PGMO Seeks New Sponsor as Air Asia end contract
26/02/10 14:22
Football refereeing body Professional Games Match Officials (PGMO), is seeking a new sponsor for the next three seasons from 2010/11, replacing current sponsor Air Asia.
The body, which is responsible for providing and managing all professional match officials in English football, is inviting organisations to become their new “Principal Partner” for three seasons beginning from 2010/11 across all three major English governing bodies – the Premier League, The FA and the Football League.
PGMO claims “the sponsorship will give “enormous weekly media exposure across all of the major domestic competitions” including the Barclays Premier League, The FA Cup, the Coca-Cola Championship, the Carling Cup, The FA Community Shield and the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy.
The body claims in total the partnership will give access to 2,000 professional football matches with an estimated cumulative global TV audience in excess of three billion.
It adds “the partnership delivers a range of designation and promotional rights, including shirt sleeve and training wear branding on all professional match referees, assistant referees and fourth officials, branding and accreditation on all publicity material, the PGMO and all governing body websites, as well as PGMO and refereeing inventory that offers extensive PR opportunities.”
Mike Riley, general manager of PGMO, says: “Both of our previous partners, Emirates and Air Asia, gained valuable exposure across the globe as a result of the sponsorship, and this is an excellent opportunity for a brand to align itself with. Our officials are seen as professional, athletic, good communicators, efficient, reliable and organised, as well as being highly regarded across the world of football.
The body, which is responsible for providing and managing all professional match officials in English football, is inviting organisations to become their new “Principal Partner” for three seasons beginning from 2010/11 across all three major English governing bodies – the Premier League, The FA and the Football League.
PGMO claims “the sponsorship will give “enormous weekly media exposure across all of the major domestic competitions” including the Barclays Premier League, The FA Cup, the Coca-Cola Championship, the Carling Cup, The FA Community Shield and the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy.
The body claims in total the partnership will give access to 2,000 professional football matches with an estimated cumulative global TV audience in excess of three billion.
It adds “the partnership delivers a range of designation and promotional rights, including shirt sleeve and training wear branding on all professional match referees, assistant referees and fourth officials, branding and accreditation on all publicity material, the PGMO and all governing body websites, as well as PGMO and refereeing inventory that offers extensive PR opportunities.”
Mike Riley, general manager of PGMO, says: “Both of our previous partners, Emirates and Air Asia, gained valuable exposure across the globe as a result of the sponsorship, and this is an excellent opportunity for a brand to align itself with. Our officials are seen as professional, athletic, good communicators, efficient, reliable and organised, as well as being highly regarded across the world of football.
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Allardyce - 'I don't know the rules'
26/02/10 14:21
A FRUSTRATED Sam Allardyce admits he does not know football’s rules any more – after accusing inconsistent refereeing of blighting the game.
The Rovers boss was furious at Steve Bennett’s sending off of Chris Samba in Saturday’s defeat at Stoke, with the giant defender now unavailable for two crucial Premier League matches.
Samba will miss tomorrow’s visit of Hull City and the following home match against Bolton Wanderers, games that could go a long way to deciding Rovers’ fate this season, with Allardyce still bemused at what his defender did wrong.
Samba received a first half caution after a tussle with Ryan Shawcross in Stoke’s box and then saw red after being booked for another seemingly innocuous tug on Ricardo Fuller on the hour mark.
Allardyce though insists incidents like the first one happen all the time in crowded penalty areas and has questioned why some are penalised and others escape without penalty.
He said: “We have had a man sent off and I still can’t understand why he got booked in the first place. We had a penalty appeal turned down that was blatant as well.
“I can’t tell anybody what the rules are today.
"If you had watched Sunderland versus Stoke City on Monday night, you would have seen Ryan Shawcross pulling and tugging on Kenwyne Jones and not a thing was done about it by Howard Webb.
“He is given the same treatment by Chris Samba on Saturday and yet Steve Bennett decides to book both players.
"I just can’t understand it, where are we going?
