2010 World Cup –More Lessons Learned
by Héctor Vergara, FIFA Assistant Referee
Introduction
As I walked off the pitch after having received the medal for the third place match I had a long look at the stadium, fans, players and the pitch as I knew that my career as a World Cup official was ending. It is never easy to see things come to an end; especially when it has been awesome, but it was also a very proud moment.
It has to be recognized that when one has the opportunity to be with the best referees in the world it is a great chance to learn. I have always believed that no matter what your level, even as a FIFA official, you should try to learn. The day you stop learning and believe “you are it”, it is the day you begin the decline of your officiating career.
One of the things I have always been interested in and pay attention to is how officials do the basics of refereeing, paying attention to the small details. It is the small details that separate great officials from good officials. The refs at the World Cup have been selected after years of evaluations, seminars, tests, assessments and performances in competitions on and off the field. They are considered the best in their Confederations and therefore the world. The majority of the best are at a very high level and pretty close in ability to handle high level matches and the differences in what makes some better than others is the small details.
There is also one organization called FIFA that has certain expectations and is constantly, at every competition and training session, attempting to communicate those expectations to the officials and instructors.
It is therefore important that when referees are trained, at any level, FIFA's teachings are followed. It is critical in the development of officials that the basics and small details are taught early so that they quickly become second nature. This can then free up an official’s concentration for other demands during the match. In addition, an official that does the small details correctly will look more the part and portray greater credibility than one who has brushed these aspects aside.
I have been involved in Canadian Refereeing circles for 28 years and I have been a student, a teacher as well as an evaluator and I have to say that for the most part our provincial associations have done a good job of teaching the basics. There have been times in the past where we have not followed FIFA and we have also seen this in the last few years.
It is troublesome when we are being given instructions that do not follow the FIFA instructions, particularly when we should be giving our referees, from the very young to the elite, the proper tools so that they may have every opportunity to aspire to be the very best that they can be. Some of them will become National officials and some FIFA officials that will represent Canada in CONCACAF and FIFA competitions. It is essential that they have the tools of what CONCACAF and FIFA expects in order to perform at their best and get more opportunities to show their abilities.
As such, I would like to share with you some, definitely not all, of the learning experiences and information gained in the 2010 World Cup. I will do this in a number of ways but no matter what I hope that you find the stories and passages informative and educational. I will also present general information that should make you think about and challenge the way refereeing is taught in Canada and in the world. There are things that FIFA is doing and teaching that we have not embraced as we should and there are opportunities that need to be explored in order to provide officials with the essential tools to be their best.
Experience is key to teaching
One of the things that has been changing over the 18 years that I have been refereeing at the FIFA level, has been the number of ex FIFA referees that have been getting involved in teaching the future referees. This has happened at the Committee level but also very much at the instructor level.
The people that are now involved, as staff and instructors, have been FIFA officials. This brings instant credibility to the programs and to their teaching. It is also very helpful because the people involved have lived the pressures, expectations, controversies and the ups and downs of an official. It is often very easy to say or expect something, but if you have not lived it, breathed it, suffered through it, etc, you will never really know what it is like.
By having lived it, there is compassion and understanding, as well as ways in which the instructors can help an official develop to be the best they can be. It is not that someone who has not been through it should not teach officials but the point is that there is better credibility when you can say that you been there and done it.
Unfortunately for us in Canada, we don’t have many that can say “I have been there and done that”. Being there is not just having the badge; you must also have done the difficult matches. It really means having people that have been under the great pressures of competitions. FIFA has taken this to heart and they have adjusted to incorporate the people that can best help the officials. This is something that was very evident internally in this World Cup.
A very high representative of FIFA explained how knowing about the administration of the game or even referee programs is not the same as knowing about how to ref and the referee's feeling, and everything an official goes through. We all know we encounter this scenario in many of our experiences.
Goal Kick Signal
Not long ago it was brought to my attention by a colleague that the signal for goal kicks instructed to entry or provincial referees was with the palm down. I have been informed that this is a UEFA instruction and that many UEFA referees do it. I know that not everyone supports this concept so I investigated further at the World Cup. Like I said, to me, what FIFA wants is what we should be teaching.
