Gräfe will sue the DFB for age discrimination. He said that he wants to do it for his colleagues and will not continue refereeing himself even if successful. http://www.faz.net/aktuell/sport/sp...l-graefe-will-den-dfb-verklagen-17416921.html
German media reports that Brych's place in the FIFA list will be taken by Sven Jablonski, who at 31 is regarded as a rising star. Siebert will be Germany's top referee. While Brych can continue in the Bundesliga for two seasons, there are rumors as to whether he will retire next summer or even this winter and replace Lutz Fröhlich as the Bundesliga referees' chief. http://sportbild.bild.de/fussball/2...h-und-graefe-beerben-soll-77432052.sport.html
The Schalke players being shocked this is a red card is something. Perhaps some of it was due to a potential foul that wasn't called, but bravo to the ref for going red. Even if it wasn't studs into the ankle/foot, it's an easy red. https://streamja.com/oorj5
This doesn't seem like that easy of a red to me. It's more tactical to me to just stop the player advancing. What makes this an "easy" red in your mind?
Bibiana Steinhaus-Webb and Howard Webb's story: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...s-dinner-Bibi-Steinhaus-led-leaving-wife.html http://grantwahl.substack.com/p/bibi-and-howard-a-referee-love-story
Highly questionable penalty given by Tobias Stieler after OFR in the Second Bundesliga match between Bremen and Schalke in minute 90+4' with the home side trailing 0-1. Schalke's coach Grammozis sees yellow in minute 90+7', and the penalty was converted in minute 90+9'. Can anyone recognize a foul?
Yes. If you watch the live feed, the defender stabs at the attacker with his right leg. It certainly looks like he stepped on his right foot. At the very least, he stepped near it. The problem with the one replay shown in the highlight package above is that it commences after that stabbing motion, so you never see it. And a casual viewer is left with the perception that the penalty was awarded for the glancing hand to the side of the torso. I can confidently say that that is not what was given. I would bet that a replay that starts a split second earlier shows a clear step on the foot. If it doesn't, I agree this is "highly questionable." But I imagine this is actually closer to "stonewall penalty." EDIT to say if you pause it just at the right moment, as the live feed is fading into the replay, you can see where the feet are and you can see the attacker's right leg move awkwardly. This isn't an upper-body foul. It's the feet. I've seen some weird stuff with VAR in Europe so maybe I should backtrack from "stonewall," but I bet this is a pretty clear foul when you see all the angles.
You are right about what Stieler gave the penalty for. Schalke's coach Grammozis said that Stieler told him that the Bremen player's foot was stepped on and therefore it was a clear penalty. Obviously, Grammozis disagreed. Interestingly, the DFB has made an official statement that the VAR intervention here was inappropriate, as it was not a clear error. Schalke decided not to protest the outcome of the match. http://www1.wdr.de/sport/fussball/zweite-bundesliga/schalke-bremen-elfmeter-100.html
Was the South African federation advising Schalke? That’s a judgment call and isn’t grounds for a protest.
Official press release from the DFB (in German), in case anyone is interested. It is written as an interview" between the DFB website and the "sporting leadership of the elite referees". "The TV images do not bring evidence that necessitates that it was clearly and obviously wrong that there was no penalty in this situation. An intervention by the VAR was not appropriate here." Also, the VAR in question is Christian Dingert, a FIFA referee and frequent VAR in UEFA matches. http://www.dfb.de/news/detail/sportliche-leitung-der-elite-schiedsrichter-ordnet-szenen-ein-234850/
I didn't think there was anything there, but on the goal line angle right as it's fading in at 38ish seconds you can see the attacker's foot shake back and forth. It's clearly not natural and almost certainly the result of coming in contact with the defender's foot. So is it down to a 'clearly and obviously' standard?
Fun times in Germany after the Klassiker between Dortmund and Bayern, with Lewandowski converting the winning penalty after Hummel's alleged handball and Dortmund's coach Rose getting 2CT from Zwayer for dissent right after. After the game, Dortmund's Bellingham said in a TV interview "You give a referee that has match-fixed before, the biggest game in Germany what do you expect?" German tabloid Bild has reported that the referee observer filed a charge against Bellingham and Gräfe, who was forced to retire in the summer after turning 47. Gräfe's charge was for his comment about Zwayer's involvement in the infamous Hoyzer scandal in 2005: "Anyone who has ever accepted money and kept Hoyzer's manipulation secret for six months should not be a professional football referee." The charge is that without Gräfe's statement, Bellingham could not have made his statement from his life experience. Not good for Zwayer at all, and definitely not the last we have heard of this... http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/sp...ree-Borussia-Dortmund-lost-Bayern-Munich.html http://sportbild.bild.de/bundesliga...fanzeige-gegen-bellingham-78448552.sport.html
further information and additional details here… https://theathletic.com/2988310/202...-in-the-spotlight/?source=user_shared_article “In 2004. Zwayer was a young assistant referee at the time, officiating alongside infamous ref Robert Hoyzer, who was later jailed for fixing a series of lower-division and cup games. A secret FA investigation found that Zwayer had taken €300 from Hoyzer for ensuring Wuppertaler SV would beat Werder Bremen’s second team in the third division. They could not prove that Zwayer had indeed fixed the match but he was nevertheless banned for his part in the fraud for six months by the German FA, having kept quiet about Hoyzer’s manipulations for half a year. After turning witness for the prosecution, he escaped a criminal conviction and was allowed to continue as a match official. Ten years later, he was voted referee of the season in Germany.” I try to stay on top of those things so I’m surprised I missed that (perhaps it was covered here previously). they reference a German language article so I will have to take their word that’s an accurate translation. Still, if that’s true, I’m speechless. Suspended for taking money in a fixed match where your colleague went to jail and still allowed to keep working? that is mind blowing to me
https://www.zeit.de/sport/2014-12/felix-zwayer-urteil-dfb-hoyzer-schiedsrichter here’s the Die Zeit article in question. My German isn’t great, and I only read the first page, but that appears to be the case. Machine translating it also suggests that he didn’t actually serve the suspension because the DFB offset it against the time he missed due to acting as a witness during the trial. I’m not sure whether Hoyzer was in the center for that game, though. EDIT: Hoyzer was in the center for the game in question— https://www.dfb.de/datencenter/regionalliga-nord/2003-2004/33-spieltag/1887719
Zwayer's role in the Hoyzer scandal was well-known to many Bundesliga followers for quite some time already. Of course, those who did not know it do now...
