Possibility of a dodgy ref for the play offs?

[Emmet7]

Interesting point made on the RTE extra panel discussion last night.

One person who emailed in raised the possibility of a referee for the playoffs who may be influenced by higher authority to make sure the seeded team wins through.

Fifa depend a lot on advertising revenue and they want the best teams and players at the world cup.

A world cup with Ronaldo involved for example would attract a lot more followers, such as from Asia.

I know some people will dismiss it out of hand, but I'd be worried about it happening. The same seemed to happen in the Champions League semi final.

What the evidence would be of a biased ref I don't know. It could be something like a linesman/ref allowing an offside goal to stand. A soft penalty. An underserved sending off. Or on the other side Ireland having a stonewall penalty decision denied.

Fifa have shown with the qualifier seedings they are trying their utmost to get the big teams to qualify. Will they stop at just the seedings, or will they go one further?

I can see us playing Portugal and they getting a soft penalty after Ronaldo dives in the box because Richard Dunne breathed on him. I hope I am wrong.

[gspain]

They won't try to influence the referee. That would be too obvious.

However any referee already knows who FIFA want in the finals. They won't try to be corrupt but will know their own world cup chances won't be helped by a win for the less favoured team particularly if they fail to give a penalty if there is any doubt. They won't be penalised however for giving a penalty for a Ronaldo dive.

Although Hiddink's Russia aere far superior to France or Portugal they'd probably be a better team to draw. Greece are definitely the best though as FIFA won't care who wins.

[Closed Account 2]

I don't think there will be a dodgy ref, had Switzerland been in the playoffs it might have been different, but now I dont think it would happen. These playoffs will be highly crutinized as it is, and with all the stuff about goal-line refs and increasing accuracy then it would be too big a risk even if FIFA wanted it to happen. If it got out that FIFA were bribing refs etc the whole sport would descend into a state of farce like Cycling, look at the damage done by Juventus. The Italian league has largely cleaned itself up now but the miasma of cheating will remain for decades.

[Mad Moose]

Who would actually notice the difference to be honest?. For as long as I've been watching football referee's have made bad decisions and you can attribute that to conspiracy if ya wish but mostly I put it down to infallibility of man, woman and referee.

[weldoninhio]

This i a ridiculous thread, are we turning into England?? With the sensationalisation of everything. There is not a conspiracy against us, its the exact same thing that happened for the last qualifying campaign.

Yeah it sucks, but even if it wasn't seeded, there was a chance we'd get a big team anyway. If you wanna get anywhere in any sport, you have to play the big boys at some stage.

[Morbo]

If you wanna get anywhere in any sport, you have to play the big boys at some stage.
I'd rather wait until we get to the World cup before playing them though if its all the same to you.

[Den Perry]

This i a ridiculous thread, are we turning into England?? With the sensationalisation of everything. There is not a conspiracy against us, its the exact same thing that happened for the last qualifying campaign.

Yeah it sucks, but even if it wasn't seeded, there was a chance we'd get a big team anyway. If you wanna get anywhere in any sport, you have to play the big boys at some stage.

I acually agree with Emmet the seven year old here. The possibility has crossed my mind. I don't think bribery or such horrid acts would occur, but as Gspain said above, the refs may feel under pressure as it could play on their mind that FIFA want the "big boys" to go through

[Yard of Pace]

It's an interesting subject. Half of me wants to say it's a ridiculous notion and not to be silly but the other half is remembering the many instances where referees have been seriously dodgy with human fallibilty not cutting it as an excuse.

Weren't we done in a qualifier in the early 80s by a dodgy ref who gave/ruled out a goal or something, resulting in us failing to qualify?

Anyone know what the motivation for it might have been?

[Eirambler]

It's an interesting subject. Half of me wants to say it's a ridiculous notion and not to be silly but the other half is remembering the many instances where referees have been seriously dodgy with human fallibilty not cutting it as an excuse.

Weren't we done in a qualifier in the early 80s by a dodgy ref who gave/ruled out a goal or something, resulting in us failing to qualify?

Anyone know what the motivation for it might have been?

If I remember correctly it was the World Cup 82 qualifiers and we were up against France and Belgium for qualification. Belgium finished a point ahead of us and we missed out on the second qualifying spot to France on goal difference. I think the particularly controversial game was an away defeat in Belgium where we conceded a late goal to lose 1-0 after having a perfectly good goal disallowed ourselves. I don't think Eoin Hand ever got over it.

