Wherein I defend referee Howard Webb. Seriously.
by Steve Davis on Jul 26, 2010 3:03 PM EDT
16 comments
I defend referees about as often as I eat beets.
And I really can’t stand beets.
But I just don’t understand the verbal mortars launched at English referee Howard Webb over the recent World Cup final. This is coming up again because I stumbled across this story about Webb responding to the criticisms. (Well, that … and because, like so many others out there, I’m clinging for dear life onto any last, lingering strands of World Cup joyness from June and early July. Sigh.)
I’d like to know what, exactly, Webb was supposed to do in a match that was quite difficult to manage thanks to the naughty and newly angry Dutch?
I really hate the thoughtless knee-jerking about 14 cards being issued. Yes, that’s a high figure. But it really is the height of nincompoopery to simply wave your hand dismissively and proclaim Webb as “card happy” – a silly term that I truly can’t stand, one frequently employed by simpletons in lieu of more thoughtful analysis of a situation. Take that, ye simpletons. Now go find a book with lots of big, pretty pictures and just sit quietly for a little while. You’re so precious!
Nigel "The Cleat" de Jong probably should have been ejected for his assault on Xabi Alonso. If that had been on an EPL Saturday rather than a World Cup final Sunday, I’d wager you a delicious South African milk tart that de Jong would have seen red. Mark van Bommel could have been booked four times, and if Wesley Sneijder got one more warning I swear I was going to start a drinking game. And that’s a referee adjudged to be card happy, whatever that means?
Referees are like bar owners. Some days are going to be busier than others – and every now and then you’re going to have to throw a bum out. That’s not their fault. But if they let their customers act a fool and don’t throw them out,* then it’s on them.
(*Yes, yes, I get the irony of this post when held up against something else I wrote today on another outlet about referees and ejections. If you don’t know what I’m talking about … well, just move along then … nothing to see here, folks.)
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no conflict in my mind
Steve,
Most of us understand the difference in referee standards between a World Cup final and a summer friendlies between MLS clubs and European powers. But I won’t be surprised if a simpleton blasts you for hyprocrisy.
I will be the simpleton. That is so hyprocritical of you. This ref was obviously card happy. Ok, you are welcome. lol
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by Talon Talent on Jul 26, 2010 8:56 PM EDT up reply actions
No win situation
If he throws de Jong out, as he probably should have, he’d have been accused of deciding the WC final in favor of Spain.
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by KJ@theonlycolors on Jul 26, 2010 3:32 PM EDT reply actions
The numbers don't lie
Webb did a great job. He had to make a lot of tough calls on the world’s greatest stage, and he got the vast majority spot on. Okay, I can’t fathom how he could let De Jong stay in the game after his kung fu demonstration. But he discouraged diving and punished thuggery.
It’s particularly nonsensical to accuse Webb of being card-happy when it’s clear that hacking was part of the Dutch team tactics. How else to explain that EIGHT different Dutch players received cards and only one got sent off—in extra time, no less?! It wasn’t that they were out of control, or that Webb was. Quite the opposite, really: the Dutch players were using yellow cards as a team strategy and Webb was simply doing what he was there to do. It had to be maddeningly difficult for him to stay level-headed in a game where the players were essentially trying to game the system.
The Dutch beat Brazil in part by getting away with murder on defense (van Bommel) and diving like Greg Louganis on the offense (Robben). Brazil dominated until losing their heads. Spain didn’t lose their heads—but they didn’t have to, because Webb did what he was supposed to do.
Sure the Dutch were playing rough, but Spain was also diving, for example, on the second Heitinga yellow. Not every single yellow card was deserved in my opinion, but it was a tough game to call.
Yes, Spain’s Carlos Puyol should have been sent off, too … but it’s not Webb’s fault that Arjen Robben tried to play through the challenge … ya know, something different for him.
I have a problem with this line of thinking/rule or whatever it is. It only encourages players to go down easier to get a more severe call against the other team. Shouldn’t the penalty be the same either way? Could Puyol still have been given a red card anyway?
Insanity is just a state of mind.
I have a problem with this line of thinking/rule or whatever it is. It only encourages players to go down easier to get a more severe call against the other team. Shouldn’t the penalty be the same either way? Could Puyol still have been given a red card anyway?
I very much agree with this. Puyol deserved a red regardless of if Robben was able to keep his balance or not. The fact is he still fouled him as the last man and intendedintended to foul him as the last man. Just because he didn’t succeed in bring Robben doesn’t doesn’t change that.
