Saturday, April 28, 2012

Collina: Communication and Prediction as keys of successful refereeing

Pierluigi Collina of Italy, UEFA's chief refereeing officer, has shifted focus on the preparation the match officials for UEFA EURO 2012 have to undergo and furthermore strengthened the foundation stones of successful refereeing as part of an interview given to UEFA.com. 

Pierluigi Collina (c) UEFA.com
As one of the most discernible faces UEFA Refereeing had to offer during the last years, Collina knows best what matters. Having been elected six times in a row as the world's best referee from 1998 to 2003, the main point Collina had become famous for was the until then not recognized ability to have a strong but also respectful approach to the players. Communication and a deep rapport has been being considered vital for refereeing since Collina's era and is nowadays an irreplaceable basis for refereeing on every level, especially on the professional referee he is personally responsible for.
For this reason, Collina has again laid emphasis on the need to be able to have close link to the players. "It must convince the players that the referees are reliable, that the decision taken by him can be grasped.", he stated. Besides, Collina stressed that players were not the enemies of a referee, but that the players could not consider the referees as enemies either. 

Communication as vital ability of referees

Collina has hence two aspect on his mind. On the one hand, he sees communication and the relationship between players and referees as essential, but on the other hand, the athleticism of the match officials is in focus as well. As the game gets faster and is developing more and more, referees have to persistently improve their physical condition and mental awareness, too, which includes being best informed about the teams and players involved in an upcoming match. Therefore, that's another crucial ability according to Collina: "The referee has to predict, he has to be aware of what can happen maybe one second later," he said. "This is the best way to be ready to make a decision. If you are surprised by something, you are very probably wrong. If you know that something can happen, you are ready, it's very probable that you will be right."

With regard to the pending European Championship, Collina also concentrated on the referees' awareness of the tournament's brevity and the consequently emerging need to be at the peak of their skills when it comes to the point. "Everything is important, everything can mean a lot, not only for the teams, but also for the referees. So they are very motivated and determined to show the best performance possible.", he said.
The final tournament will start on 9th June. The full and final list of match officials will follow after the completion of fitness tests that will be accomplished in Warsaw from 30th April to 3rd May.


source: UEFA.com

Thursday, April 26, 2012

About the first penalty

The Hungarian referee Viktor Kassai awarded a controversial handball penalty kick to Real Madrid in yesterday's UEFA Champions League Semifinal. David Alaba supposedly played the ball deliberately with his hand.


FIFA Laws of the Game state that "handling the ball involves a deliberate act of a player making contact with the ball with his hand or arm. The referee must take the following into consideration:
  • the movement of the hands towards the ball (not the ball towards the hand)
  • the distance between the opponent and the ball (unexpected ball)
  • the position of the hand does not necessarily mean that there is an infringement"
None of this criteria is fulfilled in this specific case. There is obviously no movement with the hand towards the ball, the distance is small. In addition, one cannot argue that the action of Alaba can be penalized due to an offence of negligence, as the Laws of the Game unambiguosly do not pay attention to this aspect. Hence, there is no deliberation at all.

Therefore, the penalty decision made by Viktor Kassai and probably also the Additional Assistant Referee Tamás Bognar is wrong.

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

UEFA Referee Talents Seminar - Nyon 2012

Eleven Referees and ten Assistant Referees have been chosen by UEFA to join the annual seminar for Referee Talents in Nyon from 7th to 9th May.

Clément Turpin (FRA)


Origin
Referees
DoB
AZE
Azerbaijan
Anar SALMANOV
04/10/1980
BUL
Bulgaria
Stanislav TODOROV
07/09/1976
FIN
Finland
Antti MUNUKKA
03/03/1982
FRA
France
Clément TURPIN
16/05/1982
ISR
Israel
Liran LIANY
24/05/1977
LTU
Lithuania
Gediminas MAZEIKA
24/03/1978
LVA
Latvia
Vadims DIREKTORENKO
31/01/1981
MLT
Malta
Alan Mario SÁNT
16/08/1980
POL
Poland
Szymon MARCINIAK
1981
SVK
Slovakia
Ivan KRUZLIAK
24/03/1984
SVN
Slovenia
Matej JUG
25/09/1980


Origin
Assistant Referees
DoB
AZE
Azerbaijan
Mehman MAHMUDOV
1975
BUL
Bulgaria
Ivo KOLEV
25/06/1979
FIN
Finland
Jan-Peter ARAVIRTA
18/08/1978
ISR
Israel
David Elias BITON
1978
LTU
Lithuania
Vytautas ŜIMKUS
13/01/1975
LVA
Latvia
Haralds GUDERMANIS
14/10/1979
MLT
Malta
Edward SPITERI
26/05/1977
POL
Poland
Pawel SOKOLNICKI
1980
SVK
Slovakia
Tomas SOMOLANI
23/12/1977
SVN
Slovenia
Gregor ROJKO
17/11/1979


Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Atkinson and Skomina in charge of UEFA EL Semifinals' 2nd Legs




Valencia CF
-:-
Atlético Madrid
MATCH FACTS: UEFA EL SF, 2nd leg • 26 April 2012, 21:05 CET, Estadio Mestalla, Valencia
Referee
Damir Skomina
SVN

Assistant Referee 1
Primož Arhar
SVN

Assistant Referee 2
Marko Stančin
SVN

Fourth Official
Mitja Žganec
SVN

Additional Assistant Referee 1
Matej Jug
SVN

Additional Assistant Referee 2
Slavko Vinčić
SVN

UEFA Delegate
Balázs Makray
HUN

UEFA Referee Observer
Rene Temmink
NED











Athletic Bilbao
-:-
Sporting
MATCH FACTS: UEFA EL SF, 2nd leg • 26 April 2012, 21:05 CET, San Mamés,  Bilbao
Referee
Martin Atkinson
ENG

Assistant Referee 1
Mike Mullarkey
ENG

Assistant Referee 2
Stephen Child
ENG

Fourth Official
Mike Dean
ENG

Additional Assistant Referee 1
Mark Clattenburg
ENG

Additional Assistant Referee 2
Mike Jones
ENG

UEFA Delegate
David Findlay
SCO

UEFA Referee Observer
Iouri Baskakov
RUS