“What should be given in these situations?
"You have one referee who doesn’t give anything and you have another referee who books both players and that ultimately results in our player getting sent off.”
The Rovers boss was furious at Steve Bennett’s sending off of Chris Samba in Saturday’s defeat at Stoke, with the giant defender now unavailable for two crucial Premier League matches.
Samba will miss tomorrow’s visit of Hull City and the following home match against Bolton Wanderers, games that could go a long way to deciding Rovers’ fate this season, with Allardyce still bemused at what his defender did wrong.
Samba received a first half caution after a tussle with Ryan Shawcross in Stoke’s box and then saw red after being booked for another seemingly innocuous tug on Ricardo Fuller on the hour mark.
Allardyce though insists incidents like the first one happen all the time in crowded penalty areas and has questioned why some are penalised and others escape without penalty.
He said: “We have had a man sent off and I still can’t understand why he got booked in the first place. We had a penalty appeal turned down that was blatant as well.
“I can’t tell anybody what the rules are today.
"If you had watched Sunderland versus Stoke City on Monday night, you would have seen Ryan Shawcross pulling and tugging on Kenwyne Jones and not a thing was done about it by Howard Webb.
“He is given the same treatment by Chris Samba on Saturday and yet Steve Bennett decides to book both players.
"I just can’t understand it, where are we going?
“What should be given in these situations?
"You have one referee who doesn’t give anything and you have another referee who books both players and that ultimately results in our player getting sent off.”
Referees Penalise Taller Players
26/02/10 14:19
As Fabio Capello weighs up the relative merits of Peter Crouch and Jermain Defoe for his World Cup forward line, it is unlikely he will be taking into account the views of social psychologists. Perhaps he should.
Research on the apparent human tendency to associate size with power and aggression has shown that football referees are notably more likely to penalise taller footballers when they tangle with less lofty opponents, potentially bad news for the 6ft 7in Crouch but a boon for fellow striker Defoe, who is a foot shorter.
A study of more than 100,000 fouls in domestic, European and international football showed that the greater the height difference between the players involved then the more chance the referee will adjudicate in favour of the shorter one.
Academics from Rotterdam school of management in the Netherlands tested the hypothesis further by getting panels of football fans to view mock-up images of two players heading towards a ball equidistant between them.
When asked to speculate which of the pair would be more likely to end up on the ground, and for what reason, there was a clear bias towards assuming the smaller player would be the victim and the taller one the aggressor.
"You will always get moments in a game when the situation isn't very clear and the referee has got to make a fast decision. This is where assumptions could influence them," said Steffen Giessner, one of the co-authors. "There are, of course, lots of causes and effects taking place here. There is an effect with height, but we can't say precisely how strong it is."
Giessner has carried out research into height and perceptions of power in business leadership. This study was partly inspired by an observation by his co-author, Niels van Quaquebeke, that as a keen but relatively short basketball player he got the impression he was rarely penalised for fouls.
Without sufficient data for basketball the pair examined statistics from the German domestic league, Champions League and World Cup, and found that where players were between 6cm and 10cm taller than opponents they were blamed for almost 60% of fouls.
"It's very much about visible height difference. The effect is much stronger the greater the differences in height," said van Quaquebeke.
Tottenham's 5ft 7in striker Jermain Defoe has, according to researchers, more chance of benefitting from refereeing decisions in tussles with taller players. Photograph: Jon Super/AP
The researchers speculated that some of this effect might be due to taller players predominating in positions such as defence, where fouls might be more common.
But closer analysis of the data found this was not the case – in fact the greatest number of fouls were carried out by relatively small midfielders against other players in the same position.
The findings are likely to underplay the true situation, the authors say, as the fouls considered included a lot of unambiguous offences where height played no factor. Additionally, the data excludes occasions where fouls by shorter players were missed entirely by referees.
There is, of course, another explanation: that taller players really are more aggressive. The only way to sort that out, the authors suggest, would be to film a series of matches from multiple angles and analyse the refereeing decisions.
