FIFA Apologizes To England & Mexico For Referee Errors

JOHANNESBURG -- FIFA president Sepp Blatter has apologized to England and Mexico for the refereeing errors that helped eliminate them from the World Cup and says FIFA will reopen the debate on introducing video technology.

Blatter said Tuesday that he said sorry to team officials, and that the delegations of both teams accepted his apology.

"Naturally we deplore when you see the evidence of refereeing mistakes," Blatter said.

Blatter said FIFA will "reopen the file" on video technology at a meeting of its rule-making panel in Wales next month.

He added that it would be "a nonsense" not to consider changes.

FIFA also will update its referee training program.

Blatter said FIFA has set a deadline of October or November to create a new concept for improving match control by referees and assistants "in high level competitions."

Blatter said the dossier is "on the presidential table."

Comments

[canadianexpat85]

06:50 PM on 07/29/2010

Yeah, that goal changed the game. It's unacceptable. I guess Fifa apologising makes it all better.

[tgalvan]

10:17 PM on 07/02/2010

Too little........... too late......moron

[messy]

01:49 PM on 06/30/2010

Did they apologize to the US for stealing that win a week or so back? Noooooooooo...

[langej]

04:30 AM on 06/30/2010

Oh, they apologised?
Well, then, everything's okay now, in'nit?

[IrishCatholic09]

03:40 AM on 06/30/2010

For the goal line technology, the same man who invented the Hawkeye system used by Wimbledon and on a Cricket pitch was commissioned to create a system that could be implemented for football. What he came back with was a system that in 1/2 a second could tell the referee if the ball had or had not crossed the goal line, but FIFA said that it was too expensive, and thus turned it down to not impose the cost upon all of the individual federations. However, one would think in the future that they could pick it up at least for the World Cup.

Beyond that though, and even if they completely refused to add instant replay to increase the accuracy of calls, there is another option to make it better, if still imperfect. In American Football, counting the end zones the field is 57600 sq. ft. and they use a 7 referee system at most NCAA and NFL games (1 ref roughly every 8228.57 sq. ft.). Meanwhile, for a 76590 sq. ft. field, FIFA uses only 3 referees (1 ref. every 25530 sq. ft.). Based on those rates FIFA would need 9 referees merely to keep up in field coverage (and the NFL and NCAA still recognize the imperfection this causes and do use replay). Regardless of whether or not instant replay is brought in, the least FIFA could do is increase the number of referees above the level you'd see in middle school.

[GOPBossLimbaugh]

02:45 PM on 06/30/2010

Very well done, IrishCatholic!

I COULD'NT agree with you MORE!!!

[abuja19]

11:34 PM on 06/29/2010

Apologies mean absolutely NOTHING. Fix the numerous referee errors by implementing a video-replay system!

[GOPBossLimbaugh]

03:14 PM on 06/30/2010

Absolutely correct!

INSTANT REPLAY NOW!

INSTANT REPLAY 'TIL I DIE!!!

[Howler1]

08:55 PM on 06/29/2010

I'm sure the appology will mean a lot. Lets see the world cup is every four years, for some players and nations this may be the only chance they'll get at being there for a while if not in their lifetimes...sure appologies are enough... NO THEY'RE NOT!!!! Screw ups of this magnitude are inexcusable! In certain situations like this can mean the loss of millions of dollars. I'm sorry doesn't cut it!

[GOPBossLimbaugh]

05:45 PM on 06/30/2010

I'm with you!

INSTANT REPLAY NOW and 'TIL I DIE!!!

[Bernie Burns]

08:37 PM on 06/29/2010

There must be a way to fit goal line technology into soccer without disrupting the flow of the game. With American football, the coaches have the option of throwing the red towel and sacrificing a timeout. I know there's not timeouts, but perhaps a referee challenge at the cost of a player substitution? I know I'm suggesting this and that any purist will instantly be repelled at the thought of taking ideas from something as barbaric as football, but it's just a thought.

[njtrublu]

05:08 PM on 06/29/2010

It's about time!

[avatar singh]

04:40 PM on 06/29/2010

In the match betwen spain and portugal the spanish man made goal when he was off side. again at 85 minutes ROnaldo of portugal was harshly fauled which the referee did not see-that would have ben turning point because it was at last 5 minutes and it was near penalty are-But thse things happen-tehcnology would nto have made difference excpet to make things slow. in fact the british commentaro said abotu that -who cares about offside-so here you go-it is an issue only when england has to justify its dismal defeat by 4-1 which could have ben germany 7-2.

[GOPBossLimbaugh]

04:25 PM on 06/29/2010

FIFA strikes again!

Cross into the Spanish defense, Spanish defender realizes he cannot reach the ball but the Portuguese attacker can head it into the goal, so he dives and rolls and insinuates that he was hit by the attacker. Referee promptly shows the Portuguese attacker the RED CARD!!!

I'm sorry, the Beautiful Game has reached its summit of UGLINESS once more : the World Cup!

[GOPBossLimbaugh]

04:33 PM on 06/29/2010

INSTANT REPLAY NOW!

INSTANT REPLAY 'TIL I DIE!!!

[Christophe]

07:05 PM on 06/29/2010

You are screaming again.

[eliteandproud]

03:46 PM on 06/29/2010

Maybe we should put representatives of FIFA, BP, and the Vatican in a large cell and lock the door. But poor refereeing in football affects all sides, and generally it all comes out in the wash. England, Italy, and France were all crap and went home to deal with their own bad press and national "heartbreak".

[netzwerg]

02:59 PM on 06/29/2010

The USA should apologize to FIFA for playing bad football. England too.

[avatar singh]

04:42 PM on 06/29/2010

atleast england msut be required to have double the requriemnt to enter world cup because their rubish team with all propaganda are always the worst team of any world cup-and they are a waste of space. you england must apolgise he rest of ffootball watching world.1

[lenuk]

07:59 PM on 06/29/2010

Something upset you, Mr Singh?

[badger2196]

06:22 PM on 06/30/2010

At least they qualified - where was your country?

[HdTinkler]

02:44 PM on 06/29/2010

No apology necessary.........its entertaining to watch these European teams get into deadly fights after their team looses in a soccer match.!!! Pure entertainment for us "small people" here in America. Hey, here's an idea; why doesn't BP put together a soccer team and let it play the American team? Maybe we could start a new fight? With "foreign businesses who lie to the American People".

[Christophe]

07:17 PM on 06/29/2010

Sour grapes.

[LetMeUnderstandThis]

02:36 PM on 06/29/2010

Who cares, I don't watch European Foot Ball anyway, I support the USA if they where playing Cricket, Jai Alai, Badminton, Water Polo, etc........

[abuja19]

11:35 PM on 06/29/2010

You mean if the USA was involved in leisure activities?