The UEFA (FIFA) instructors that were present at the World Cup informed me that there has never been a directive from UEFA for the signal to be palm down. They did indicate that there is no real emphasis on this, but that this is beginning to change as uniformity is important at all levels of the game. This is evident by the fact that FIFA now has a program called the Referee Assistance Program (RAP). One of the objectives of the RAP is to establish standards and consistency in refereeing around the world. When I spoke to other FIFA instructors I was informed that the signal has always been palm out and that FIFA is not changing it. This is evident as this signal has not been in the FIFA Laws of the Game for many years and the last time it was shown in the FIFA Laws of the Game it was palm out.
It was very interesting to note that of the 29 referees that were present the majority used the palm out. Obviously some could only be observed during the training sessions as they did not referee a game. Also, interesting was that the UEFA referees were a mix of palm out, palm down and in some cases the referee did not even use a signal – more on that later. The rest of the referees at the World Cup, from other parts of the world, used the palm out.
Many will argue that this is a detail that is not important, but I disagree. When you get referees that are at very similar levels all of the small details make the difference. I will try to rap it up in the body language section of this article.
General Signals
Obviously when you attend an event like the World Cup and you have the opportunity to interact with instructors and referees for 45 days there are many discussions that you are able to have. On a number of conversations there was a concern expressed by the instructors, including those from UEFA, that many of the UEFA referees were not signaling throw ins, goal kicks and in many occasions even direction of free kicks. It was obvious in our discussions that these are referees that believe that they are beyond these requirements. It is sad to have to say that some were also some of the top referees in UEFA.
The instructors mention that in their Confederation there was going to be a greater focus on getting the new generation of referees to comply with the requirements related to signaling. These top officials, even though they are considered the best in their region, would be so much more credible and I would say could give a great argument for being the best in the world if they did these simple things better. The little things matter more than some may think.
The same concerns were expressed regarding the signals by some of the UEFA ARs that carry the flag in the wrong hand or signal with the wrong hand. Again, the instructors want to see this come in line with the rest of the world and with what the RAP program teaches. No one will ever argue against the concept that the most important things is to get the calls right. However, when you get beyond the point of getting the calls right, which most of the officials at the World Cup level are capable of doing, the way you signal, the way you move, how you look is all important part of being a top notch official.
It has to be admitted that the CONCACAF referees and ARs are very consistent in following the guidelines related to the AR signals. I know that my fellow referees from our region have a lot of pride in making every effort to doing these things right. Image is an important part of a referee’s arsenal and doing the right signals and movements portrays a certain image and acceptable standard.
Yellow and Red Card Presentation
In Canada we have lately been instructed to talk to players before issuing the yellow or red cards. This is a new direction that has not been the case even before I even became an official. At the World Cup the process of talking to players before issuing the yellow or red card was not used by the majority of the referees. I would be taking an educated guess as I have not tallied every caution or red card but it appeared to be less than 20% of the referees that used this approach. FIFA appears to be more receptive to the immediate showing of the yellow or red card instead of the talking first. There were in fact many people that mentioned that perhaps there was too much talking by the referee to the players in the final of the World Cup and that may not have been the best option.
When we look at our region, we have to be aware of the type of player that is involved in the games at the CONCACAF and FIFA level. You could even go further and argue, rightly so, that even at the local provincial level we are unique in that there are many ethnic groups that play the game. Many of these players do not react positively to been talked to before the issuing of a card, particularly at the higher levels. Culture and the environment that you officiate in must be taken into consideration. It is not the same to officiate a game in Europe versus Central America, as an example. The players are very different in their attitudes and temperament. A quick card would be required 90% of the time in Central America, while it may more acceptable in Europe to take some time.
All you have to do is to watch some of the games in the region and you will note that seldom, if ever, the referees talk to the players before issuing the card. So why do we want to teach this to our younger generation of referees? If we want to give them the proper tool should we not be teaching them the way FIFA wants it done and also get them to a point where the process is second nature? This is another detail that should not be taught one way when you referee locally and than have to relearn when you get to the higher level.
