Official; Howard Webb appreciation thread

Originally Posted by red in cumbria

I wonder if Webb had orders from on high last night not to send anybody off too early, if he could possibly avoid it, in order to avoid "ruining" the supposed "biggest showpiece in football". Maybe even from the corrupt old Swiss @#%&! himself??

Almost certainly

Originally Posted by denis lawless

twice......

and it will taunt him for the rest of his days

Pretty much did us proud did Webby. Future OBE f'sho. One of the best.

Sort of made up for England's display.

Originally Posted by borsuk

de jong's was a straight red. webb bottled it.

yep. that was his major error really. by failing to assert that basic level of control it gave the dutch licence to give out a good kicking, whereas going down to ten men would have forced them to play with more discipline and intelligence. as it was, the benchmark for what they could get away with was raised to a false level, to the point that their perception of injustice became skewed.

big-game referees seem to be bound by this idea that red cards overshadow the occasion - £#%&! that, it's the same as any other game; if it's deserved then show one. it's more in keeping with the scale of the event to make a bold decision and officiate robustly than it is to blithely stage-manage proceedings. if webb had done his job at the crucial moment last night then this final might have unfolded differently; instead it will primarily be remembered as an ugly mess.

Heh, anybody else recalling the Holland v Portugal bloodbath from four years ago??

Maybe we shouldn't have been *so* surprised by how the Dutch played last night, really

Originally Posted by Albert Tatlock

All deserved.

Originally Posted by redmike

All deserved.

Absolutely.
Far be it for me to defend Referee's, but ffs the players got away with murder.
There probably should have been another 4 red cards on top of that little lot.

On second thoughts maybe iniesta's for taking his shirt off was a bit harsh. but the letter of the law and all that.

I mean the little fella had just scored the winner in a world cup final ffs.

Originally Posted by redmike

On second thoughts maybe iniesta's for taking his shirt off was a bit harsh. but the letter of the law and all that.

I mean the little fella had just scored the winner in a world cup final ffs.

Apparently, and with typical good sense, FIFA allow *no* leeway on this at all - a booking is mandatory. So if he had been cautioned earlier - as he could easily have been - Webb would have had no option but to send him off

Officials have, I believe, been demoted after failing to observe the letter of the law

Originally Posted by red in cumbria

Apparently, and with typical good sense, FIFA allow *no* leeway on this at all - a booking is mandatory. So if he had been cautioned earlier - as he could easily have been - Webb would have had no option but to send him off

Officials have, I believe, been demoted after failing to observe the letter of the law

FIFA are a joke!

Originally Posted by redmike

FIFA are a joke!

a bad joke

If he had given the corner, the game would have gone to penalties.

So other than unfairly allow one team to score and win the World Cup, he had a good game.

Originally Posted by Grimson

If he had given the corner, the game would have gone to penalties.

So other than unfairly allow one team to score and win the World Cup, he had a good game.

The defelction off the defender that he gave as a goal kick? Are you sure?I recall it being some time before the goal.

Originally Posted by dodger

The defelction off the defender that he gave as a goal kick? Are you sure?I recall it being some time before the goal.

They took the goal kick and after fannying around with it a bit, they scored.

The goal kick didn't have anything to do with it, but if the Dutch had got a corner, they'd have wasted another 45 seconds taking it, etc.