I believe the motivation might have been cash in hand...

[Emmet7]

I acually agree with Emmet the seven year old here. The possibility has crossed my mind. I don't think bribery or such horrid acts would occur, but as Gspain said above, the refs may feel under pressure as it could play on their mind that FIFA want the "big boys" to go through

Grow up my friend.

[Emmet7]

There will certainly be a desired result as far as Fifa are concerned.

I am not sure who the other unseeded teams are but lets say one of them is Latvia and they are playing France or in another scenario Germany.

The desired result from a Fifa point of view is qualification for the bigger richer country where TV rights and advertisement is more valuable.

A world cup made up of Latvia, Slovakia, etc etc, hardly going to be a big audience getter.

I trust the refs. I don't however trust Fifa. They have shown themselves to be a sneaky weasly bunch. Of course the best answer to their scheming is for Ireland to wipe the floor with whatever team they meet.

[peadar1987]

Without wanting to appear racist, Asia can f*** off! There's an immensely screwed-up culture over there, when people can align themselves with glamour teams in a foreign league they have no connection with, while completely ignoring their own league. You wouldn't find that in other countries!

[Crosby87]

Without wanting to appear racist, Asia can f*** off! There's an immensely screwed-up culture over there, when people can align themselves with glamour teams in a foreign league they have no connection with, while completely ignoring their own league. You wouldn't find that in other countries!

Yeah the Manchester United crowd looks the same as it did in the 80s, all those bricklayers and plumbers there.

[Closed Account 2]

If I remember correctly it was the World Cup 82 qualifiers and we were up against France and Belgium for qualification. Belgium finished a point ahead of us and we missed out on the second qualifying spot to France on goal difference. I think the particularly controversial game was an away defeat in Belgium where we conceded a late goal to lose 1-0 after having a perfectly good goal disallowed ourselves. I don't think Eoin Hand ever got over it.

I believe the motivation might have been cash in hand...

That could well have been the case, as far as I remember Anderlecht were found guilty of rigging key European matches around that time. I think that it could well have been more widespread back then. Now I could only see it really happening with Switzerland.


Without wanting to appear racist, Asia can f*** off! There's an immensely screwed-up culture over there, when people can align themselves with glamour teams in a foreign league they have no connection with, while completely ignoring their own league. You wouldn't find that in other countries!

I think that is a bit over the top myself. But raising the role of the Asian FA is certainly interesting in the context of this discussion. For the last world cup, Bahrain and Uzbekistan played each other for the right to face Trinidad and Tobago and it's safe to say murky dealings were afoot. The Uzbeks won the first leg 1-0, but during the match the ref made a big blunder. He correctly gave the Uzbeks a penalty, but an Uzbek player encroached as/before it was taken (and scored), and then the ref made a catastrophic error - he awarded an indirect free kick to the Bahrainis, when legally he should have ordered a re-take of the penalty. The Uzbek players pointed this out to him at the time, but he ignored them, so they pointed it out at the end of the game. The whole situation escalated and FIFA decided to replay the whole match (also delaying the second leg). Bahrain drew the replay in Tashkent 1-1, and then in Bahrain it was 0-0, so they (Bahrain) went through.

It ended up looking like the most spectacular fudge and it's hard not feel for the Uzbeks who were cheated out of a 1-0 (and pretty much 2-0) lead. And the right to face Trinidad and Tobago for the last berth in the World Cup.

http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/germany2006/news/newsid=27212.html

[seanfhear]

The referees have been made aware(BY FIFAs last minute seeding edict) which teams that FIFA would prefer at the Finals.
These referees work for FIFA and will at the back of their mind know that if they displease FIFA then there progress within that organisation will be affected.

Referees will want to ref big matches and if they get the wrong results in the play-offs then they may be reffing lower level matches for the rest of their careers.

[endabob1]

The referees have been made aware(BY FIFAs last minute seeding edict) which teams that FIFA would prefer at the Finals.
These referees work for FIFA and will at the back of their mind know that if they displease FIFA then there progress within that organisation will be affected.

Referees will want to ref big matches and if they get the wrong results in the play-offs then they may be reffing lower level matches for the rest of their careers.


