favour Real Madrid in next month’s clásico against Barcelona.

The linesman, who has not been identified as he fears reprisals, claims that he was contacted first by another official and later by a member of the Spanish Football Federation’s referees’ committee.

According to the Independent:

It is understood that one of the pre-designated linesmen had been contacted by the match referee, and informed that the refereeing committee are pressuring him in to favouring Real with his decisions in their clash with fierce rivals Barcelona at the Santiago Bernabeu on 21 November.

The linesman has also reported Jose Angel Jimenez Munoz de Morales, a member of the referees’ committee, for allegedly contacting him directly to put extra pressure on the official to rule in Real’s favour.

Besides the match in question, the linesman has also told his lawyer that he knows of several matches that have already been illegally influenced and that at least one other linesman has been put under similar pressure to influence results.

For their part the Spanish Football Federation’s referees’ committee are denying any knowledge of the incident.

While like several other major leagues around the world there have been rumours of improper conduct by referees over the years, a scandal like this would rock La Liga to its core.

For their part Barcelona have said that "they hope this isn't true", while Real Madrid are yet to comment.

Five Fastest Red Cards in Football History

2015-09-06T08:00:00.000-04:00

When Steven Gerrard was sent off after only 38 seconds of coming onto the pitch for Liverpool against Manchester United last season, United fans laughed in derision at the now departed Anfield legend.

But incredibly that doesn't even come close to cracking the top five for the fastest sendings off in football history.

The following five professional players that were sent to an early bath even sooner than Gerrard:

5) Mark Smith, Crewe Alexandra vs Darlington in 1994 (19 seconds)

With his defense parting like the Red Sea and a Darlington striker baring down on him straight from the kickoff, Mark Smith of Crewe Alexandra did what any self respecting nutjob goalkeeper would do and took the attackers legs out from under him. Smith saw a straight red for his efforts and Darlington scored from the spot kick. "CRASH!"

4) Kevin Pressman, Sheffield Wednesday vs Wolves in 2000 (13 seconds)

Straight from the kickoff Wolves put a hopeful ball up towards the edge of Sheffield Wednesday's box and incredibly their hapless keeper Kevin Pressman rushed out to touch with his hand. As he was outside of his area Pressman saw a straight red. "THUMP!"

3) Giuseppe Lorenzo, Bologna vs Parma in 1990 (10 seconds)

Giuseppe Lorenzo wasn't no time in getting the referee to show him a red in a Serie A match back in 1990. He simply walked on the pitch and punched an opponent in the face. "BAM!"

T-1) Walter Boyd, Swansea vs Darlington in 2000 (0 seconds)

Entering a match against Darlington as a substitute, Swansea's Walter Boyd got involved in a brawl before play resumed for a free kick and elbowed a Darlington player in the head. The official time of his sending off was zero seconds. "CRACK!"

T-1) Keith Gillespie, Sheffield United vs Reading in 2007 (0 seconds)

Former Manchester United and Newcastle United winger Keith Gillespie was always known as a fiery character and so he proved when he was subbed on for Sheffield United while Reading were trying to take a throw on. Before the ball could be thrown though he got into a brawl with Stephen Hunt and was sent off with zero seconds of live match action being played. "SMASH!"

WTF Football - Referee Edition (Gallery)

2015-05-03T16:00:00.001-04:00

This week on WTF Football we pay special attention to the refs and linesmen (and women) that do get in the way of the game every so often.

5 Football Rules You May Have Not Known About

2015-04-16T16:00:00.000-04:00

Of course if you have been following football (soccer) for a long time you may have come across refereeing decisions which over time have made you understand even the oddest or at least rarely implemented rules within the game. Nonetheless, here is a list of 5 match laws that may still surprise some.

No subs for corner-kicks and throw-ins

A player coming on the pitch as a substitute during a throw-in or corner-kick is not allowed to take the kick or throw himself. The idea behind this is the fact that the newly introduced footballer has to be "on the pitch" before he is able to partake in such actions. Basically he must get on the pitch, before being able to participate in match actions off of it. This does not apply to free-kicks for instance, as this is an action done within the parameters of the field.