In the meantime Giessner, as a German national, has no words of advice for Capello. But he does venture a plan for his own country's football coach, Joachim Loew, when it comes to the combative left back, Philipp Lahm, a modest 5ft 7in.
"You wouldn't call Lahm a dirty player, but he's certainly quite aggressive. And even as a defender he never seems to have many fouls given against him," he said.
"If I was Joachim Loew at the World Cup, I'd be advising Lahm to get into the opposition penalty area as often as he can, fall over and see what happens."
Research on the apparent human tendency to associate size with power and aggression has shown that football referees are notably more likely to penalise taller footballers when they tangle with less lofty opponents, potentially bad news for the 6ft 7in Crouch but a boon for fellow striker Defoe, who is a foot shorter.
A study of more than 100,000 fouls in domestic, European and international football showed that the greater the height difference between the players involved then the more chance the referee will adjudicate in favour of the shorter one.
Academics from Rotterdam school of management in the Netherlands tested the hypothesis further by getting panels of football fans to view mock-up images of two players heading towards a ball equidistant between them.
When asked to speculate which of the pair would be more likely to end up on the ground, and for what reason, there was a clear bias towards assuming the smaller player would be the victim and the taller one the aggressor.
"You will always get moments in a game when the situation isn't very clear and the referee has got to make a fast decision. This is where assumptions could influence them," said Steffen Giessner, one of the co-authors. "There are, of course, lots of causes and effects taking place here. There is an effect with height, but we can't say precisely how strong it is."
Giessner has carried out research into height and perceptions of power in business leadership. This study was partly inspired by an observation by his co-author, Niels van Quaquebeke, that as a keen but relatively short basketball player he got the impression he was rarely penalised for fouls.
Without sufficient data for basketball the pair examined statistics from the German domestic league, Champions League and World Cup, and found that where players were between 6cm and 10cm taller than opponents they were blamed for almost 60% of fouls.
"It's very much about visible height difference. The effect is much stronger the greater the differences in height," said van Quaquebeke.
The researchers speculated that some of this effect might be due to taller players predominating in positions such as defence, where fouls might be more common.
But closer analysis of the data found this was not the case – in fact the greatest number of fouls were carried out by relatively small midfielders against other players in the same position.
The findings are likely to underplay the true situation, the authors say, as the fouls considered included a lot of unambiguous offences where height played no factor. Additionally, the data excludes occasions where fouls by shorter players were missed entirely by referees.
There is, of course, another explanation: that taller players really are more aggressive. The only way to sort that out, the authors suggest, would be to film a series of matches from multiple angles and analyse the refereeing decisions.
In the meantime Giessner, as a German national, has no words of advice for Capello. But he does venture a plan for his own country's football coach, Joachim Loew, when it comes to the combative left back, Philipp Lahm, a modest 5ft 7in.
"You wouldn't call Lahm a dirty player, but he's certainly quite aggressive. And even as a defender he never seems to have many fouls given against him," he said.
"If I was Joachim Loew at the World Cup, I'd be advising Lahm to get into the opposition penalty area as often as he can, fall over and see what happens."
Rugby Referees To Be Accountable
26/02/10 14:15
New Zealand Rugby Union high performance referee manager Lyndon Bray said there was a desire to take some of the mystery out of rugby's laws, while the referees themselves have agreed they would like to be publicly measured.
"They (referees) have probably always been slightly threatened in the past by the concept of facing up on TV after games," Bray told Radio Sport.
"We've all acknowledged this is probably an important step. It brings us into line with the coaches and the players, who also have to do this."
Referees have been in the spotlight in the leadup to this year's Super 14, announcing there will be an emphasis on enforcing breakdown interpretations more literally from the law book.
This, Bray said, should create a more flowing spectacle than the kick-dominated play of 2009. He said yellow cards could be produced earlier in games this year to deal with players unwilling to adjust their attitude.
