Refereeing
A taste of the future

Michel Vautrot (France)
Member of the FIFA Referees' Committee

As the second most important football tournament after the World Cup, the Olympic Games is a real trial by fire for players and referees of the future.

As far as the "keepers of the law" were concerned, the ad hoc committee made its selection within the limits of the set quota - unsuitable in view of the number of matches and the decentralisation of the tournament - imposed by the organisers of the Olympic Games (16 referees and the same number of assistants).

The Olympic Games in Atlanta saw a number of innovations, the first of which truly makes history:

Referees were encouraged to keep things firmly under control from the very beginning. In total during the 48 games they showed the yellow card 180 times, the yellow/red combination 11 times, and the red card 7 times.

1. There were 8 young female officials for the women's competition, but what was unique was that three of them were assigned the role of referee's assistant for men's matches (who would have thought that possible a short time ago?). They were:

Maria Rodriguez (Mexico) for Spain vs France
Gitte Holm (Denmark) for USA vs Tunisia
Nelly Viennot (France) for Japan vs Nigeria

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In addition Ingrid Jonsson (Sweden) was nominated as the fourth official for the match Argentina vs Tunisia.

The motivation, concentration and the quality of the sporting performances of these ladies made possible the transformation of a courageous and voluntary initiative on the part of FIFA into action. The deeds proved to be in harmony with the ideas, which was not an evident outcome in a "macho" world not specially convinced of the need to break a hundred year old taboo.

Five games in the women's tournament were officiated by a quartet of women referees.

The brilliant performance of the female quartet Bente SKOGVANg (Norway) - Maria RODRIGUEZ (Mexico) - Nelly VIENNOT (France) - Sonia DENONCOURT (Canada) during the superb USA vs China final will establish a permanent place for women referees, not just for demographic reasons but because of their aptitude for the task.

2. A preparatory course (in Miami) given for the first time for many years by all the members of the Technical Committee.

3. The use of electronic flags, not for the purpose of eliminating human error but for rapidly and efficiently attracting the attention of the central referee. This proved to be a positive experiment which certainly improved collaboration between the three officials, even if more practice is needed because of the novelty of the idea.

There's no point in arguing with the referee. This was a fact that the players simply did not always want to accept, even at Atlanta '96.

4. The ability, within the rules, of allowing an advantage to develop, yet with the possibility of a return to the point where the foul was committed (it seemed that, considering both tournaments, this novel idea has not yet completely been absorbed by referees conditioned by force of habit in this respect. There were some cautious attempts, but the action is not yet spontaneous.)

5. And on a symbolic note, let us mention the passing of the term "linesman" in favour of "referee's assistant", the underlying aim of this officially approved change being to give the person out on the touchline more authority and more responsibility.

In-depth work

The number of matches, the cultural differences, the importance of the competition and the high stakes involved did not allow perfect uniformity in the standard of refereeing (always a hope, but always utopian), despite the "Sword of Damocles" which is always hanging above the officials' heads in the form of a bad report.

FIFA intends to redefine the role of the fourth referee.

In the course of 48 matches (this time 32 men's and 16 women's) there will always be imperfections or differences of opinion concerning application of the laws or the perception of them.

Overall, the standard of refereeing during the Games can be rated as good (though it's hard to please those whose opinions because of vested interests diverge from the analysis of technical specialists), but there were some blunders, regrettable but inevitable, such as:

the same player shown the red card twice without being sent off the pitch immediately.
a player not being sent off although he clearly should have been after he'd committed a serious foul in the position of last defender.

This showed an inability to take responsibility, which was all the more inexplicable since the officials concerned were otherwise rated as excellent.

How severe is that injury? No easy judgement for a referee to make.

Another encouraging observation was the in-depth work carried out by all the confederations. There are now fewer and fewer "minor" nations in terms of refereeing, and some of their representatives, in the centre or on the touchline, make it possible to look positively to the future in this respect.

There remains the endless discussion about penalty or offside situations as viewed from a position on the pitch or in the stand compared to through the lens of a TV camera. In this respect the men's final Argentina vs Nigeria could be used as a perfect case study for any refereeing course, and as a calming reference when discussions are getting heated.