Bingo, someone has at last made the connection. Referees can be influenced by things other than cash, coke & hookers (Anderlecht's inducements to 1984 Uefa Cup semi referee allegedly included all 3!). If you are a FIFA referee & you are in charge of a game lets say Portugal v Bosnia in a play-off and you know FIFA want Ronaldo & his mates to win, there is a FIFA assesor in the crowd, pretty soon they'll be announcing who will referee at the World Cup, you're borderline as to whether you make that elite list or not.....

[Den Perry]

Bingo, someone has at last made the connection. Referees can be influenced by things other than cash, coke & hookers (Anderlecht's inducements to 1984 Uefa Cup semi referee allegedly included all 3!). If you are a FIFA referee & you are in charge of a game lets say Portugal v Bosnia in a play-off and you know FIFA want Ronaldo & his mates to win, there is a FIFA assesor in the crowd, pretty soon they'll be announcing who will referee at the World Cup, you're borderline as to whether you make that elite list or not.....

If I was a referee and was ready to be influenced, I'd like it to be the "Anderlecht Way"...

[blobbyblob]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/oct/13/danny-jordaan-world-cup

Be interesting to see if this fat fupper turns up in Croker.

[Emmet7]

Thanks for that blobbyblob.

It's not just Ronaldo. I am sure they want Arshavin from Russia there or Henry and Ribery from France. Greece I think they could live without.

If we were to get a dodgy ref who was biased towards a seeded team, let's hope we are playing Greece and none of the others, as the incentive to let the seeded team win wouldn't be as big.

It's not just in soccer refs are biased towards the bigger teams. George Hook always used to complain about how the bigger teams in Rugby always got the breaks and the soft penalties whereas the lesser teams were penalised for nothing.

And remember who the main man is in UEFA? Platini, a French man. It's not impossible to imagine shady deals behind closed doors on choosing who the refs are.

[ArdeeBhoy]

It won't be a 'dodgy' ref, but one who's par for the course, doing FIFA's bidding.

[endabob1]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/oct/13/danny-jordaan-world-cup

Be interesting to see if this fat fupper turns up in Croker.

Actually Danny Jordaan is a very good guy, I have a lot of respect for him and the way he has managed the 2 SA bids and subsequently the LOC. I perfectly understand his comments, as the host nation they want to see the big names BUT it is FIFA & not Jordaan who have seeded the draw & it is FIFA who dreamed up the elaborate rankings on which the seedings are to be based.
FIFA & Blatter in particular call the shots, it is he who is solely at fault here.

[blobbyblob]

Im sure he will be delighted Enda.

He is a politician and lecturer. He has served in the SAFA and FIFA in numerous capacities, including, as a General Co-ordinator for the Youth World Cup (now FIFA U-20 World Cup), 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup and the 2002 FIFA World Cup in Korea/Japan. He was also a match commissioner for the 2006 FIFA World Cup and a member of the 2006 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee. He currently serves on the on the 2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee and 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup Organising Committee.

He is also a sitting member of the Marketing and Television Board for FIFA. In essence he is at the meetings of the waters between money and sport and he has made it clear which one is his master.

As a business man, he is highly respected and rightly so. As a sportsman, he surely has a duty to be inpartial towords any nation wishing to qualify which he clearly is not.

[wexfordman]

yeah for all the conspiracy theory people, Russia Portugal and France will all qualify and Ireland will draw greece and the ref will favour us and we will qualify because Trap used to manage Platini at Juve and will have a word in the ear of his former star pupil.

thus fifa will then say they did not favour the seeded teams as they all did not qualify. so iam in favour of fifa/uefa and their underhand ways

Ireland will also be drawn away to greece first as Trap has said he wants an away draw first and low and behold his "lucky" manager tag will come through again. But it is not what he knows in football but who he knows that will be the hallmark of this story.

This tongue in cheek comment was made in jest but i for one will not complain if we benefit some favourtisim and get through

[geysir]

No harm for our prospects if Trap makes repeated calls for the top refs to be appointed.
I wouldn't mind the 'untouchable' Rosetti from Italy or Lubos Michel.

[Wolfie]

No harm for our prospects if Trap makes repeated calls for the top refs to be appointed.
I wouldn't mind the 'untouchable' Rosetti from Italy or Lubos Michel.

Where is Carlos Silva Valente when you need him? :eek:

Anyone remember that ref?

[blobbyblob]

On that note, does anyone have any preference or knowledge as to what referees may or may not be assigned to the play offs

[Morbo]

I miss Anders Frisk, shame he was forced into early retirement by scumbag Chelsea fans.

