Trap: A Hansson Nobody

[bennocelt]

Anyone notice how the Malian referee who reffed the U.S. game last week was banned from the rest of the World Cup? I didn't see the game, but I did see the incident and I don't know what the infringement was for but the U.S. did clearly have a guy offside. Why does this guy (who as far as I'm concerned is a hero :p) get banned when Hansson is then put in charge of a Champions League game (was it Arsenal vs Porto?)? I suppose the market in America, unlike in Ireland, has a lot of room to grow and any publicity is good publicity...I'm sure Blatter and FIFA aren't able to sleep with all of this Anelka/Domenech/France crap either :rolleyes:



Well its on the web, look at it!! He was rubbish

Hansson is a half decent ref. I think if one cant see it in real time then you have to give the ref some slack. Looked at the incident again on the box the other day and none of the commentators spotted the handball at the time (neither did I) so why blame the ref who was unsighted!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Charlie Darwin]

There was nobody offside in the US incident. The free out was given for a foul.

The Malian referee was sent home as much for the way he handled the aftermath as the decision itself. He refused to tell the players what the offense was - Hansson made the wrong decision but he did at least talk to the players.

Interestingly, Hansson commented on the incident for (I think) the first time recently - said he was sorry. Seems like a decent bloke and the resemblance to Bruce Willis is quite striking.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/irish/8752850.stm

[OwlsFan]

Off topic, although the initial games were poor, there was little feigning of injury. Now, it's starting to escalate big time. When is FIFA going to issue instructions to the referees to send off players or subsequently ban players like the IC player who clearly pretend to be hit in the face when he wasn't. Not always easy to spot (since Blatter doesn't permit the use of technology) but the rest of the tournament we are going to see the rolling around in the throes of mortal injury by players.

[shakermaker1982]

I thought he was excellent until that decision. It was the linesman who should have spotted it but the poor old ref always ends up getting the most stick.

[osarusan]

Off topic, although the initial games were poor, there was little feigning of injury. Now, it's starting to escalate big time. When is FIFA going to issue instructions to the referees to send off players or subsequently ban players like the IC player who clearly pretend to be hit in the face when he wasn't. Not always easy to spot (since Blatter doesn't permit the use of technology) but the rest of the tournament we are going to see the rolling around in the throes of mortal injury by players.

When you think about the fact that FIFA are willing to allow the referee Nishimura to watch the footage of David Villa slapping a Honduras defender in the face (http://http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/world_cup_2010/8753549.stm) and ask him what decision he would have made had he seen it live, in order to determine if any punishment will be applied retrospectively, it seems madness that they can't / won't do the same thing for incidents of diving and acting.

[jbyrne]

When you think about the fact that FIFA are willing to allow the referee Nishimura to watch the footage of David Villa slapping a Honduras defender in the face (http://http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/world_cup_2010/8753549.stm) and ask him what decision he would have made had he seen it live, in order to determine if any punishment will be applied retrospectively, it seems madness that they can't / won't do the same thing for incidents of diving and acting.

and another famous incident that affected us

[OwlsFan]

I see he got the 4th Official gig at the Japan vs Denmark game last night. Funny seeing him towering over the other 3 Officials. Don't think Gabriel Egan and Matt Holland spotted him. Not sure whether he's refereed a game yet at the Finals but I might be wrong.

[irishfan86]

I see he got the 4th Official gig at the Japan vs Denmark game last night. Funny seeing him towering over the other 3 Officials. Don't think Gabriel Egan and Matt Holland spotted him. Not sure whether he's refereed a game yet at the Finals but I might be wrong.

10 refs were brought from Europe, 9 for use, one as a spare. He's the spare and he hasn't reffed a game in the group stage, so it looks like he won't play a part in this tourney apart from holding up the sign.

It really is a linesman error in my opinion, combined with ignorance on FIFA's part for not introducing technology, so I feel for Hansson. Anybody who blames him for positioning and saying he should never be allowed to ref at this level is just being harsh...players are caught out in top matches all the time, and there's no way a ref can be perfectly positioned at all times to see every play in a 90 minute match.

Yes it was horrible, and it seems he's paid his price by being excluded from the tournament after years of trying to build up his career as a ref.

Let's just put it behind us and aim for a strong Euro qualifying campaign, and hopefully our first major tournament in a decade.

[theworm2345]

Finally the nightmare is over, roll on 2014 (and 2012)

[EastTerracer]

I know we all want to leave this in the past but this is a Swedish documentary which followed Martin Hansson around for a year before the world cup. They obviously didn't know at the time that he'd be involved in such a big controversy. Hansson comes across as a bit strange - he seems to be totally obsessed with refereeing at a World Cup and he even hinted that it was more important than his family (although, giving him the benefit of the doubt, that might be down to bad subtitles as well). Along with the self-pitying interview he gave to the Irish Times during the World Cup I really don't have a lot of sympathy for him, even if he didn't see the incident in Paris.

http://www.101greatgoals.com/videodisplay/6322153/