Nuts

A lot of people who are talking about yesterday's World Cup final are asking the question as to whether the fourth official ("extra ref" as I like to call it, just as they're actually called "linesmen" not "Referee's assistants" and it's "injury" time, not "stoppage" time) stole a glance at a telly screen in order to be able to advise the ref (correctly) to send Zidane off yesterday.


I don't really think it's a very worthwhile debate to have. He clearly did - play was miles away and none of the other officials saw it. And they've got intercom systems so, if he saw it straight away the referee wouldn't have had to spend 5 minutes wandering around like a headless chicken until the fourth official mentioned it to him.

The real debate to have is why the fourth official had time to pull up a chair, get a cup of tea and generally mull it all over.

And that's because the Italian players seem to have started a mini riot around the referee. It was obviously worthy of a red card - but after the officials missed it and waved away the first protests that should have been it.

If and when video replays do come in then the decision to check it should be based on something more sensible than how many Italians shout at the referee.

(Whilst I haven't posted much on the world cup I feel I should point out, I am not the kind of johnny come lately once every four-years football fan that seems to get up the nose of Alistair Campbell so much. In fact, I had a season ticket at Goodison Park for four years in the mid/late 1990s until I moved away. Anybody who remembers Everton's form from that period will appreciate that "Glory Hunting" is not something I can be accused of. Also, I watched the whole of Tunisia v. Saudi Arabia.)