We whine and moan about players going down too easy but then stuff like that happens where if the player went down, probably red, but because he stayed up, nothing.
If you threw your hand out to hit the ball in order to prevent it from going into the goal but it still went in after coming off your hand, you’re still going to get sent off even though the other team was still able to score the goal.
Yes!
You can’t complain about simulation/embellishment and NOT criticize the decision to let Puyol get away with a failed foul on a goal-scoring chance. By not calling a foul in that situation, you are providing incentive for attacking players to behave in a way that almost everyone despises.
no incentive to behave
The problem is compounded by the fact that since it is the final there is no need to worry about yellow card accumulations, so every player on the field can essentially get one yellow with no future consequences. Look at the Germany/Spain semi-final, which had 0 yellows, and the Holland/Uruguay semi, which only had 5 — the difference is that no one in either of those games wanted to risk missing the final, so they had an incentive to play fair. But when it comes to the final, who cares if you get a yellow? The players, especially the Dutch, came in with that mentality, and so Webb was always going to have to issue a bunch of yellows.
There's no way to miss the Final on yellow card accumulation
The rule is that the slate is wiped clean before the semis. If Robben (who IIRC had gotten a hand-ball yellow during group play) had been yellow-carded during the semi, he would still have been eligible for the Final.
Still, I agree that the standard deterrents don’t work during the Final.
"And Julio Franco is batting right-handed!" -- Wayne Hagin, A's radio play-by-play, mid-80s
Complee agreetly
The Dutch, horrifyingly, came out kicking everyone in red. Webb had no recourse. Anyone who claims he was waving cards at every opportunity wasn’t (hasn’t) watching (-ed) the game.
Sure the Dutch were Playing Rough
But so do Stoke and Birmingham…
that doesn’t excuse the terrible missed call on that final goal kick which led to spain’s goal… it was clearly a deflection and should have been a Dutch corner.
it also doesn’t excuse the completely BS second yellow on Heitinga. Webb bought that dive hook, line, and sinker.
Aside from that, sure, all the other cards he handed out were justified. But he still blew two critical calls.
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by johnjahafanclub on Jul 27, 2010 11:23 AM EDT reply actions
My gut feeling as I was watching was that by that stage of the game Webb had had enough of the Dutch, and that he was probably happy to turn a Nelsonian blind eye to that deflection. The Dutch were not only rough on the Spaniards, they gave Webb a very hard time. (BTW, goal kicks are a routine occurrence and are not generally thought to “lead” to goals at the other end. If the corner had been given and Spain scored on the counter, I doubt you’d say the corner had led to the Spanish goal.)
Heitinga deserved the yellow as a persistent infringer. Van Bommel should have seen red as a persistent infringer. And you mention those two critical calls (the deflection and the yellow to Heitinga), but you conveniently overlook that the Dutch should have played most of the game a man down after De Jong’s assault on Xabi Alonso.
In the end, the Dutch didn’t lose because of Webb missing a couple of critical calls. They lost because they played a negative, destructive and ugly game.
I can't bear Webb
but he was in a lose-lose situation here.
One half of his critics are berating him for being “card happy”, the other half for not sending someone off earlier!
There wasn’t a card shown that wasn’t at least arguably justified. It was the players who drew the cards, the ref didn’t force them to act like thugs and babies.
Where Webb went wrong
I agree that Webb had a very difficult task, thanks to the Dutch strategy of playing rough. Where he went wrong was not in giving out too many cards (I too hate that “card-happy” bull), but in trying to mete them out “fairly”, i.e. to both teams.
Referees must be aware of the dynamics of the game they are officiating. In this case it was pretty clear that one team was the aggressor and was hoping to benefit from this aggressive style, whereas the other did not benefit from nor wanted this rough style.
By trying to be “even-handed” Webb not only failed to control the rough play but actually encouraged the Dutch to continue their rough style. After all, it had yielded two quick yellows (only one really deserved) for the Spanish back-line, while many Dutch players only got a “talking-to.” If I’m a Dutch player, I’m thinking “Hey, maybe we can get Ramos or Puyol tossed out!” Webb could have more properly given 4 or five yellows to Dutch players to only one (Puyol’s) to Spanish players in the early going of the game. That would more accurately have reflected who was doing what, and possibly calmed the Dutch down.
Lastly, I must say that De Jong should have been red-carded, full-stop. No “probably” about it, that was a vicious assault that did not in any way resemble a legitimate challenge.
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