Referee Yoshimi Yamashita announced her decision over the stadium loudspeakers during the match between New Zealand and Norway. (IMAGO / ZUMA Wire / IMAGO / Kim Price)
Yoshimi Yamashita was the first referee to speak directly to the audience in the stadium and in front of the receivers at the World Cup. She went to the screen, made a decision and spoke into the microphone: “After on-field review the decision is: penalty!” (“After looking at the pictures, the decision is: penalty”).
Announcing decisions after video evidence is part of a test conducted by FIFA and the International Football Association Board (IFAB). “We want to create more transparency and make the decisions easier to understand,” said FIFA chief referee Pierluigi Collina ahead of the World Cup.
The announcements go beyond what was previously on scoreboards
When Yamashita announced her decision, however, little was clearer on TV than previous video evidence decisions. The question: Do the referees at the World Cup ultimately only announce what was previously read on the scoreboards in the stadiums? Only on closer listening did it become clear that the announcements at the World Cup contained much more.
As announced by Collina in advance, it was heard in several games that the referees basically say four things:
What decision scored, such as a penalty kick or a goal not scored
Which player with which shirt number the punishable offense was committed
What kind of offense evaluated, for example handball or foul
A short description of what happened – for example, an arm spread too far during a handball.
Problem: Much is not understandable in the noise
“Because the decision is briefly justified after going to the monitor, I see it as a gain to be able to communicate it over the microphone,” says Alex Feuerherdt, media spokesman for the DFB referee, in an interview with Deutschlandfunk. “It gives some transparency when you give a reason and explain it briefly. It becomes clearer.”
The problem is the acoustics in the stadium. After the first and most important part of the announcement, that a penalty will be awarded, for example, there is a loud reaction from the audience. All other parts are often lost in the noise. “This makes it sometimes difficult to follow the full announcement.”
“Penalty kick is retaken, goalkeeper’s offense” – scoreboards also show at the World Cup what was decided on the basis of video evidence. (IMAGO / PA Images / IMAGO / Zac Goodwin)
A case for the Bundesliga? Wait
It is not yet clear whether the practice could also be used by DFB referees and thus in the men’s Bundesliga. “FIFA must first decide whether they consider the results of the test to be good and whether the procedure is worth pursuing,” said Feuerherdt. The DFB will “observe and evaluate”.
At the beginning of March, IFAB and FIFA announced that they would test referee announcements at tournaments organized by FIFA for a period of twelve months. The procedure has already been used at the men’s U20 World Cup and the men’s Club World Cup. It was later announced that FIFA would also make the announcements at the Women’s World Cup.