Finally, the men and women traditionally in black now wear coloured uniforms thanks to adidas, and they brandished their little red or yellow cards 198 times (average 4.13 times per match, seen over both tournaments), with the Ghana/Italy game earning the sad distinction of topping the list (11 yellow and 1 red).

Pierluigi Collina (Italy), the referee during the final between Argentina and Nigeria.

Men's tournament

1st Round (24 matches)

106 cautions, 7 expulsions (2nd yellow card in same match) and 3 direct expulsions.

2nd Round (8 matches)

42 cautions, 3 expulsions (2nd yellow card in same match) and 1 direct expulsion.

Women's tournament

1st Round (12 matches)

24 cautions, and 1 direct expulsion.

2nd Round (4 matches)

8 cautions, 1 expulsion (2nd yellow card in same match) and 2 direct expulsions.

In summary, great satisfaction can be taken from having entrusted the highly responsible task of judging these sporting competitions to men and women of quality, who were receptive and thorough in their duties and above reproach in terms of human behaviour. And mention should be made of the team spirit of members of the committee, the competence and devotion to duty of FIFA staff and local helpers for the match officials, who contributed to the perfect harmony and success of the group in charge of making the sporting decisions.

REFEREES AND ASSISTANT REFEREES
Referees
	COLLINA Pierluigi	DALLAS Hugh
	Italy 13.02.1960 Financial Advisor	Scotland 26.10.1957 Company Director

	GARCIA-ARANDA E. José	JONSSON Ingrid
	Spain 03.03.1956 Physical Education Teacher	Sweden 13.09.1959 Head Master

	SKOGVANG Bente	UN-PRASERT Pirom
	Norway 17.08.62 Research Assistant	Thailand 16.11.1953 Civil Servant

	AL-MUHANNA Omar Saleh Saad	RUSCIO Roberto Ruben
	Saudi Arabia 10.01.1959 Civil Servant	Argentina 18.09.1953 Bank Clerk

	PEREIRA DA SILVA Antonio	VASCONCELOS GUEDES Claudia
	Brazil 25.05.1957 Teacher	Brazil 20.03.1963 Physical Education Teacher

	EL-GHANDOUR Gamal Mahmoud	BOUCHARDEAU Lucian
	Egypt 12.06.1957 Accountant	Niger 18.12.1961 Administrator

	ARCHUNDIA TELLEZ Benito	BAHARMAST Esfandiar
	Mexico 21.03.1966 Businessman	USA 11.03.1954 Engineer Analyst

	DENONCOURT Sonia	LENNIE Edward
	Canada 25.06.1964 Shop Owner	Australia 05.10.1959 National Sales Manager

Assistant Referees
	NEUENSTEIN Heiner	DUPANOV Yuri
	Germany 25.04.1958 Business Management Graduate	Belarus 07.06.1962 Businessman

	UGURDUR Akif	HOLM Gitte
	Turkey 07.10.1962 Civil Servant	Denmark 26.07.1965 Laboratory Assistant

	VIENNOT Nelly	JEON Young Hyun
	France 08.01.1962	Korea Republic 26.02.1956 Lecturer

	AL MOSSAWI Mohamed Ahmed	ARANGO CARDONA Jorge Luis
	Oman 01.01.1959 Civil Servant	Colombia 12.04.1958 Physical Education Teacher

	VELAZQUEZ PINTOS Carlos Adan	DANTE Dramane
	Uruguay 17.04.1953 Teacher	Mali 09.12.1961 Printer

	OSMAN M. HAMID Amir	KELLY Peter
	Sudan 01.01.1955 Civil Servant	Trinidad and Tobago 10.02.1962 Teacher

	TORRES ZUNIGA Luis Fernando	RODRIGUEZ ROMAN Maria Del Socorro
	Costa Rica 31.08.1958 Teacher	Mexico 24.11.1965 Sports Manager

	GETTEMEYER Janice	FRED Lencie
	USA 27.08.62 Teacher	Vanuatu 21.03.68 Builder

Refereeing A taste of the future

Refereeing
A taste of the future