[blobbyblob]

Referee DOB International since
HRINAK Vladimir 1964 1993 Slovakia
NALBANDYAN Kare 1964 1993 Armenia
ZAMMIT Anton 1964 1995 Malta
PLAUTZ Konrad 1964 1996 Austria
KAPITANIS Costas 1964 1996 Cyprus
HYYTIA Jouni 1964 1997 Fin
FANDEL Herbert 1964 1998 Germany
BASKAKOV Yuri 1964 1998 Russia
COSTA Paulo 1964 1999 Portugal
RILEY Michael 1964 1999 England
IVANOV Nikolai 1964 2000 Russia
MESSNER Stefan 1964 2001 Austria
MEDINA CANTALEJ 1964 2002 Spa
STYLES Robert 1964 2002 England
HAUGE Terje 1965 1993 Norway
HAMER Alain 1965 1993 Lux
RICHARDS Ceri 1965 1994 Wal
CARDOSO BATISTA 1965 1996 Portugal
LARSEN Claus Bo 1965 1996 Denmark
INGVARSSON Mart 1965 1997 Swe
BERTOLINI Carlo 1965 1997 Swiss
CORPODEAN Sorin 1965 1997 Rom
VOLLQUARTZ Nicol 1965 1999 Denmark
MEJUTO GONZALE 1965 1999 Spa
MC DONALD Dougl 1965 2000 Scotland
ALLAERTS Paul 1965 2000 Belgium
LAYEC Bertrand 1965 2002 France
PEREZ BURRULL Al 1965 2002 Spa
GVARDIS Alexander 1965 2003 Russia
KAILIS Panicos 1965 2005 Cyprus
STUCHLIK Fritz 1966 1994 Austria
OVREBO Tom 1966 1994 Norway
VASSARAS Kyros 1966 1998 Greece
DE BLEECKERE Fra 1966 1998 Belgium
KOVACIC Drazenko 1966 1999 Crotia
GUENOV Anton 1966 1999 Bulgaria
BRUGGER Bernhard 1966 1999 Austria
PANIASHVILI Leva 1966 2000 Georgia
VERBIST Johan 1966 2001 Belgium
ISMAILOV Marat 1966 2001 Uzb
SHANDOR Andriy 1966 2002 Ukraine
VIALICHKA Valery 1966 2002 Belarus
BRAAMHAAR Eric 1966 2002 Holland
ROSSI Gabriele 1966 2004 SanMar
ITURRALDE GONZA 1967 1998 Spa
JARECI Sokol 1967 2000 Albania
ISHCHENKO Igor 1967 2001 Ukraine
SKJERVEN Tommy 1967 2001 Norway
BERNTSEN Espen 1967 2002 Norway
JANKU Albano 1967 2002 Albania
ROSETTI Roberto 1967 2002 italy
PODESCHI Stefano 1967 2002 SanMar
TSHAGHARYAN Ara 1967 2003 Armenia
SALIY Pavel 1967 2003 Kzak
ORIEKHOV Oleh 1967 2003 Ukraine
SANDMOEN Brage 1967 2003 Norway
FERREIRA Joao 1967 2003 Portugal
VINK Pieter 1967 2004 Holland
SVENDSEN Michael 1967 2004 Denmark
PICCIRILLO Herve 1967 2005 France
MURRAY Calum 1967 2005 Scotland
TRIFONOS Stelios 1967 2005 Cyprus
MIKULSKI Tomasz 1968 1995 Poland
KALDMA Sten 1968 1998 Estonia
KALT Philippe 1968 1998 France
DUHAMEL Laurent 1968 1999 France
CEFERIN Darko 1968 2000 Slov
LEVI Meir 1968 2000 Israel
GODULYAN Vitaliy 1968 2001 Ukraine
WILMES Luc 1968 2002 Lux
MEYER Florian 1968 2002 Germany
DEAN Michael 1968 2003 England
EGOROV Igor 1968 2003 Russia
RICHMOND Charlie 1968 2003 Scotland
ASUMAA Tony 1968 2003 Fin
SUKHINA Stanislav 1968 2003 Russia
KENAN Asaf 1968 2003 Israel
VALGEIRSSON Joha 1968 2004 Iceland
DONDARINI Paolo 1968 2005 italy
KINHOEFER Thor 1968 2006 Germany
JAKOBSSON Kristi 1969 1997 Iceland
BUSACCA Massimo 1969 1999 Swiss
MALCOLM David 1969 1999 Nire
STARK Wolfgang 1969 1999 Germany
BENQUERENCA Ole 1969 2001 Portugal
BUSURMANKULOV 1969 2002 KRYSZN
KRANJC Robert 1969 2002 Slov
WEINER Michael 1969 2002 Germany
DERELI Selcuk 1969 2003 Turk
SIPPEL Peter 1969 2003 Germany
KIRCHER Knut 1969 2004 Germany
SVILOKOS Vlado 1969 2004 Crotia
LANNOY Stephane 1969 2006 France
LAPERRIERE Jerom 1969 2006 Swiss
RUBINOS PEREZ An 1969 2007 Spa
WOUTERS Luc 1969 2007 Belgium
SHVETSOV Viktor 1969 2008 Ukraine
MALZINSKAS Pauli 1970 2001 Lithu
PROENCA Pedro 1970 2003 Portugal
ORZUEV Dilovar 1970 2005 Tajek
CIRCHETTA Claudio 1970 2005 Swiss
KALOPOULOS Dimit 1970 2008 Greece
KAKOS Anastasios 1970 2008 Greece
TANNER Stephen 1970 2008 England
RAFATI Babak 1970 2008 Germany
KARI Petteri 1971 1999 Fin
