Latest news with #referees
Reuters
a day ago
- Sport
- Reuters
Referees in top form ahead of Women's Euros final phase
OBERENTFELDEN, Switzerland, July 21 (Reuters) - It is not just the players who are in top form as the Women's Euros reaches its climax in Switzerland - the tournament referees have spent months preparing to be in peak physical condition. The 13 whistle-blowers chosen to officiate at the 31 games in the tournament have been put through their paces for several months, with remote and group training sessions in the lead-up to sharpen their skills. "Physical and mental preparation are very important for a referee. UEFA supports us with that, so we have a tailored plan to guarantee that we can be in optimal shape to take part in this tournament," said Spanish referee Marta Huerta de Aza who is officiating at her second Euros. "To be at a Women's Euro again, three years on, is even more difficult, because the female referees we have in Europe, in my personal opinion, are the best in the world – they demonstrate it in each international competition," she added. UEFA demands high standards of the referees employed for the 16-team tournament. "Notably, all of them have passed the same fitness test we conduct for the elite men's referees. We have full confidence in them and their assistants, as well as the video officials, to show their quality at the final tournament," UEFA managing director for refereeing Roberto Rosetti said in a statement. The growth in the women's game has also resulted in greater opportunities for female referees, with Tess Olofsson saying the landscape is vastly different from when she first picked up a whistle at the age of 13 in her native Sweden. "Back then, we didn't have many female referees or role models. Suddenly, women's football has really developed, both in terms of refereeing and playing," she said. "It is fantastic to see that there are so many professional female referees out there who can make a living out of this job." Olofsson will act as fourth official for Germany's semi-final against Spain in Zurich on Wednesday. England meet Italy in Geneva on Tuesday and the final is in Basel on Sunday.
Irish Times
2 days ago
- Sport
- Irish Times
There will always be incidents of outrageous wrongdoing when it comes to All-Ireland tickets
When it comes to it, nobody complains about the price of an All-Ireland final ticket. There is a general flutter of rebuke and name-calling whenever a hike in ticket prices is announced, but that is always months before the final. It's like giving out to the referee: they never change their mind. This year, the price of a stand ticket remained unaltered at €100, but the price of a terrace ticket was increased to €60, a hike of €5. On the week of the game, nobody cares about that. In the frenzy of want the only issue is possession. Face value, no matter how barefaced, is a bargain. Here are some immutable truths about All-Ireland tickets: there are never enough tickets to satisfy everyone who feels entitled to one; there are never, ever enough tickets for people who decide they would like to go and can't understand why there is such a panic. Some people who don't deserve tickets will get them. There will be uproar. READ MORE Who deserves what and who doesn't is the annual flashpoint at the heart of all this. There will be people who didn't get a ticket for yesterday and won't get a ticket for next Sunday who will feel betrayed. [ Cork v Tipperary live updates: Tipperary win All-Ireland after amazing second half performance Opens in new window ] For clubs, entitlement is a minefield. Every member of a club executive will be allocated a pair of tickets, and nobody will argue. But after that there is a sliding scale of people who keep the wheels turning: who run teams and tend to pitches and raise money and go to meetings and close the gates and open the gates and respond to the latest call to arms. Many of those people will resent being in a draw for All-Ireland tickets with a whole load of others who just pay their membership at the start of the year and stand back. In that hierarchy of entitlement where do you draw the line? What about the person who gave 10 years' service, or 20 years, without flinching, but are not involved now and suddenly feel forgotten? How do you explain to them that they'll have to take their chances in the draw with people who never lifted a finger? It is an impossible equation. In every club, there are never enough tickets to clear the debt of gratitude or even meet interest repayments on the debt. Limerick v Cork All-Ireland hurling final 2021: Fans looking for tickets. Photograph: James Crombie/Inpho Outside of that, there are GAA fans who support their intercounty team without being involved in a club. Not everybody is cut out to be a grass root. Many people are living away from home and have no desire to be involved with any other club. They feel entitled too. Or hard done by. Or forgotten. For these people, access to league matches is never a problem and for most championship games the same is true. Tickets are put on general sale. First come first served. For All-Ireland finals, though, it is a closed shop. In the build up to the hurling final the Cork county board received emails from people who had attached a screenshot of all their ticket stubs from all of Cork's games this year. What are