First Female Referee to Officiate on a Football Legaue Game
26/02/10 14:13
Amy replaced the injured Tony Bates during this weeks Forest Coventry Championship match.
Juding by the reports Amy handled herself well and showed that it doesn't matter what sex you are... a fouls a foul !
Chris Coleman - Coventry Managers View
CHRIS Coleman rarely disappoints when the media are sniffing around for an eyecatching quote to dress up their midweek match reports.
But the Coventry City boss - fresh from collecting his £1,000 'improper conduct' fine - was atypically coy on Tuesday night when he was invited to comment on referee Amy Fearn's ground-breaking stint as a Ricoh Arena substitute.
"I've just had my backside slapped by the FA so I'm saying nothing," laughed the Welshman after 34-year-old Fearn had replaced the hobbling Tony Bates in the 70th minute to become the first woman to take charge of a Football League match.
His body language told the tale, however, and if we were to put words into his mouth (a practice that's not exactly unprecedented in modern journalism) one suspects it would run along the lines of 'she did a hell of a lot better than the bloke she replaced.'
Wirral RA Quiz Team
26/02/10 14:03
From Neil Davies
Good afternoon
I have just received a letter from the Mid-Cheshire Referees Society to say that they have organised the County RA quiz for 18 March 2010 at Moss Farm Social Centre in Northwich (6:45pm for a 7pm start). We have been invited to enter one or more teams (I am presuming a team consists of 4 people, but this is not confirmed in the letter).
I need to let the organisers know if we are sending a team by 1 March.
Would anyone be available to attend? The Wirral RA will provide expenses to cover travel to the venue.
Kind regards
Neil
Good afternoon
I have just received a letter from the Mid-Cheshire Referees Society to say that they have organised the County RA quiz for 18 March 2010 at Moss Farm Social Centre in Northwich (6:45pm for a 7pm start). We have been invited to enter one or more teams (I am presuming a team consists of 4 people, but this is not confirmed in the letter).
I need to let the organisers know if we are sending a team by 1 March.
Would anyone be available to attend? The Wirral RA will provide expenses to cover travel to the venue.
Kind regards
Neil
Wirral District FA Semi Final Appointments
12/02/10 18:51
Wirral FA have made the following appointments to their Cup Semi-Finals - Well Done to All Officials who have been appointed
Wirral Senior Cup - 13th Feb 2010
HESWALL V CAMMELL LAIRD
GAYTON PARK
I BISHOP
S FARRELL & R WAINWRIGHT
WEST KIRBY V CASTROL SOCIAL
MARINE PARK
A R BROWN
K TAYLOR & S MUIR
Wirral Amateur Cup - 13th Feb 2010
ASHVILLE V WEST KIRBY
VILLA PARK
D JONES
D RICHARDSON & J HARRISON
NEW BRIGHTON V MALLABY
HARRISON PK
J LEDSHAM
A DICK & J KING
Wirral Junior Cup - 6th March 2010
WOODCHURCH AFC V CAMMELL LAIRD
WOODCHURCH
D BRUCE
R BUCK & K BOWERS
BIRKENHEAD FC v ONE O'CLOCK GUN or PARKFIELD B.A.