SIPAILO Andrejs 1971 2000 Latvia
HANSSON Martin 1971 2001 Swe
TUDOR Alexandru 1971 2001 Rom
MALEK Robert 1971 2001 Poland
SPIRKOSKI Goran 1971 2002 Maced
TSEYTLIN Vladislav 1971 2002 Uzb
BALAJ Pavel 1971 2003 Rom
JOHANNESSON Ste 1971 2003 Swe
RISTOSKOV Hristo 1971 2004 Bulgaria
TREFOLONI Matteo 1971 2004 italy
ABDULLAEV Muzaff 1971 2005 KRYSZN
HINRIKSSON Gard 1971 2005 Iceland
WEBB Howard 1971 2005 England
ATKINSON Martin 1971 2006 England
RIZZOLI Nicola 1971 2007 italy
BORG Marco 1971 2008 Malta
MOSEYCHUK Yuriy 1971 2008 Ukraine
SZABO Zsolt 1972 1999 Hungary
YEFET Alon 1972 2001 Israel
COURTNEY Mark 1972 2002 Nire
MC COURT Adrian 1972 2003 Nire
GUMIENNY Serge 1972 2003 Belgium
THOMSON Craig 1972 2003 Scotland
MIKOLAJEWSKI Ma 1972 2004 Poland
DEACONU Alexand 1972 2005 Rom
LAUTIER Christoph 1972 2005 Malta
OLSIAK Pavel 1972 2005 Slovakia
ISHMATOV Ravsh 1972 2006 Tajek
SATCHI Igor 1972 2007 Mold
TAGLIAVENTO Paol 1972 2007 italy
SEYDOV Kakabay 1973 2001 Turlmen
GILEWSKI Grzegorz 1973 2001 Poland
GOMES Duarte 1973 2002 Portugal
WHITBY Mark 1973 2003 Wal
MATEJEK Radek 1973 2004 Czech
UNDIANO Alberto 1973 2004 Spa
JONES Huw 1973 2005 Wal
SIDENCO Ghennadi 1973 2006 Mold
BORSKI Marcin 1973 2006 Poland
KUIPERS Bjorn 1973 2006 Holland
JILEK Jan 1973 2007 Czech
DE MARCO Andrea 1973 2007 italy
GRAEFE Manuel 1973 2007 Germany
LIESVELD Richard 1973 2008 Holland
NIEMINEN Tero 1973 2008 Fin
ROCCHI Gianluca 1973 2008 italy
MASIAH Menashe 1973 2009 Israel
LERJEUS Michael 1973 2009 Swe
PAMPORIDIS Vasili 1973 2009 Greece
CONSTANTIN Augu 1974 2002 Rom
ERIKSSON Jonas 1974 2002 Swe
PAIXAO Bruno 1974 2004 Portugal
STALHAMMAR Dan 1974 2004 Swe
TABORDA XISTRA 1974 2005 Portugal
BLOM Kevin 1974 2005 Holland
VUCEMILOVIC Ante 1974 2007 Crotia
VLK Mario 1974 2007 Slovakia
EFONG NZOLO Jero 1974 2008 Belgium
KOVALENKO Valent 1975 2002 Uzb
BANARI Veaceslav 1975 2003 Mold
KASSAI Viktor 1975 2003 Hungary
GEORGIEV Tsvetan 1975 2003 Bulgaria
STRAHONJA Marijo 1975 2004 Crotia
CLATTENBURG Mar 1975 2006 England
STROMBERGSSON 1975 2006 Swe
MECKAROVSKI Dimi 1975 2008 Maced
VAN BOEKEL Pol 1975 2008 Holland
RADOVANOVIC Pav 1975 2008 Monten
KOUKOULAKIS Mich 1975 2008 Greece
STUDER Stephan 1975 2009 Swiss
MUIR Alan James 1975 2009 Scotland
GAUZER Aleksande 1975 2009 Kzak
BATINIC Damir 1975 2009 Crotia
SKOMINA Damir 1976 2003 Slov
MASHENTSEV Dmit 1976 2004 KRYSZN
TOUSSAINT Albert 1976 2005 Lux
SILAGAVA Lasha 1976 2005 Georgia
KHOLOV Rustam 1976 2006 Tajek
KOVARIK Libor 1976 2006 Czech
ZIMMERMANN Cyril 1976 2007 Swiss
KURBANOV Charym 1977 2003 Turlmen
IRMATOV Ravshan 1977 2003 Uzb
BEBEK Ivan 1977 2003 Crotia
KRALOVEC Pavel 1977 2005 Czech
EINWALLER Thom 1977 2005 Austria
STAVREV Aleksand 1977 2006 Maced
NIJHUIS Bas 1977 2007 Holland
KALUDJEROVIC Jov 1977 2008 Monten
NORRIS Euan 1977 2009 Scotland
NIYAZDURDYEV Be 1978 2003 Turlmen
KAASIK Hannes 1978 2006 Estonia
REINERT Petur 1978 2007 Faroe
AGISHEV Vadim 1978 2008 Uzb
MAZEIKA Gedimina 1978 2008 Lithu
GESTRANIUS Matti 1978 2009 Fin
DALOUKAS Georgi 1978 2009 Greece
DANKOVSKYY Serg 1978 2009 Ukraine
BOGNAR Tamas 1978 2009 Hungary
VNUK Vladimir 1978 2009 Slovakia
MOEN Svein Oddv 1979 2005 Norway
COLLUM William 1979 2006 Scotland
KULBAKOU Aliaksei 1979 2006 Belarus
VAD Istvan 1979 2007 Hungary
SZABO Sandor 1979 2008 Hungary
VIRANT Christof 1979 2009 Belgium
FABIAN Mihaly 1980 2007 Hungary
JUG Matej 1980 2007 Slov
SEVASTSYANIK Vit 1980 2009 Belarus
DADOBOEV Khursh 1981 2006 Tajek