https://amp.dw.com/en/jude-bellingh...zer-match-fixing-scandal-explained/a-60037092 https://www.skysports.com/amp/footb...referee-felix-zwayer-after-bayern-munich-loss The fine and associated investigations seem to be for talking about something that no one wants to talk about anymore.
Right. The DFB fined Bellingham 40000 Euros but did not ban him. Dortmund already accepted this punishment. Dortmund trainer Rose made a nice pun with the word zweierlei Maß, which means "double standard" - zweier is pronounced like Zwayer. Reminds me of Paraguay's Carlos Amarilla, who used to hand out quite a few tarjetas amarillas http://www.bild.de/sport/fussball/f...trafe-fuer-jude-bellingham-78467880.bild.html http://www.bild.de/sport/fussball/f...chiedsrichter-felix-zwayer-78460952.bild.html
Nobody would have known but a newspaper got leaked information and published it 10 years after. So, Zwayer took hush money, at least, and was allowed to continue on with time served and the DFB kept his role a secret. The exposing article came out in 2014. That Bellingham knows about it, as an English kid who was, what 4? when Hoyser happened, shows that it is something that players generally discuss. Can you be a FIFA/UEFA/Bundesliga ref with this in your closet? I tend to agree with Grafe that he never should have been allowed to get so high in the profession. In an emotional game, where the calls and referee process, seemed to have a double standard, Zwayer's history is just gasoline on the fire.
Catching up on Germany news a bit... Zwayer is taking time off after Bellingham's accusation following Dortmund - Bayern. He is strongly interested in speaking with Bellingham personally. The Berlin police is in contact with Zwayer given the death threats on the Internet. It is unclear if he will referee again. Urs Meier (remember him?) is suing German broadcaster ZDF. He worked as the referee expert for ZDF over all 7 big tournaments between WC 2006 and WC 2018. The broadcaster originally planned to have him again for Euro 2020, but when it was postponed to 2021, they decided to go with Gräfe. Meier thought he was given this notice late and already declined other jobs, so he is suing for the expert fee of around 20000-3000 Euro. The ZDF thought that they gave Meier the notice early enough, and there was no written contract. They will meet in court in April. http://www.bild.de/sport/fussball/f...-wieder-ein-fussball-spiel-78774032.bild.html http://www.bild.de/sport/fussball/f...f-es-geht-um-manuel-graefe-78745466.bild.html
After his time off, it is reported that Zwayer has decided to continue. His decision will be announced soon. http://www.bild.de/sport/fussball/fussball/felix-zwayer-macht-nach-wirbel-bei-bvb-bayern-als-schiri-weiter-79012548.bild.html
The Bundesliga game between Bochum and Monchengladbach was abandoned at about the 70th minute because some idiot threw a beer and hit the AR in the back of the head.
Patrick Ittrich has a phenomenal advantage call that led to Augsburg's second goal against Stuttgart near the end of the first half. 99 of 100 referees, myself included, would have whistled for a free kick with the fouled Augsburg player about 25 yards from goal, his back to goal, and the ball moving away from the Stuttgart goal. Another Augsburg player runs onto the ball and slots a perfect through ball to set up the goal. Even the broadcast team raved about what great refereeing it was.
https://streamja.com/5KMjJ It looks like he signaled advantage at the start, then after they scored, while he pointed to the center circle, brought his left arm out to do a two armed advantage signal for the icing on the cake
If I called a great advantage like that, I’d give it a “chef’s kiss” as well! Two weeks ago, I was in the middle of a U15 vs U14 boys game. White’s attacker slots the ball past the keeper as the keeper trips him up. I give a two-armed advantage and then do the Michae Oliver where I turn the advantage signal up the field to the center circle. The goal scorer didn’t realize he had scored until he looked up at me pointing up the field.