Actually, one can be satisfied with the referee decisions shown so far. There is always room for improvement. And of course, at the end of the day, it’s mainly the bad decisions that are remembered. The VAR urged and subsequently given penalty for Portugal in the 2-0 win against Uruguay was such a wrong decision.
This situation is not a punishable handball. The player defends forwards by tackling the ball, and must support himself with a natural arm movement. In this case, he does not widen his body, but the hand is behind the body – and also not punishable. In addition, it would not have been a clear wrong decision, which is why the VAR should not have intervened anyway.
And if the VAR is already so accurate, then the penalty should have been repeated because a Portuguese player ran into the penalty area too early. This situation has also shown that despite the VAR, mistakes can happen and that the assessment and perception of such situations – as in so many other situations in life – is different. And that is deeply human.
Much more than mistakes, it annoys me when I watch as a TV viewer at this World Cup how the fourth official has to act as a lightning conductor at the games because the behavior of coaches, substitute players and other officials is just downright disrespectful. And the worst thing about it is that this behavior is accepted by 98 percent of our society and is seen as normal – and on the one hand the associations do nothing about it and the penalties for this behavior are far too low.
The task of the fourth official should actually consist exclusively of supporting the referee and the assistants in his area of responsibility, facilitating the organization of changes and pointing out wrong things (e.g. wrong restart of play) to the referee.
After the fourth official is connected to the referee team by radio, he can of course explain contentious situations to the officials in the dugout. This communication is also part of his tasks, whereby the emphasis here is on the word communication. And this should always be conducted with the necessary respect. Unfortunately, I lack this respect in most cases with coaches and officials.
Emotions in sport are absolutely fine, and should be – but not like that.
Oliver Drachta (45) from Tumeltsham is a former FIFA and Bundesliga referee.
Source: Nachrichten
I am Pierce Boyd, a driven and ambitious professional working in the news industry. I have been writing for 24 Hours Worlds for over five years, specializing in sports section coverage. During my tenure at the publication, I have built an impressive portfolio of articles that has earned me a reputation as an experienced journalist and content creator.