[paul_oshea]

I was looking at NIRE thinking, where the F*&K is Nire :D

[blobbyblob]

I think its a valley between Tipperary and Waterford

[shaneker]

Im sure he will be delighted Enda.

He is a politician and lecturer. He has served in the SAFA and FIFA in numerous capacities, including, as a General Co-ordinator for the Youth World Cup (now FIFA U-20 World Cup), 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup and the 2002 FIFA World Cup in Korea/Japan. He was also a match commissioner for the 2006 FIFA World Cup and a member of the 2006 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee. He currently serves on the on the 2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee and 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup Organising Committee.

He is also a sitting member of the Marketing and Television Board for FIFA. In essence he is at the meetings of the waters between money and sport and he has made it clear which one is his master.

As a business man, he is highly respected and rightly so. As a sportsman, he surely has a duty to be inpartial towords any nation wishing to qualify which he clearly is not.

This is what worries me. This World Cup will be scrutinised more than any other, you've seen the press (particularly in England) saying Africa isn't ready, it's going to be a disaster, etc. FIFA will be making more effort (if that's the right word) than usual to make sure it looks spectacular to a mass audience in the big countries (which includes having the big-name players involved; Ronaldo, Arshavin and Ribery), even if it means bending the rules (I'm thinking a parallel with Beijing 2008 here). We are being set up to fail unless we draw Greece.

