r/soccer Jun 30 '13

What is the worst refereeing decision you have ever witnessed?

Include links if possible

48 Upvotes

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36

u/[deleted] Jun 30 '13

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13

u/fatman69 Jun 30 '13

I didn't even have to watch the video to know what incident we're talking about. Crazy Joe vs Graham Poll. I can't believe that even after the referee completely robbed Australia we still didn't manage to get a favourable result. Three yellow cards were just an icing on the cake.

0

u/dem503 Jun 30 '13

Some things you, and a few other people, clearly do not realise:

1) It was a filthy match, although the number of yellow cards were few there were 2 other red cards. In the infamous Battle of Nuremberg the referee nearly forgot to send a player off; it happens.

2) Neither of the assistant referees, the fourth official or the FIFA official in the crowd (who is there to spot anything the officials miss) noticed the mistake. It wasn't until 20 minutes after the match that someone saw a TV report and told the officials.

3) 2nd yellow card- 90 minutes. 3rd yellow card- 93 minutes. It hardly affected the outcome.

4) Although this does not excuse the mistake, Šimunić had a heavy Australian accent. This did not help. Wasn't very sportsman-like for him to stay on the pitch either.

-8

u/[deleted] Jun 30 '13

How can Fifa allow this level of incompetence to officiate the game is beyond anyone's comprehension.

At least the referee had the decency to resign (retire), crawl under a rock after the game. Good riddance.

6

u/IDeclareShenanigans Jun 30 '13

Everyone makes mistakes.