Foreign objects

Liverpool supporters probably know this rule very well after having conceded a goal against Sunderland as a result of the ball being deflected into their goal off of a beach ball that somehow made its way onto the pitch. As far as foreign objects are concerned it is a "two-way street". If a foreign object (which includes actual objects, animals or even fans) come in the way of a ball, the play will be called exactly as it happened. For instance, if the ball is on its way into goal and a seagull flies down and stops it, the referee will not be allowed to call a goal on the play even if it would have gone in for sure.

Getting carded after the match

Have you ever heard a player being booked in the parking lot? Well, that could actually happen. According to football rules, a referee has the right to discipline footballers as long as they are still within the game area, which includes changing-rooms, toilets in the stadium and even the parking-lot of the venue.

A flat ball, means no goal

Imagine you line up a nice shot and as the ball travels towards the goal it loses its air and goes flat, but manages to find the back of the net anyway; unfortunately, in this instant you may get pretty frustrated by the referee's decision as he will not be allowed to let the goal stand according to the rule book. In order to be in play a ball must remain inflated.

Rolling up your sleeves

This may be strange because we have seen goalkeepers do this time and time again, but according to the laws of the game a goalkeeper wearing long sleeves is not allowed to roll said sleeves up. This is so the referee can distinguish the keeper's arms to those of the field players, making sure the right person handles the ball.

Bad Refereeing Standards Make MLS Unwatchable

2015-04-06T08:00:00.001-04:00

It's not a secret that Major League Soccer is well on its way to becoming a well recognized football league. Since its inception in 1996 the league has taken big strides to becoming a talent-producing, quality football, competitive league. But there is one big issue that needs to be addressed if the league is to receive any real credibility among the many top football leagues across the world; the absolutely terrible refereeing.

I have in fact started to follow the league in its inaugural season, when the talent on the pitch was average at best and penalty-kicks were taken by a player running at the goalkeeper in a 1-on-1 fashion from midfield. But perhaps it was the young age of the league and the lack of talent spread across every team that refereeing was given somewhat of a break and is now in the spotlight instead.

As league owners and officials made decisions to put MLS up on the global footballing map rules were changed to reflect those of the worldwide game, football specific stadiums were built, designated players are being signed and academy systems are being put into place to produce homegrown talent. Attendance is now pushing the averages of those in France in Netherlands and the league is seemingly getting more and more followers outside of the US and Canada. But all of these improvements are putting perhaps its biggest problem directly into the forefront.

Watching any MLS match, even of the highest quality is very often ruined by what I can only call simple and stupid mistakes from the referees. After some frustrating calls last season, Toronto FC captain Michael Bradley said "The people at the MLS office in New York, when they talk about wanting to improve the league, the first thing that needs to be improved is the refereeing," and he's right, although it may seem as an excuse for a Toronto team that hasn't done very well in its short history, some refereeing decisions make the league seem amateur.

Just this past weekend in a match between Toronto and Chicago the refs couldn't make a simple decision in which the ball clearly went off one player behind the goal (with nobody in near proximity) and yet somehow the referee awarded a corner-kick instead of an obvious goal-kick, a simple decision that could have changed the game massively. In leagues like the EPL, La Liga, Budesliga etc, refs also make mistakes, but when it comes to the small details these trained professional have a much better understanding of the game. For instance, not every referee sees exactly what happens on a given play, however, understanding concepts such as trajectory and physics is what helps refs make the right decisions many times during a match. The way the ball bounced out of touch in the instance of the wrong corner-kick call, was an instant giveaway as to who was in fact the player that touched the ball last.

