A&H

world cup appointments

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None have been released yet. The referees briefing is being live streamed at 5 today so I’d imagine we’ll find out at least who has the opener. They never tend to get released until a couple of days before the games.
 
I know English is the desired lingo and all that, but, having VAR man of a different nationality to the on field officials is an accident waiting to happen?
Ref team from Uzbekistan with a Equadorian sitting watching in a van, having to rely vital information, throw in crowd noise and so on....


Although am sure these factors have been accounted for..am just saying if I was the ref in something like this, I would want my entire team to be folk I have worked with before, that way if nothing else, we are at least able to communicate freely
 
I know English is the desired lingo and all that, but, having VAR man of a different nationality to the on field officials is an accident waiting to happen?
Ref team from Uzbekistan with a Equadorian sitting watching in a van, having to rely vital information, throw in crowd noise and so on....


Although am sure these factors have been accounted for..am just saying if I was the ref in something like this, I would want my entire team to be folk I have worked with before, that way if nothing else, we are at least able to communicate freely

They have to pass an advanced and very difficult English language test to be a FIFA official, so I can't see this being too much of a problem.
 
Worth adding that appointment are generally only released 48 hours before the game, the reason being to protect the officials from being targeted by gambling syndicates.
 
What I was trying to say in addition to language was, I would prefer a VAR I have worked with, yes everybody will be there on merit but its reassuring to have a working experience with your whole team

I believe the infamous Maradona handball goal was awarded as the linesman and referee had a communication issue and of course not knowing each other at all, things went a bit pear shaped.
 
I believe the infamous Maradona handball goal was awarded as the linesman and referee had a communication issue and of course not knowing each other at all, things went a bit pear shaped.

He was told by the referee before the match to not call anything important besides offside and ball out of play. The AR...uh, linesman at the time followed that instruction and then lived with the shame for the rest of his life.
 
He was told by the referee before the match to not call anything important besides offside and ball out of play. The AR...uh, linesman at the time followed that instruction and then lived with the shame for the rest of his life.

Plus back then they didn't have the same strict English language tests and communication would / could have been a problem.
 
English refs have done 4 WC finals, Italians 3! Scottish Linos 2!! :) Not a bad set of stats for a relatively small country / Island!!
 
Paul Gascoigne can speak English can you understand him..
 
Paul Gascoigne can speak English can you understand him..
I have a strong Geordie accent rep and I have to listen attentively to get his drift. I’m sure the English test allows for accents and dialects as long as the basic stuff is audible and relatively understandable..
 
I have a strong Geordie accent rep and I have to listen attentively to get his drift. I’m sure the English test allows for accents and dialects as long as the basic stuff is audible and relatively understandable..

Here’s to hoping & relying on FIFA to Cover every possible outcome.
 
He was told by the referee before the match to not call anything important besides offside and ball out of play. The AR...uh, linesman at the time followed that instruction and then lived with the shame for the rest of his life.

Also remember at that time, some FIFA referees ran the line. They did not have the dedicated AR's which we have now. I think it was the disaster of the lining in the World Cup 1994 (in America) which convinced FIFA to employ AR as AR at World Cup finals, rather than referees.

I remember George Courtney running a line at Grimsby in preparation for his appointment to the World Cup finals.......
 
What I was trying to say in addition to language was, I would prefer a VAR I have worked with, yes everybody will be there on merit but its reassuring to have a working experience with your whole team
Taking England as an example, as a select group referee, how could you possibly have worked with a particular VAR before? The primary VAR will be a referee by trade (rather than an AR) I would have thought? So the last time two referees could have worked together was if they happened to line up together as an Ref/AR pair of level 4's, a minimum of 5 years ago!
 
Whats wrong with the example of Olivers Champions league semi team plus Mariner for example?

Edit, Olivers FA Cup final team? And the equal for every nation submitting officials?
 
Whats wrong with the example of Olivers Champions league semi team plus Mariner for example?

Edit, Olivers FA Cup final team? And the equal for every nation submitting officials?
That's a fair point, I had forgotten that UEFA use Ref's rather than AR's to do the pointless AAR role.

I still think my overall point is pretty valid though - there's going to be very few referee teams in Russia that have "worked together" before, so it's a little over optimistic to ask for that to be a requirement. At some point, every ref/VAR combination has to work together for the first time in order for there to be a second time!
 
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