Three English refs make the grade for South Africa

(from left to right), Mullarkey, Webb, Cann

When it was revealed that the three English officials, Howard Webb, Darren Cann and Michael Mullarkey, were given the task of representing their country at this summer’s World Cup, in South Africa, it must have been a proud moment for the three men. Webb and his two assistants will probably look at this as the pinnacle of their career so far. As ever with referees, and even more so because of the global scale of the tournament, they will be under intense pressure to prove that they were the best trio of Englishmen to be chosen.

There is said to be a long standing relationship between the oldest football association in the world, the F.A., and FIFA to select a referee from England for major championships.

This will be Webb’s first World Cup, but has already caused controversy from his last major tournament experience, which was Euro 2008. The former police officer awarded a penalty to Austria, in stoppage time, in a match against Poland. This led to death threats being posted on the internet. Along with Cann and Mullarkey, the three officials had to come through a series of assessments by FIFA that might surprise supporters or those that want to get in to refereeing. There were written exams, along with fitness tests for obvious reasons, and next month they will attend a training seminar. In May there will be a final round-up before matches are allocated for the competition.

Webb has often been described as the best English referee, and certainly has the backing of his seniors because he more often than not gets the high-profile league games. So is it the right decision to be chosen as England’s representative? He is a much discussed ref, and even more so in reflection of his performances in recent matches. This is in reference to a big match, between Arsenal and Liverpool. Webb refused to give Liverpool an injury-time free-kick after failing to see Cesc Fabregas deliberately raise a hand above his head, whilst standing in a wall, to stop a Steven Gerrard effort. Naturally at the time Webb was standing still and was looking at the developments from the same angle as Gerrard, the free-kick taker.

Even though that example highlights a poor piece of officiating, the truth is most top level referees are still going to make a mistake of some scale in every match they oversee. When it comes to asking refs to be consistent in their decision making, then this summer Webb and his assistants should be adapt to deal with decisions fairly in every match they are in. This is because the two assistants have worked with Webb over the last two years- something that is a must for the ref and his team for this World Cup. Should the three men fail one of the tests then they fall out of contention straight away.

Due to the fact that matches Webb takes control of in England are generally games where refs are as much the focus as the teams are, it seems too much of a coincidence that every one of these crunch matches involves something controversial when he is in charge. Sometimes it looks like he is abusing his authority and tries to over do it in certain situations. One thing in Webb’s favour is he does not seem like the type of referee who wants to attract the headlines and take centre stage. He gets on with the job in a no-nonsense fashion. Let us hope that Webb and his assistants remember that it is two, not three, yellow cards that equal a red card…even in a World Cup.