their consumer rights? They have none. The counter argument is that some people are too busy with club activities on weekends to be swanning along to league games, or even the early rounds of the championship. There are only so many GAA hours in the week. Club first is the GAA's commandment, isn't it? How All-Ireland final tickets are doled out by Croke Park is always interesting. In the annual report to GAA congress the numbers are laid out in tantalising detail. Over the years, many of the categories have remained the same, but the numbers have changed. Former presidents and members of Ard-Chomhairle, for example, were allocated 1,455 tickets according to the report to annual congress 20 years ago; in the report to this year's congress that number had fallen to 800. Camogie's allocation was up 20 in 20 years to 140; Ladies football had dropped 40 to 100. In the continuing merger talks this will doubtless be teased out in the small print. The really interesting one, though, is the allocation to competing counties. According to the numbers released in 2005, each county was given just 12,014 tickets. For this year's finals, however, it is understood that each competing county was given about 20,000 tickets. The allocation to non-competing counties has dropped by nearly 7,000 in 20 years. Is that balance right yet? The GAA regards All-Ireland finals as a come-all-ye. A national celebration. Everybody knows somebody who goes to the All-Ireland final every year, regardless of who's playing. In that spirit, every club in a county that hasn't reached the final is entitled to at least a pair of tickets. What they do with them is their own business. At the end of last week, the Kilcar club in Donegal issued a statement on its Facebook page saying that 'while there was a large number of names taken by people interested in the All-Ireland hurling final, it would be more beneficial to the club and its members to swap these for football tickets.' Ticket exchanges between counties in the hurling and football finals has been common practice for decades. Unsold tickets in non-competing counties is another phenomenon that usually results in a secondary allocation for competing counties in the days before the game. Last year, that resulted in more than 3,000 extra tickets landing in Cork; this year the second wave of tickets was numbered in hundreds. The unusual element of this year's ticket scramble is that Cork, Tipperary, Kerry and Donegal all brought crowds to their semi-finals that vastly exceeded their allocation of tickets for the final. Cork were estimated to have brought 60,000 to their semi-final; Donegal brought in excess of 45,000; Tipperary brought close to 40,000 and Kerry brought greater crowds to their quarter-final and semi-final than at any time in recent memory. In Cork, the runaway support for the team caused an insoluble problem. In Donegal, it was reported locally that their allocation will cover every adult club member in a county with just 40 clubs. But that still leaves their partners and kids, and the remainder of the 45,000 who turned up the Meath game. There will always be hard cases and incidents of outrageous wrongdoing. Is there a better way of doing it? No. The atrocities will continue.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
LASIK Takes Aim At WNBA Refs' Bad Calls With An Eye-Opening Solution
The bad and missed calls by refs are not only getting to players and fans, but also some eye doctors. In a humorous twist on a current hot topic, LASIK wants to help those stop those bad calls by offering WNBA referees a possible solution. The eye surgery brand is positioning the move as a clever marketing play and a genuine solution to what fans have been calling a "vision problem" on the court. There's Been A Lot Of WNBA Referee Talk Lately A hot topic in the WNBA right now is bad and missed calls by the referees. Fans and players alike have been complaining about it more lately than ever. Some players are upset about missed calls, some are angry about bad calls, and then some are even wondering why refs don't get "reprimanded for their mistakes." During an interview with ESPN, New York Liberty guard Natasha Cloud, voiced her unfiltered opinion about the topic recently. "I also think that there needs to be [a] f-cking fine placed on referees for missed calls, right? If I can get a technical in the game for my emotions, I think the referees should be able to be reprimanded for their mistakes too," she said. "If my fines are going to be public knowledge, I think their fines should be public knowledge too." It's important to note that the league will fine or suspend a referee for misapplication of rules, but not for a misjudgment. LASIK Entered The Chat Offering An Interesting Solution For WNBA Refs Joining the conversation about referee calls in the WNBA, LASIK offered an interesting solution (just in case the issue really is eyesight). "We offer all WNBA refs LASIK for free!" they shared on social media. The LASIK website explains a little more detail about what they are offering all professional refs across all sports. "This free offer for WaveLight, All-laser custom Modern LASIK is for professional referees and officials currently employed by the NFL, NHL, NBA, MLB, USNT, MLS, NWSL, and WNBA at vision centers partnered with the Network," the website explains. "Applicants will