Referees at Work (and in Private)

June 5th, 2010 | by: Jan |

In about a week, and once the first controversial call has been made, googling a referee’s home address, scouting the area with streetview, writing death threats and painting little Hitler mustaches on his face will become one of the Internets favorite past times.

Carrying out these hate and anger filled tasks is of course much easier, when you emotionally distance yourself from your target as much as possible. Which isn’t that difficult, as referees are usually presented to us as rather flat anonymous characters, who are just getting in the way of enjoying a football match.

Giving a more in-depth and balanced insight into the work of referees and their private lives with friends and family, is the documentary feature Les Arbitres (The Referees – or Referees at Work/Kill the Referee) by French filmmakers Yves Hinant and Jean Libon.

A film crew followed a couple of referees and their families around during the European Championships in Austria and Switzerland. Thanks to the support of UEFA, the film makers were also given access to the recorded headset conversations between the referees during a match.

So, what do we learn from the documentary? As the above clip shows, we learn that Swiss referee Massimo Busacca doesn’t like all the gesturing of Greek midfielder Karagounis. We also learn that the role of the fourth official is really only to try to distract the referee with useless small talk about the weather. They can’t count down to zero properly either. A larger part of the movie is dedicated to English referee Howard Webb, whose officiating of the Austria – Poland group stage match wasn’t particularly well received by Polish fans – to put it mildly – and who was subsequently given the standard Internet treatment. We meet his family, see a debriefing by UEFA and their analysis of the mistakes and are generally given a feel for some of the things that take place behind the scenes during a major tournament. And without spoiling too much, Peter Fröjdfeldt is the Matthew McConaughey of referees.

Les Arbitres has toured a couple of film festivals so far. I haven’t yet read anything about a potential date for an English DVD/BD, but it has been released on DVD in Germany in time for the World Cup. As part of the launch PR, the German video portal MyVideo is streaming the documentary online. As a lot of the action centers around Howard Webb, it’s in English for the most part. The more Italian, French and to some extent Spanish classes you took at school the better. I think English + Italian will allow you to watch 90% of the movie. Otherwise you may need to type some German subtitles into Google Translate. Every ten minutes, the site will interrupt the movie to try and sell you a Toshiba TV, promising you your money back, should Germany win the World Cup, but I think it’s still worth taking a sneak peak.

>> Referees at Work (German subtitles)

International Football News – World Cup Blog RSS Feed

http://inter.theoffside.com Johonna

Do you have a link for the documentary?
Z-zoo

The link is right below the end of the article. It looks really interesting, thanks for posting!
sairax

Thanks for this. Will definitely check out the video. FIFA, UEFA, etc should do what they can to make jobs easier for refs instead of leaving them vulnerable *cough*video*cough*
sairax

At the end of the movie the guy was saying that there should be no video technology in football because the players don't get to use technology. (Don't really see the corrolation there) Also he said that they should remind the public that refs are human and make mistakes, and that they should get the public to accept this. Good luck with that one.

Good movie, enjoyed seeing all the behind the scenes stuff.
http://www.mcalcio.com Marco P.

Being a semi-professional ref myself, I watched this documentary with great interest. It is extremely well done and gives you a great behind-the-scenes look at the referees' work in big events such as the UEFA Euro tournament. More importantly it humanizes the referee, shows him as a family man, a human person which can make errors… it puts the officials in a light we seldom see them in.

Here's a review posted on the BigSoccer forum which sums up the film really well.

Les Arbitres Produced by Yves Hinant & Jean Libon
Directed by Yves Hinant, Delphine Lehericey & Eric Cardot
77 minutes

The film is a humanistic view of some of the referee crews that worked Euro 2008, jointly hosted by Austria and Switzerland.

The only version which I am aware of has French sub-titles. The dialogue is a mix of languages, but primarily in French, Italian, Spanish, Swedish and English. The French portions do not have sub-titles.

The following crews are heavily featured:

ENG: Howard Webb, Darren Cann & Mike Mullarkey
SUI: Massimo Busacca, Matthias Arnet & Stephane Cuhat
ITA: Roberto Rosetti, Alessandro Griselli & Paolo Calcagno
ESP: Manuel Mejuto González, Juan Carlos Yuste Jiménez & Jesús Calvo Guadamuro
SWE: Peter Fröjdfeldt, Stefan Wittberg & Henrik Andren

Some noteworthy segments include:

Busacca barking at Karagounis in the GRE-SWE match variously in English, French and Italian (apparently this polyglot doesn’t speak any Greek), imploring him to stop making gestures, and his hilarious interchange with his Russian 4th official who seems determined to distract him with some nonsense about the weather. Busacca’s post-match declaration that “we are not gods, we make many mistakes” shows his humility and compassion for the players. Good dressing room scenes which show clearly the immense pressure.

UEFA president Michel Platini pops up in several places, speaking a variety of languages, but it’s clear his native tongue is French. His conversation with Rosetti’s crew in a mixture of French and Italian is interesting, but if you don't speak French, it's a non-event.

Webb and his crew are heavily featured, both on and off the pitch, and any referee with a son who also referees will be touched by the scenes of Howard’s proud father showing unbridled love for his son. The infamous off side goal awarded to Poland due to Mullarkey’s incredible mistake and the late penalty against Poland in the AUT-POL match are featured, as well as post-match analysis with FA and UEFA referee administrators. Poland’s coach has a right go, as does their media and their fans. More dressing room scenes. More good stuff with Web taking charge of the ESP-GRE match and more babysitting of the volatile Karagounis.

Short bit with Mejuto tossing a couple coaches due to a weak 4th official performance and some post match discussion by administrators about it.

Rosetti and crew traveling to their GRE-RUS match, interspersed with shots of their families watching on television. Neat segment of Rosetti getting the direction wrong with his entire crew shouting “Bianca!” in his ear until he gets it right. Rosetti and his crew seem to be at sixes and sevens much of the night, but there is a neat bit regarding a controversial but accurate offside decision. More dressing room scenes. A short bit showing Rosetti showing empathy for Croatian players after their QF loss to Turkey.

Funny bit when Peter Fröjdfeldt’s assistant Stefan Wittberg has a flag fall apart on him in the TUR-CZE match, and the crazy bit where Turkey’s GK sees red for pushing an opponent to the ground ten yards from the referee. Oops. More touchline drama, and interestingly enough, Peter has the same 4th official as Rosetti did. Later, we get a peek at Fröjdfeldt’s pre-game with his crew in their hotel room prior to the HOL-ITA match, and are treated to their fellow referees watching this match and kibitzing.

Insightful stuff showing the competitiveness between ESP and ITA referees when ESP goes through to the final and the ITA referees get to stay on. Rosetti’s crew gets the final assignment. Mejuto’s disappointment is clear.

While there is little real substance to the film, it gives unprecedented access to the referee crews and gives us a glimpse into the pressure packed and intensely competitive world of UEFA referees. It's a must-see for Les Arbitres.