Aside from actual on the pitch calls there are a few more issues with the standards of MLS referees which makes the league unwatchable at times; the default 1 and 3 minutes added time is one that drives me nuts. If you ever watched an MLS match it is very likely that in a perfect almost predetermined like sequence the added-time in the first half was a single minute, while at the end of the 90 the injury minutes were determined to be 3. If I had to guess, this occurs in at least 90% of MLS matches. As minuscule as this may seem however, this is a huge problem which reflects the fact of how little thought MLS referees actually put into the intricacies of a match. On many occasions I have watched a match which involved lengthy injuries, various amounts of yellow and red cards and other miscellaneous stoppages, many of which were never considered when injury-time was displayed on the assistant referee's board.

But it's not like the MLS is doing nothing about it. In 2012 an experienced Premier League referee Peter Walton was hired to run a program called PRO, the "Professional Referees Organization". The PRO oversees and is designed to improve referees in North America and is the main voice of referees in the MLS, NASL, USL-PRO and the NWSL. But while this is a great idea and is a correct move, Walton himself sited that "time" was needed to change things around. But while he wasn't very specific as to how much time is actually required, the program is looking to change the mindset and professional standards of referees across the United States, something that is likely to take up a good number of years, especially considering that almost 3 years on MLS fans are yet to see real change in the way referees on many occasions have a real impact on the final result of a match.

Unfortunately for the spectators, it's a very likely possibility that until the Professional Referees Organization begins to output their own product of new younger referees, the MLS will suffer the same fate it is enduring at the moment; big stage football with big name footballers, being handled by officials that likely would not be chosen to referee third and fourth division matches in places like England and Germany.

Al Ahly Player Suspended For Untucking a Referee's Shirt

2014-10-28T20:00:00.000-04:00

One of the standard rules at all levels of football, from pub leagues to the World Cup Final, is that players should not put their hands on a referee.

Al Ahly midfielder Walid Soliman broke that rule on Monday and has been slapped with a four-match suspension by the Egyptian FA.

Charged with 'raising his hands to the referee' during his side’s 0-0 draw against Al Asyouty Sport, what Soliman did was a little funnier in fact.

After drawing his second yellow card of the match, the fiery midfielder proceeded to unstuck the referees shirt before leaving the pitch.

The North African country's football authorities did not see any humour in the situation however and besides the ban, have also fined Soliman for 5,000 LE, approximately $700 US.

Leandro Damião Incredible Attempt to Deceive Referee

2014-10-15T06:00:00.000-04:00

We have all witnessed players simulating a foul to earn a penalty or even to see the opponent carded. Some players have become almost experts at it, and they do it so well that it takes several camera angles to determine if indeed it was a dive or a foul.

Leandro Damião is not one of those players. The Santos striker has taken diving to a whole new level by pulling his own shirt during a 3-0 loss to Criciuma, in an attempt to fool the referee.

Nobody was fooled by his antics and the only one looking like a fool now is Leandro Damião that was caught by Brazilian TV doing this shameful ploy to earn a foul for his team. It is hard to find words to describe what he did, so why not just watch the video and judge for yourself.

Referee Fired for Denouncing Match Fixing

2014-10-06T06:00:00.000-04:00

The Algerian assistant referee Munir Bitam has been stopped from any activities related to football for interrupting a match to denounce cases of match fixing.

The announcement was made by the Algerian Federation this past Friday.

On September 19th, Munir Bitam interrupted a match of the Algerian second division, when he walked to the middle of the field with a shirt that denounced matches that were fixed and names of Algerian federation staff involved in the alleged fixing of those matches.

The federation released a letter to the press announcing that the actions of the referee was a serious infraction and was nothing more than a defamatory campaign to dirty the names of honorable federation officials.

Munir has been silent since his “pitch invasion”, he talked to the media and explained that he was asked to eliminate a team and help the other during a match. He also admitted that he call a complete valid goal offside, as he had been asked before the match.

The Algerian federation has asked the referee to appear in their headquarters for an investigative meeting but Munir has refused to appear since he doesn’t believe he will receive an impartial treatment.