undergo a thorough LASIK eye consultation to determine if they are a safe candidate for LASIK. Participation in the initiative is subject to meeting specific eligibility criteria, including but not limited to age, health status, and ocular conditions. Referees and officials must undergo a comprehensive LASIK eye examination conducted by qualified affiliated doctors to determine their eligibility for the procedure." So, if the issue is actually eyesight, LASIK might be a great solution, and for free for professional refs. Sophie Cunningham Is 'Just Trollin' About The Refs On TikTok Indiana Fever star recently shared her thoughts on the referee calls in a savage TikTok video. Set to Sabrina Carpenter's song, "Manchild," Cunningham made sure to add "@refs" to her video while lip syncing, "Stupid? Or is Maybe it' Fans took to the comments to share their thoughts. "Start a GoFundMe for fines and say whatever you want. We got your back," one person wrote. Another added, "I'll pay your fine! Keep speaking the truth girl!" Fans also shared how frustrating it's been with bad calls lately. "I've never screamed at the tv so much. It's so frustrating and I'm not even the one playing! GO FEVER," one person wrote in the comments. Another said, "It's all captured on video for us to witness just how true this is." LA Sparks Star Kelsey Plum Recently Spoke Out About WNBA Refs Sparks star spoke out about the "consistency" of calls on July 18. "I have no problem with the physicality. I think people are frustrated with the consistency," she said, according to Women's Fastbreak on SI. "So it's like a ticky-tack here, and then someone gets absolutely assaulted over here, and like, where's the line? And where do we call it, and why do we call it?" She continued, "I also think too, a lot of teams specifically play me very physical, which I a foul is a foul. So a foul in the first quarter is a foul in the fourth quarter. And so it's like, hey, if you're not gonna call it in the first, that's fine. But don't call it in the fourth. Or let me guard them that way that they guard me." She also explained that the "officiating across the board" is getting people frustrated with the "lack of consistency." Coach Becky Hammon Also Shared Thoughts About Recent Calls It's not just the players and fans who are calling out the bad and missed calls. Coaches are jumping into the conversation as well. Las Vegas Aces head coach recently shared her thoughts after a recent loss to the Washington Mystics. As Hammon exited the postgame presser, she said, "Tell me how much my fine is." She spent the final minutes of the game noticeably frustrated with "awful" officiating. "Jackie [Young] got fouled at 33 seconds [left] on that layup. No call," she said. "Meanwhile, on the other end, I would have challenged seven more calls - and won them. I have no idea what that was. Awful."
Telegraph
4 days ago
- Sport
- Telegraph
My guide to the Lions Test referees
In 2009, World Rugby ripped up the history books and appointed British and Irish referees to officiate on a Lions tour. Not just any Lions tour; this was a tour to the rugby heartland of South Africa. And though Nigel Owens, Alain Rolland and I were not involved in the Test matches, we were involved in some of the full-blooded provincial games, as the Lions faced up against the Bulls, Sharks and Stormers. I was appointed to referee the Lions against the Free State Cheetahs in Bloemfontein – having run touch in three other games – and it was one of the highlights of my career. Not only did I experience the sea of red shirts around the city in the days leading up to the match, but I saw the best players of the home nations take on the world champions in their own backyard. It was epic, and a huge honour to be the first Englishman to referee the Lions. There will be two other firsts on this Lions tour: Nika Amashukeli will become the first Georgian to referee the Lions and Andrea Piardi the first Italian. The trio will be completed by Ben O'Keeffe, who refereed the second Test in the last Lions series in 2021, a game played only a few days after Rassie Erasmus's 62-minute online rant about what he perceived to be refereeing inconsistencies. Amashukeli continues to make 'firsts'. Not only was he the first match official from Georgia to referee at a World Cup, but he was also the first to referee a Six Nations hame and a Champions Cup final. Piardi has been the go-to man over the past three seasons in the United Rugby Championship (URC) and refereed the final for the past three years. O'Keeffe burst on to the scene at the 2019 World Cup when he superbly refereed the final pool match of the tournament in the highly emotional Japan v Scotland game. At the 2023 Rugby World Cup he refereed the quarter-final between France and South Africa and the week afterwards he was in charge when England lost to South Africa in the semi-final in Paris. It's fair to say that they are a very experienced team, but like every Test match, the coaches will currently be analysing each referee to see if they can gain an advantage, or perhaps an insight, into how the officials may interpret the game. And if I know Joe Schmidt, he will be looking at some of the stats and noting that these three officials have some distinct differences. Emphasis will be on attack I have explained on these pages before that nothing sucks the