Solution needed for ref woes

YOKOHAMA (Reuters) -- The controversy that surrounded the performances of referees and linesmen at the 2002 World Cup could have been easily avoided if the officials had reached the finals in the same way as the 32 competing teams -- on merit.

Instead, world governing body FIFA decided to farm out the allocation in a politically correct way, awarding berths to as wide a selection of confederations and countries as possible.

Consequently, while the likes of India, Antigua, Singapore, Guatemala, Jordan, Benin and the Maldives remain as far away from qualifying from the tournament as ever, their representatives are bestowed with the huge responsibility of running games way beyond anything they have previously encountered.

In all, 58 different nationalities were represented. Even Vanuatu, a tiny collection of coral islands east of Australia's Pacific coast with a footballing population of about three dozen, were allowed to send one.

Elise Doriri was thrown in at the deep end too, running the line in South Korea's first group game against Poland surrounded by almost 50,000 screaming home fans.

The most shocking decision of the tournament was probably Spain's disallowed golden goal against Korea in the quarter-finals, when Michael Ragoonath, a linesman from Trinidad and Tobago, ruled that the whole ball had crossed the byline for a goalkick when replays showed it barely even touched it.

WIDESPREAD CONDEMNATION

That, and a series of other controversial calls, not least the sending off of Italian striker Francesco Totti, led to a widespread condemnation of refereeing at the tournament.

Italian claims of a FIFA conspiracy and other accusations of corruption and bias were little more than sour grapes, but incompetence could not be denied.

FIFA hardly helped with a series of announcements that sent mixed messages to fans, players and the officials themselves.

Three weeks into the tournament FIFA president Sepp Blatter said that the refereeing was its only negative aspect, and described some of the work of the linesmen as "a disaster."

But at the same time, FIFA's own refereeing committee declared that the men in the middle were doing a "very good job."

The clampdown on diving and the feigning of injury was shown up to be little more than hot air after just a couple of days when Brazil's Rivaldo escaped any meaningful punishment for his blatant act of "simulation" against Turkey.

NEW TECHNOLOGY

Many bad penalty decisions were made in the following weeks, sparking the usual round of demands for more technology and even two referees on the pitch.

But, to nobody's great surprise, once the best referees took over, the bad decisions suddenly disappeared.

By the time of the semi-finals, Blatter -- who had been the driving force behind opening the doors to officials from minor footballing countries -- was telling his committee that "the best men should be in charge."

Consequently Switzerland's Urs Meier and Dane Kim Milton Nielsen -- both highly regarded and hugely experienced in high-pressure situations -- were appointed for the two semi-finals where they both produced almost faultless performances.

It is also no surprise that Italy's Pierluigi Collina -- widely considered as the best in the world and superb in the potentially explosive England v Argentina group game -- was backed up by two European linesmen for Sunday's final.

The match passed off without the slightest controversy -- expertly refereed by an official who has the respect of the players.

That will not have been lost on Blatter and when the world's best players reconvene in Germany in four years time it is almost certain that they will be looked after by the world's best refs.

Copyright 2002 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.