There's a Chris Rock joke (bear with me) where he says black people in America have to fly to get what white people can walk to. It feels the same with us - if we are playing Portugal, we have to win comfortably, because if it's close, the call will go against us. I would be gobsmacked if we get drawn to play the second leg at home, given our unbeaten competetive record there over the past 3 or 4 years. They're trying to **** us.

[Emmet7]

How do they decide who plays at home first?

The whole seeding lark smacks of the old fashioned gentleman's agreement made in a smoke filled room. It stinks.

I just hope Trapattoni makes lots of noises about the referee and says things like he fears the seeded team will be favoured.

Alex Ferguson is a master of that, alledging refs are against his team. From then on Refs feel obliged to favour Man Utd so as not to look biased. It usually works brilliantly in Utd's favour.

Trap should do the same. It will put pressure on the ref to favour Ireland.

[Scram]

We'll have Eamonn McEneany from Monaghan for the Croke Park leg. He's top notch.

[Comic Book Guy]

Where is Carlos Silva Valente when you need him? :eek:

Anyone remember that ref?
Never will forget, reffed Ireland away to Belgium in a WC qualifier for Spain 82, portuguese ref who disallowed a perfect Stapleton goal in that game.I remember after he disallowed the goal he looked over at his linesman who then put up his flag, even after all those years that looks choreographed, rehearsed even.
anyway as the game went on and the home team getting desperate he awards a free to Belgium on the edge of the box for an outrageous dive, they scored from the free with about 3 minutes to go.
After the game several of the irish team had to be held back from the ref.
Not many people know this but an interested spectator at the game was one Jack Charlton! I think he was manager of Sheffield Wednesday at the time.
It was obvious to most people at the time that something very fishy went on that night.

[geysir]

Wrong game I think
Wasn't Valente the cheerful whistler for the hosts at Italia 90 QF?

FIFA have them on standby for a job and then they go back to obscurity afterwards.

[Comic Book Guy]

My apologies geysir you are quite correct.:o

[thischarmingman]

It'll be Russia. I just have a horrible feeling.

[gspain]

Never will forget, reffed Ireland away to Belgium in a WC qualifier for Spain 82, portuguese ref who disallowed a perfect Stapleton goal in that game.I remember after he disallowed the goal he looked over at his linesman who then put up his flag, even after all those years that looks choreographed, rehearsed even.
anyway as the game went on and the home team getting desperate he awards a free to Belgium on the edge of the box for an outrageous dive, they scored from the free with about 3 minutes to go.
After the game several of the irish team had to be held back from the ref.
Not many people know this but an interested spectator at the game was one Jack Charlton! I think he was manager of Sheffield Wednesday at the time.
It was obvious to most people at the time that something very fishy went on that night.

It was Raul Nazare who refereed the game in Brussels in 1981.

Considering the leading Belgian club at the time - Anderlect were subsequently convicted of bribing referees and considering that in 38 years of watching football I've never even seen a referee come close to such a poor performance it's a good bet he was too.

FIFA won't be telling the ref anything but he will know what FIFA want. It will be tough to get a close call in Paris to send the French out.

[endabob1]

Im sure he will be delighted Enda.

He is a politician and lecturer. He has served in the SAFA and FIFA in numerous capacities, including, as a General Co-ordinator for the Youth World Cup (now FIFA U-20 World Cup), 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup and the 2002 FIFA World Cup in Korea/Japan. He was also a match commissioner for the 2006 FIFA World Cup and a member of the 2006 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee. He currently serves on the on the 2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee and 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup Organising Committee.

He is also a sitting member of the Marketing and Television Board for FIFA. In essence he is at the meetings of the waters between money and sport and he has made it clear which one is his master.

As a business man, he is highly respected and rightly so. As a sportsman, he surely has a duty to be inpartial towords any nation wishing to qualify which he clearly is not.

All good points, he is obviously in bed with FIFA, he has to be given his position but in this instance he is clearly speaking as a business man. He is organising what is an already unpopular World Cup that many people would like to see fail, I have no problem with him wanting teams that offer the greatest commercial interest for that tournament. His words carry no weight withing FIFA's sporting circles, no referee will think "Oh Danny Jordaan wants France to qualify" Blatter on the other hand........

[Wolfie]

Wrong game I think
Wasn't Valente the cheerful whistler for the hosts at Italia 90 QF?

FIFA have them on standby for a job and then they go back to obscurity afterwards.

Valente reffed our away match to Bulgaria in 1987.

Awarded a well dodgy peno to Bulgaria with about 5 mins to go.