life out of a stadium more than a promising attack being stopped by a referee's whistle for a technical side entry or a holding-on penalty given too quickly. Referees who reward the attack more tend to produce games with more continuity and fewer stoppages. Over the past two international seasons, O'Keeffe, who will referee the opening Test this weekend in Brisbane, has given almost 60 per cent of his penalties against the defence. This tendency was obvious when he refereed the Lions v Western Force in Perth on June 28. O'Keeffe gave only 16 penalties all match and, amazingly, none were against the attack. This could explain why Farrell opted for disruptors in the back row rather than an out-and-out jackler, putting Tom Curry ahead of Jac Morgan. Most pleasing for the spectators is that all three of the referees insist on quick ball when teams are attacking, and they all go hard against defending players who are lying on the wrong side. All three also have an average ruck-speed time of less than three seconds, a measurement of how quickly the ball comes away from the breakdown. This would suggest we are in for some attacking rugby. Lions should target scrum in first Test Amashukeli is not one for wasting time at the scrum. He resets only one in five scrums, and that is supported by being top of the scoreboard when it comes to having the highest ball in play. The Lions have used the scrum to devastating effect so far this tour, securing 18 penalties through the series. O'Keeffe averages five penalties at the scrum per game, and having witnessed the Aussies concede a couple against Fiji – a team without the power of Tadhg Furlong and Ellis Genge – I expect it is an area that the Lions will target. Worrying for the Lions is that Piardi, who will referee the second Test in Melbourne, resets more than one in three scrums. Which is often a sign that the referee does not give penalties to a dominant scrum. I imagine that John Fogarty, the Lions scrummaging coach, will be whispering into Piardi's ear this weekend as he runs up and down the touchline in front of the technical boxes. Best to call on TMO sparingly This week I was asked to join Scotty Stephenson, the Kiwi broadcaster and commentator, on his early-morning breakfast show. He was discussing the use of TMO after three potential New Zealand tries were scrubbed off in the van. I explained to him that technology improves sport – think Snicko in cricket or Hawk-Eye in tennis – but that it is so important that TMOs don't go looking at every pass or rewind every single breakdown. If they do, we will be waiting until September for this series to finish. At the end of the Lions' match against the Australia and New Zealand invitational side, I was scratching my head to understand what Shannon Frizell had done wrong for the TMO to come in, but after a lot of searching for the best angle, he was given a yellow card for a dangerous clean-out. TMOs are there to prevent the big howler – not to scrutinise every clear-out – and Amashukeli buys into that, averaging just over one review per match. Some readers will remember the Champions Cup final, with seven TMO interactions between the Georgian and the South African, Marius Jonker. They will work together again in the third Test, but I am hoping that the European final was just a blip in the figures. O'Keeffe will kick things off this weekend with his compatriot Richard Kelly in the van, and I'm hoping the number of TMO referrals is around fewer than two, O'Keeffe's average in each of his past nine matches. If it is, it will add to the flow of the game. My main hope, however, is that this is the last time you read the names Amashukeli, Piardi and O'Keeffe in these columns and they can reminisce on being part of Lions history for all the right reasons.
News.com.au
6 days ago
- Sport
- News.com.au
Report reveals accuracy of A-League match officials improved during 2024-25 season
Referees boss Jon Moss has hailed the 'professionalism' of A-League match officials following an improvement in decision-making accuracy during the 2024-25 season. Football Australia's end-of-season refereeing and video assistant referee report revealed that a 'benchmark' 98.8 per cent of VAR decisions were correct. The report showed that VAR reviews had reduced to 48 – 44 fewer than the pre-season – across 1556 on-field decisions, and there was an intervention rate of just 4 per cent. 'We're seeing tangible year-on-year improvement, not just in accuracy, but in game management and the integration of new talent into the elite level,' Moss said. 'The data tells a clear story – fewer cards, fewer incorrect calls, and more consistency. 'This is a credit to the professionalism of our referees and their willingness to adapt to the tactical shifts occurring in the A-League.' Yellow cards per game dropped by 12.8 per cent from the previous season, while the total number of red cards fell by 56.8 per cent and second yellow-card dismissals were down by 13 per cent. FA interim chief executive officer Heather Garriock said the data 'demonstrates the progress we're making in delivering officiating that is both accurate and aligned with the modern game'. 'To see improved decision-making across the board, combined with fewer cards and a low VAR intervention rate, speaks volumes about the quality and consistency of our match officials,' Garriock said.