ST.MARYS
D FOWLER
D SNOWDEN & P McGUINESS
Wirral Premier Sunday Cup - 14th February 2010
QUEENS PARK v BIDSTON HOTEL
WEST KIRBY
D CROFT
D STEWART & S GROVES
OTHER SEMI TBC
Wirral Junior Sunday Cup - 14th February 2010
RAILWAY MEOLS V THE SAUGHALL
CORONATION PARK
P DEMPSEY
D SNOWDEN & R ROBINSON
SHAFTESBURY Y C V PRENTON PARK FC
MEMORIAL GROUND
J RUTHERFORD
J KING & K TAYLOR
Wirral Youth U18 Cup - 14th February 2010
PRINCES VILLA v ASHVILLE YOUTH
CAPENHURST
M TURNER
K NOBLE & D FOWLER
VAUXHALL MOTORS v VICTORIA LAIRD CTS
RIVACRE ROAD
M CLARKSON
K WALTERS & D LEECE
Wirral Youth U16 Cup - 21st February 2010
UPTON (WIRRAL) V LISCARD PANTHERS
UPTON PARK 2
J ROGAN
K DRINKWATER & L ABBOTT
SHAFTESBURY Y C V VAUXHALL MTS
MEMORIAL GRD
R STEAD
E BRETLAND & M SCOTT
Wirral Youth U14 Cup - 14th February 2010
VAUXHALL MOTORS V GLENAVON
RIVACRE RD
K CENGIZ
G LEICESTER & J GILBERT
PRINCES VILLA V PENINSULAR PYTHONS
SUTTON HIGH SCHOOL
J SMITH
J HARRISON & S LEWIN
Wirral Youth U12 Cup - 7th March 2010
ELLESMERE PORT JNR v WEST KIRBY WASPS
WHITBY S&S
J KING
F BAKER & R YGARTUA
THE RAKERS v VAUXHALL MOTORS
OLDERSHAW SCH
G DONALDSON
F QUILTY & S KELL
Wirral Senior Cup - 13th Feb 2010
HESWALL V CAMMELL LAIRD
GAYTON PARK
I BISHOP
S FARRELL & R WAINWRIGHT
WEST KIRBY V CASTROL SOCIAL
MARINE PARK
A R BROWN
K TAYLOR & S MUIR
Wirral Amateur Cup - 13th Feb 2010
ASHVILLE V WEST KIRBY
VILLA PARK
D JONES
D RICHARDSON & J HARRISON
NEW BRIGHTON V MALLABY
HARRISON PK
J LEDSHAM
A DICK & J KING
Wirral Junior Cup - 6th March 2010
WOODCHURCH AFC V CAMMELL LAIRD
WOODCHURCH
D BRUCE
R BUCK & K BOWERS
BIRKENHEAD FC v ONE O'CLOCK GUN or PARKFIELD B.A.
ST.MARYS
D FOWLER
D SNOWDEN & P McGUINESS
Wirral Premier Sunday Cup - 14th February 2010
QUEENS PARK v BIDSTON HOTEL
WEST KIRBY
D CROFT
D STEWART & S GROVES
OTHER SEMI TBC
Wirral Junior Sunday Cup - 14th February 2010
RAILWAY MEOLS V THE SAUGHALL
CORONATION PARK
P DEMPSEY
D SNOWDEN & R ROBINSON
SHAFTESBURY Y C V PRENTON PARK FC
MEMORIAL GROUND
J RUTHERFORD
J KING & K TAYLOR
Wirral Youth U18 Cup - 14th February 2010
PRINCES VILLA v ASHVILLE YOUTH
CAPENHURST
M TURNER
K NOBLE & D FOWLER
VAUXHALL MOTORS v VICTORIA LAIRD CTS
RIVACRE ROAD
M CLARKSON
K WALTERS & D LEECE
Wirral Youth U16 Cup - 21st February 2010
UPTON (WIRRAL) V LISCARD PANTHERS
UPTON PARK 2
J ROGAN
K DRINKWATER & L ABBOTT
SHAFTESBURY Y C V VAUXHALL MTS
MEMORIAL GRD
R STEAD
E BRETLAND & M SCOTT
Wirral Youth U14 Cup - 14th February 2010
VAUXHALL MOTORS V GLENAVON
RIVACRE RD
K CENGIZ
G LEICESTER & J GILBERT
PRINCES VILLA V PENINSULAR PYTHONS
SUTTON HIGH SCHOOL
J SMITH
J HARRISON & S LEWIN
Wirral Youth U12 Cup - 7th March 2010
ELLESMERE PORT JNR v WEST KIRBY WASPS
WHITBY S&S
J KING
F BAKER & R YGARTUA
THE RAKERS v VAUXHALL MOTORS
OLDERSHAW SCH
G DONALDSON
F QUILTY & S KELL
Ref's Wanted for International Tournament - USA Cup
12/02/10 18:50
In the past 25 years, the Schwans USA Cup has hosted teams from 35 US States and countries such as Austria, Bermuda, Brazil, Columbia, Denmark, England, Hungary, Ireland, Japan, Russia, Scotland, Sweden and many others.