I don’t find it hard to believe the assistant referee in this situation, and I am not surprise with the federation’s reaction, after all his actions have embarrassed plenty of people and will bring an undesired attention to officials that probably have been taking bribes for some time now.

Having said that I don’t think this assistant referee grew a conscious. He probably didn’t get his envelope while everyone else was getting a bigger payout. You don’t go from participating in match fixing to blow the whistle on it, just because you suddenly realize it is the right thing to do. Someone was a bit sour about the size or lack of their payoff.

Colombian Lawyer Suing FIFA for Bad Refereeing

2014-08-15T21:00:00.000-04:00

A Colombian lawyer is suing FIFA for the bad refereeing at the World Cup causing him cardiac problems.

The refereeing at the World Cup was pretty horrendous, of that there can be little argument. But while the piss poor job done by FIFA's match official's caused most of us to just swear and curse at our screens, it proved a little more troubling for a Colombian man.

The 74 year old Aurelio Jimenez told the BBC World Service that after Brazil, quite literally, kicked Colombia out of the tournament:

“I felt very bad, I was heartbroken, my cardiac rhythm was altered and my relatives took me to the emergency room at the hospital.

“I was surrounded by my grandchildren who were crying a lot.”

“I decided to sue FIFA in the Colombian judiciary system because in the past world soccer championship in Brazil, there were many wrongdoings related to referees who damaged many countries and their selections, among them the Colombia team.”

“Moreover, FIFA’s referees caused big moral damages and distress to Chile, Uruguay, Colombia, England, Mexico and Costa Rica.”

I'm with you my Colombian friend. The refereeing at the World Cup was awful and few observers would disagree with him on that. What's more if he wins, Jimenez has promised to donate any money he receives to a children's charity.

What's more, he claims to have testimonies from Pele, Diego Maradona, James Rodriguez and several referees who commented on the leniency showed by Spanish referee Carlos Velasco Carballo during Colombia's Quarter Final exit.

Watch the space.

2014 World Cup - The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

2014-07-14T20:00:00.000-04:00

FootyFair's three reflect on the good, bad and ugly things in this year's World Cup.

THE GOOD

Kon: Goalkeeping has been a very welcomed bright spot in this tournament. With acrobatic performances and incredible penalty saves often on display ,there have possibly been more goalkeepers worth mentioning than in any previous tournament and although some have seen the end of their campaign before the round of 16, they all deserve credit for their performances, so here they are: Brazil's Julio Cesar, Costa Rica's Keylor Navas, Dutch keeperTim Krul and Argentina's Sergio Romero for the penalty-kick heroics. Mexico's Guillermo Ochoa, Nigeria's Vincent Enyeama and Algerian keeper Raïs M'Bolhi for their incredible performances in the group stages. American goalkeeper Tim Howard for his display in groups and against the Belgians in the round of 16. And of course the golden glove winner, German net-minder Manuel Neuer for an overall outstanding World Cup campaign.

Pedro:The incredible quality of the football played on the field. I don’t remember one single tournament where the quality of the games was this high. There were very few that were not good, the vast majority was not only entertaining it was extremely well played. If I had to pick my top 5 matches of the tournament to illustrate what I am saying I would have to look no further than, Spain vs. Netherlands, Australia vs. Netherlands, Brazil vs. Germany, Argentina vs. Nigeria & Colombia vs. Uruguay. These are just five examples; I would be able to come up with more. It would be a harder exercise to come up with 5 horrible games.

Iain: The best group stage I've ever seen. Although I thought the quality of the knockout rounds dropped off a little bit in terms of excitement, the opening stage of this World Cup was absolutely incredible. Starting with the Netherlands 5-1 destruction of Spain, Colombia's entertaining 3-0 win over Greece, carrying through to Germany's thrilling 2-2 draw with Ghana, and America's 2-2 draw with Portugal this was a group stage to savour. There was some brilliant, positive attacking football and it was a treat to watch.

