Selected World Cup 2022 Referees

You made great points as always, but I rather disagree with this one. Can you name even one or two who deserve it less than Frappart based on their body of work? Ghorbal, Sikazwe, and others have done plenty of matches at continental championships, knockout matches in continental club competitions, important WC qualifiers, etc. With all respect and support, I just don't see how Frappart's international CV gets anywhere near that.

Also, even "relatively safe" WC games get plenty of attention, and any mistake or controversy is magnified way more than anywhere else. Is FIFA willing to risk putting their female officials in that spot, unless it is a matchday-three dead rubber? That said, I do find it plausible, or even likely, that Frappart and maybe one of the other two will get to whistle a dead rubber.

 

That's a fair challenge. To be honest the wording I meant to use was " there are a number of guys also going to the Finals who possibly deserve it even less than her".

Even that statement, I know, is debateable, but even I have to be "politically correct" at times.

My general point holds, though - there are a number of officials on this list who are nowhere near as good as many who are not on it.

But, it has always been this way and, alas, it always will be.

 

HA! That would be something. Just can't see it.

 

That type of action would be a dictionary definition of “career limiting decision”.

I’d love to see it as well. Honestly, I think the real litmus test for this will be Nesbitt. As noted earlier, she has worked at the top level of her domestic league and confederation. As much or even more than any of the other female referees there, she has the strongest case to say she is truly there on merit. So if she doesn’t get at least one on-field assignment, it will be pretty clear these appointments are just a PR ploy.

 

Ma Ning is China's top referee. He has been consistently getting high level ACL and WCQ matches.

 

Well, if they REALLY wanted to make a statement, they'd put this crew on the game with some stakes. But, agreed that it would be a statement on any game they did it.

But, it's not really fair to the officials. Everyone else gets trios and these three get tossed in together "because we have these surplus women"... lame.

I really would like to see Nesbitt on one of Elfath's games.

 

Notwithstanding the fact that, as I said before, the female officials really don't yet have the experience to justify their selection, I do think they will get a game or two in Qatar.

Maybe I am letting personal opinion cloud my judgement here, but I actually don't think that Kari Seitz would allow three Referees to be selected without some assurance they were going to get a whistle.

 

It might make a statement, but could also potentially set back women referees a decade if a cobbled together women’s crew without the appropriate level of experience is in over its head in a WC game that matters.

While I think it’s great that women can get the opportunity to do men’s games, we’ve seen many referees get on over their head by being pushed above their expertise. I hope the women who were selected are given opportunities where they are able to succeed, not just pushed out for pure optics.

 

Yes. Lu Jun, aforementioned, wasn't a bad referee, but he wasn't really a good one either. He benefitted, as many from mid-80s to early-noughties in Asian refereeing, from being very athletic and fit when running around the FoP during games. His calls weren't great though.

Ma Ning is much better. He did well in the tough Iraq vs. UAE qualifier in March which probably won his spot. I'm not completely convinced the Chinese trio will work a game, but if they do, it would be on merit IMO.

 

I don't think Back is part of a team, because Brazil has four more ARs. I believe the crews are
Raphael Claus, Danilo Simon, Bruno Pires
Wilton Sampaio, Bruno Boschilia, Rodrigo Figueiredo

In fact, if you ignore the six women, you can put together 33 trios that all make sense. It seems as if it was a last-minute decision to include the women. Will they be assigned exclusively as 4th/AVAR? Will trios be broken up? Will there be an all-female crew to grab headlines? Anyone's guess, really.

 

The only reasonably likely dead rubber would be in Group C, if Poland beats Mexico on MD1.

MD2 sees Poland play Saudi Arabia while Mexico plays Argentina, so it could be a 6-6-0-0 group after that with Argentina & Poland qualified and Mexico and the Saudis eliminated.

But no other group features the Pot 3 & Pot 4 teams on MD3.

 

To be honest, I don't see a potential dead rubber" on MD3 as being the place we will see the female Referees get their shot, and my information is that at least one, but more likely two of them will get a game.

I think it is far more likely that they will get a game on MD2 not least as (usually) there is less at stake in these games - and, yes, there are always exceptions to that, often where we don't expect them.

But, when you look at it, there are quite a number of games that, by WC standards, would be seen as "soft" games, or games where there is not a lot of political pressure, or rivalries of any sort to make things more difficult, such as Canada v Croatia, Belgium v Morocco, Japan v ???, Tunisia v ???, Korea v Ghana, Cameroon v Serbia.

There are no "easy" games at a WC, and some of these games may well blow up in the Referee's face, but if I was looking to introduce a female Referee into a WC game, I think that set of games offers the most palatable options.

 

I agree that MD2 is more likely for Frappart. It would require a national association that wouldn't think to use capital to object, or at least in the case of say a NZL/Senegal/Ghana/Cameroon/Peru, I could easily picture their association viewing it as a potential advantage--a team that is outmatched may very well want a referee that is more likely to not give a CMD. Then the other nation (someone like Belgium, Serbia, Croatia, Portugal, NED) that would be wiling to "take one for the team" so to speak. I mean, it is the World Cup, and the FIFA referee committee is bringing them. I think a mistake outside observers sometimes make is assuming that the committee is acting independent of the nations they represent. If there was enough desire w/i the committee to bring women referees, the referee committee knows where that desire is coming from, and I wouldn't be surprised if the nation(s) that pushed it is (are) going to be at least one the countries on the first game with a woman referee (Frappart). Then, depending on how she does, all bets are off. She could easily referee herself into another match where the political calculations somewhat reset based on performance of both her and the teams, or she could referee herself out.
The harder part to figure out is confederational neutrality.
Then MD3 is more likely for Yamashita.

Or if you want to really get into wild speculation and what ifs, how about: Japan/NZL for Frappart, but only if Yamashita was promised a game, possibly on MD3.Crazy talk, I know.

 

I think we are saying the same thing here, and trying to be "politically correct" in doing so. But, the reality is that, with the best intentions in the world, neither of us think that Frappart et al should have a whistle at this WC. But, it looks like at least one of them, and I am hearing "a couple", will.

If that is the case, and notwithstanding all of the points made above (every game at a WC has the potential to be problematic), I still think that the MD2 games in Group F, and the Japan game on that MD seem like the best option.

USA v England? That would probably make Kari very happy, but I just don't see it, and I shudder to think what the tabloid section of the British would do with it!

 

I think this is far, far too risky. It is a match with an enormous amount of global public attention. Just imagine what the media would do if there were to be a penalty or red card controversy.

Also, another factor that might be worth keeping in mind is that, no matter how many of the three end up getting the whistle, Frappart is by far the most likely to be the first one. And confederation-wise, this match won’t fit her.