Rick's Red Card!

It's Day 3 of the World Cup and my feet are literally in a tub of ice right now because they are so swollen, swollen beyond belief, but that's okay. It's an honor that FIFA has assigned me to be a referee again. This time like none other, was an extremely busy day for us with our cards. Yes, cards. Not playing cards from a deck, I'm talking our yellow and red cards. In all three games today we issued 3 red cards and numerous yellow cards to players for violating the Laws of the game.

This is the first time there have been red cards in three different games on a single day in World Cup history.

We were issuing yellow and red cards like crazy and I truly feel we were dead on with all of our calls. One of our biggest responsibilities is to control the match by enforcing the Laws of the Game. for you soccer novice, this just means make sure everyone abides by the rules!

For anyone who doesn't understand why a referee issues a yellow and or red card, let me explain.

The cards are used to communicate. A yellow card communicates that a player has been cautioned for an offense. What's an offense? I'll get to that in a moment.

A red card is used to communicate that a player has been sent off. What's sent off? Ejected! Leave the field! Go home! not just off the field, but the area, which means you cannot be on the sideline or in the stands watching.

Today was a tough day, not just because we have the power and duty to enforce the Laws of the Game in connection with the match, but we love the game. We grew up playing, watching and some even refereeing. We want players to participate but we will not tolerate the nonsense we saw today. There's no excuse for that kind of behavior.

Let me give you a very brief explanation why we issue yellow cards & red cards.

Yellow cards are to communicate any of the 7 caution able offenses;
1.)unsporting behavior,
2.) dissent by word or action,
3.) persistent infringement (which means if members of one team keeps consistently committing a foul repeatedly.)
4.)delaying the restart of a play,
5.)failure to respect the required distance when play is restarted with a corner kick, free kick or throw in,
6.)entering or re-entering the field of play w/o the referee's permission.
7.)deliberately leaving the field of play w/o the referee's permission.

Red cards are to communicate a player being sent off(ejected from the game). Red cards can be given for the following 7 offenses also:
1.)serious foul play,
2.)violent conduct (like fighting),
3.)spitting at an opponent or any other person, "including the referee!"
4.)denying the opposing team a goal or an obvious goal-scoring opportunity by deliberately handling the ball(doesn't apply to the goalkeeper if he's in his penalty area)
5.)denying an obvious goal-scoring opportunity to an opponent moving towards the player's goal by an offense punishable by a free kick or a penalty kick,
6.)using offensive, insulting or abusive language and/or gestures,
7.)receiving a second caution in the same match.

To understand exactly what a referee For us to really get the call right, we had to be close to the play at least within 10 yards of the ball. And if one of us didn't see it as the center referee, then we had to rely on one of our assistant referees. If I didn't see the infraction because my view was blocked as the center referee, then I had to rely on my assistant and trust he saw it.

Perfect example was in today's Serbia vs. Ghana's game. Bryan was the center referee, he was sprinting quickly on a diagonal line of the field. I was the Assistant Referee #1 sprinting along the sideline on a quick counter attack by Serbia. Serbia midfielder kicked the ball across the field about 40 yards into the penalty area where Serbia team mate Zdravko Kuzmanovic played the ball with his hand, which is illegal. I looked Bryan, who was finishing his sprint to the area of the infraction and we made eye contact. Bryan looked at me with that puzzled look, did Kuzmanovic really play the ball with his hands in the penalty area, I answered Bryan's glance with my action of raising my flag wiggling the top and point the direction of Ghana's attack awarding a free kick and because it was in the penalty area, that meant a penalty kick. Bryan quickly signaled it was a penalty kick and issued a caution to Kuzmanovic. I sprinted to my position on the end line and you guys know the result. Ghana scored thus winning the game 1-0.

The other dramatic moment in the game was when we sent Aleksandar Lukovic of Serbia for holding an opponent's arm to gain advantage. We issued a yellow card in the 74th minute for unsporting behavior and because it was his second, we had to issue the red.


I was the center referee today in the Germany vs. Australia game and man, I was really under the gun. I knew that this was going to be fast pace and physical.
My colleague Bryan who was the center ref doing the Ghana vs. Serbia game was now my 4th official because I wanted his strenghts at managing the emotions of the teams on the bench. Then Wayne who was the center referee for the Algeria vs. Slovenia game would be one of my AR's and Anthony was the other. FIFA said we were the best crew and that they needed us again, but they were going to rotate us to alleviate some of the pressure the center referee has to deal with.

Being a center referee is no joke, perfect example today was when I sent off Australia's Tim Cahill for serious foul play. I got criticized on network TV from an analysis saying it was a yellow. Gimme a break, Cahill slid in from behind, had no chance for the ball and slid into the back legs of a German player who could have suffered a broken leg. That was a serious foul play to me and immediately a red card was issued! I was very consistent through out the game including issuing two yellow cards to German players for unsporting behavior as they were taking dives(faking like physical contact was made by their opponent pleading for a call from the referee.)

It didn't work and I felt I was very fair in officiating that game.

Even in the Slovenia vs. Algeria game, we issued 4 yellow cards and we had to eject Algeria substitute Abdelkader Ghezzal after he received his second yellow card for playing the ball with his hands inside the Slovenian penalty area. He was arguing with us it wasn't on purpose, but we felt he used his hand deliberately and thus was issued a second yellow followed by a red. There was no doubt in our minds!

Just as players have confidence, we are trained with confidence in our decisions!

At our post meeting we were discussing the nature of the games today and

...."Daddy, please wake up, Daddy please, it's time for you to take us to daycare!"