THE BAD

Kon: Russia alongside Belgium, were pretty heavy favorites to come out of their group H at least into the round of 16. Managed by none other than Italian master coach Fabio Capello, the hosts of the next World Cup in 2018 were unable to produce even the slightest bit of football that would be considered World Cup worthy. While losing 2-1 to Belgium may have seemed excusable, draws against the South Koreans and Algerians will surely go in the books as extremely disappointing. With a squad that came out of their qualifying campaign as group winners ahead of Portugal, the Russians seemed unsure as to what they were doing in Brazil, with an awful brand of football comparable only to that of Honduras and Cameroon in this particular World Cup.

Pedro: The refereeing was horrible in this tournament. From the first game between Brazil vs. Croatia to the last games, the referees made some incredible dumb and horrible calls. Looking back I don’t think we have had so many bad calls in a tournament since the 2002 Japan/Korea World Cup. One of the worst calls was the penalty for Netherlands against Brazil in the 3^rdplace match. The referee managed the nearly impossible, by making two bad calls in the same play. Robben was taken down outside the penalty area, so it should be a free-kick and not a penalty and Thiago Silva should have been red carded and not yellow. He was the last man back and the rules are clear, for a foul like that when you are the last man, you get a red.

Iain: The performance of Asian sides in the tournament. Although I agree with my colleagues in their assessment of how horrible Russia were to watch and the low standard of the refereeing, I was most disappointed with the poor performance of the Asian sides in this World Cup. Australia, who aren't technically an Asian side but qualify out of the AFC, were in a ridiculously hard group and predictably finished with 0 points. They did put in a decent effort, but were well short of the required quality to progress. South Korea, meanwhile, were a shadow of the energetic and technically gifted sides they've sent in the past and went out with a whimper. The biggest disappointment was Japan, who were drawn in a fairly even looking group and on paper had one of the stronger sides they've ever sent to a World Cup. Their campaign was an utter disaster though as they ended up with only a single point. For the second tournament since 2002, no Asian side progressed to the Round of 16.

THE UGLY

Kon: Cameroon's and Ghana's money "starved" squads for me was the very ugliest thing about this tournament. Instead of concentrating on their football, the two nations' players' minds were on whether or not they will be paid their bonuses. But bonuses for what, is my question. Both teams, and especially Cameroon who were not even willing to board their plain to Brazil due to concerns over their bonus pay, played horribly. With Ghana's one point and Cameroon's awful three losses in as many matches, the two greedy nations crashed out of the tournament, but not before receiving millions of dollars in payouts from their country's football associations. What ever happened to the pride of representing your country in the big tournament? And do these players really need the paycheck so bad, with the footballers of the two squads worth around 200 million pounds on the transfer market?

Pedro: Suarez biting Chiellini has to be the ugly. This World Cup will always be remembered not by the incredible goals or plays, but by a moment of insanity from Suarez. His bite on Chiellini during their last group stage game was a black mark on the player, his country and the tournament. Something like this should not be happening at this level and stage. FIFA handled it well, and the punishment is severe and warranted, but the action will forever live in our minds and in World Cup history.

Iain: Brazil's humiliation, although perversely thrilling to witness at the time, was absolutely horrific for that proud footballing nation. As great as Germany were in that 7-1 Semi Final massacre, Brazil's defense looked like it was comprised of a bunch of drunk guys picked at random from the Silly Dog and Duck Pub. They were useless in all senses of the word, but seeing as how the players involved in the infamous Maracanazo, when Brazil lost 2-1 to Uruguay in the de facto 1950 World Cup Final, were still reminded of that defeat fifty years later I have some sympathy for the Brazilian squad. Make no mistake about it, these players will have this humiliation hanging over their heads for the rest of their lives. The defending was ugly, but the fallout will be just as harsh as many of this Brazil squad won't be asked to represent their country again and they will always have to live with the shame of the heaviest defeat in Brazil's history.