AR Flag position inside penalty area
The RAP has been teaching that the ARs should carry the flag in the right hand while moving laterally within the penalty area. At the World Cup, this was again emphasized by some of the instructors as something that if it is being taught by the RAP program then FIFA will expect it from the ARs.
There were many ARs at the World Cup that refused to do so and I even spoke to some who at the end of the day their response is that what matters is that they get the call right. Again, no one will argue that this is critical, but when we are all expected to get the call right, what is going to differentiate between a good AR and an excellent one – the small details and paying attention to those elements such as where to carry the flag and what hand to use to make the signals, etc. In Canada, since my early days I know we have taught the ARs to pay attention to these details and to always carry the flag in the corresponding hand.
Now, there is another challenge, to teach the young referees to carry the flag in the right hand inside the penalty area when moving laterally. This is what FIFA wants and if we can get the referees to learn it and practice it now it will become second nature and it will not have to be taught differently when they get to the top. I had experienced this personally and I can tell you that it is much more difficult to have to learn the new way when you have been doing it the old way for so many years. A referee would be ahead of the curve if the skill was learned correctly at the beginning.
Importance of Body Language
For the 18 years I have been involved as a FIFA AR, body language, signals and movements, although basic, have been something that I have been conscious of doing correctly and as FIFA has instructed. It has assisted me in concentrating in other important areas as well as it has helped me establish a profile that I have been told is highly regarded in the world. I don’t need more than that evidence to prove that this is critical to one’s performance and career.
FIFA spent a fair amount of resources in getting an instructor that specifically dealt with body language and energy systems that incorporated many important aspects, some, but not all of them, are:
All of the basic gestures and techniques listed can be connected to the referee’s body language. FIFA had a professional work with the WC referees from about two years before the WC in order to develop these techniques so that they had a significant impact on the referee’s performance.
There were many officials that participated in the process and although it was mandatory to do most of the sessions I know for a fact that many did not do them all and that they looked at this as not that important. It is no surprise to me that those officials that did well at the WC were those that are not only quality top officials but also embraced the importance of body language and worked on improving their own.
I mentioned before that some of the top referees in Europe did not practice what was being asked and it was evident in their games. I sat together with the FIFA instructor in charge of this area during many games, live and on TV, to watch these top officials and the frustration that was demonstrated for the lack of attention to these details was pretty evident. There is a huge emphasis, correctly so, that is being placed on the importance of body language for the referee and we must all realize that it must be addressed.
I know for a fact that in Canada we have not spent sufficient time talking and teaching body language to the referees. This is something that needs to be taught from a very young age. It is a critical element that gives referees confidence and an image that yields respect from everyone. Image is the first impression people get of a referee and the way the referee walks, moves, runs, signals free kicks, shows cards, shows advantage, stops play, talks to players when needed, deals with pressure, positioning, etc. is essential.
FIFA has re-emphasized for me a great component that is essential for referees and that many people have underestimated for a long time. The referee must have as part of his repertoire great body language that will assist the official in communicating and controlling much better.
It is important that we teach what 80% of the world is learning and following, which is what FIFA is teaching. We must be part of that number if we want to give the Canadian referees the best opportunity to be prepared for the challenges they will face in their careers. These tools should be given to referees early in their careers so that they understand the expectations early and get used to the requirements, instead of waiting until they are almost there and throwing them a curve ball that they have to adjust to. Proper body language creates good habits and they must be learned early.
Conclusion
The lessons that I have learned are applicable to every level of referee and the information that I gained at the World Cup is important for all referees to know. Learning is never complete and the more we can share experiences of this nature amongst referees, particularly those that have been to high level competitions, the greater the chance of success.
I am sure that there will be many opportunities to discuss and share more stories that allow referees to learn and be their best. In the meantime, I hope officials in the provinces find these learning experiences useful and it gives them a little bit more of an understanding of the elements that must be considered as you develop as an official.
Enjoy your games!