The Tournament is played at the National Sports Centre, the world’s largest premier soccer complex with over 50 full size grass fields, near Minneapolis in Minnesota.
It provides excellent competition and a cultural exchange that is an experience to be remembered forever with games run all day across the two tournaments – The Schwan’s USA Cup Weekend Tournament and then the Schwan’s USA Cup Tournament.
To apply for the tournament, referees need to have completed one full season as a referee, along with reasonable assistant refereeing experience, as you will get at least 50 per cent assistant referee appointments in the tournament. Applications will need to be made by 1 April 2010.
Referees must inform their County FA that they wish to attend and full permission will be granted by The FA through co-ordinator, Trevor Wing.
For more details on the event and the application process, please contact Trevor by email at trevor.wing@northridingfa.com
Howard Webb Selected For World Cup 2010
12/02/10 18:48
It will be the first World Cup for the 38-year-old Webb, who will be assisted by Darren Cann and Michael Mullarkey.
Webb caused controversy in Euro 2008 when he awarded hosts Austria a late penalty against Poland for a 1-1 draw.
Fifa has also chosen Sweden's Martin Hansson who failed to spot Thierry Henry's handball in France's contested qualifier win over Republic of Ireland.
Henry was lambasted for keeping the ball in play with his hand in the build up to William Gallas's decisive goal, but Hansson also received condemnation in the Swedish media after the incident.
Yorkshireman Webb suffered during Euro 2008 when he was on the receiving end of death threats and fierce criticism from then Poland coach Leo Beenhakker, although his decision to award the penalty was backed by Uefa.
Webb will be attempting to restore England's refereeing reputation at the highest level after Graham Poll was sent home from the 2006 World Cup in Germany. He booked Croatia's Josip Simunic three times during a group match against Australia.
The FIFA Referees Committee, meeting in Zurich today (5 February 2010) under the chairmanship of Ángel María Villar Llona (Spain) has appointed 30 referees representing 28 different countries for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™.
FIFA has implemented a comprehensive programme to ensure that the referees for its flagship competition are in peak condition come 11 June.
The road to the 2010 FIFA World Cup, as it did for the 32 participating teams, began for an initial group of 54 trios of referees from all over the world in 2007 when the FIFA Executive Committee took the important decision of creating a Refereeing Assistance Programme (RAP). One of the key objectives was to prepare this group of prospective referees for the 2010 FIFA World Cup™.
As in previous years, the FIFA Refereeing Department - headed by Spanish former international referee José Maria García-Aranda who refereed at both the 1998 FIFA World Cup and the 2000 UEFA European Championship - was responsible for coordinating and organising all of the activities involving the candidate referees.
The RAP working group, a team of international experts in the fields of refereeing technique, fitness and psychology was set up by FIFA to monitor and analyse all of the information on the candidate referees, involving those responsible for refereeing in each confederation. The FIFA Medical Assessment and Research Centre (F-MARC) were another key group in this process.
The latest technology has been implemented in the preparation of the referees both within practical training, and interactive sessions, whilst performances at respective FIFA competitions were also analysed and evaluated.
Theoretical tests undertaken exclusively in English - which has been the lingua franca for FIFA’s referees for many years – to ensure appropriate knowledge of the Laws of the Game, the regulations for FIFA competitions and the directives of the International Football Association Board (IFAB) were also a regular feature during the last three years.
The group of 30 trios of referees selected will participate in a training seminar next month.
In May, a final assessment will be conducted and a decision made regarding the acting and support referees prior to the first match appointments being made for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™.
Phil Dowd to Referee Carling Cup Final
12/02/10 18:39
