Soccer Referees Feeling the Pressure
Swedish soccer referee Anders Frisk retired a few days ago, hounded out by death threats sent by e-mail, fax and phone. Swiss colleague Urs Meier needed police protection last summer after receiving 16,000 hostile e-mails in 24 hours.
Referee Luiz Carlos Silva got in a fistfight in Brazil last weekend when a fan attacked him on the field.
Who would want such a job?
“I can guarantee you that, without change, there won’t be many of us wanting to referee when you know there’s a revolver at your head,” said French referee Bertrand Layec, who filed a police complaint recently after his family was threatened.
Referees are used to abuse. But Frisk’s abrupt departure, after what he termed the “worst three weeks” of his life, put the issue on the agenda when European soccer officials meet next month in Tallinn, Estonia.
“It’s a very serious matter when referees are threatened to such an extent that they give up the job,” said Mathieu Sprengers, treasurer of the European governing body known as UEFA. “Being a referee is now a very difficult profession.”
Respect for referees has ebbed. Most are part-timers in a game populated by millionaire players, coaches and owners. While other sports use video replays to help referees, the technology is barred by FIFA, the world governing body, and UEFA.
And, of course, the image of refs has not been helped by the soccer scandal in Germany, where referees are accused of playing a role in allegedly rigging games.
Frisk worked the 2002 World Cup championship game between Brazil and Germany, and was a top world referee until three weeks ago.
“I’ve had enough,” said the 42-year-old, who officiated 118 international games and was a top candidate for next year’s World Cup finals in Germany. “I don’t even know if I dare let my kids go to the post office. It’s gone too far.”
After a 2-1 loss at Barcelona in a Champions League game on Feb. 23, Chelsea coach Jose Mourinho claimed Frisk “had a direct influence in the result” of the match. Mourinho disputed a red card given to Chelsea striker Didier Drogba, a move that reduced the English team to 10 men.
He also alleged Frisk talked in the referees room at halftime with Barcelona coach Frank Rijkaard, which Mourinho said influenced the second-half officiating.
The accusations were dismissed by Rijkaard, Frisk and UEFA officials who were in the dressing room area. But Mourinho’s comments were blamed for inciting the spate of death threats -- some aimed at Frisk’s six children.
Six months ago in Rome, Frisk slumped to the ground with blood pouring from his forehead after being struck by a coin thrown from the stands in a game between Roma and Dynamo Kiev.
Meier was swamped by hostile e-mails last summer after he disallowed a goal by England’s Sol Campbell in England’s loss to Portugal in the quarterfinals of the European championships.
“I was a wounded animal,” he said. “I had the feeling that the English newspapers and people were the hunters. They want to kill me, to finish me off.”
French referee Gilles Veissiere, who has been officiating top games in France for 15 seasons, said he has never before felt under such pressure.
“Football has been taken hostage, and I’m not just talking about the fans at Chelsea,” he said. “I also mean all the so-called fans. It’s intolerable.”
Volker Roth, the head of UEFA referees, suggested a strike might be needed to protect refs’ rights.
“Referees have expressed their support for Anders Frisk,” Volker said. “They’ve noticed the atmosphere is changing and respect for referees is diminishing. A lot needs to change in the behavior of players and coaches.”
Mourinho, who won the European Champions League last season with Porto, is soccer’s best-paid coach. Chelsea is a favorite to win the European title this season.
“It’s clear he’s ruthless in pursuit of success and manipulative,” said John Williams, director of the Centre for the Sociology of Sport at the University of Leicester. “Things which he appears to say off-the-cuff now appear much more consciously aimed at psychological game playing. His comments about Frisk fit into that area. They are aimed at subverting the authority of the referee, doing whatever it takes to get a result.”
Mourinho has not apologized, and has not been fined by UEFA. Later this month, UEFA will consider Mourinho’s charges that Rijkaard affected Frisk’s officiating in the Feb. 23 game.
“If the game continues to lose referees like this then we can’t play the game,” Williams said. “The officials cannot be placed in positions of intolerable pressure. Without referees, we can’t have a game.”
