Referee Diary

[DB11]

Don't know if it interests any of you but me, as a Referee, it is pretty interesting. The next installment (after they have officiated for the first time) will probably be more interesting.

Despite England's failure to qualify for the Euro championship finals in Austria and Switzerland, another England team is flying the flag! Read the regular diary of Euro Referee Howard Webb and his team here at Official Sports.

PART ONE

We arrived here on Tuesday afternoon, and are based in a town called Regensdorf which is about 15 minutes by car from Zurich.

It's a pleasant little place but the weather so far has been terrible, dull with heavy rain. Feels like home already!

The hotel is comfortable and as usual UEFA are looking after us all very well.

We met with UEFA President Michel Platini and General Secretary David Taylor on Tuesday evening at a reception.

On Wednesday we were put through our paces to ensure our physical fitness. We were then reminded about the key things that UEFA want us to be strong on during the tournament - nothing new, just reminders re serious foul play tackles, elbows, simulation, holding in the penalty area, dissent and mass confrontation etc.

And then this morning we had the meeting when the first appointments were given out and we have been appointed to referee host nation Austria v Poland in Vienna.

We are really looking forward to the match, it should be a great atmosphere with one of the home nations being involved at the biggest venue which will also host the final match.

The only down side is that the match isn't until next Thursday at 20.45hrs local time and therefore we have to be patient.

However, it does give us a chance to take in the other matches and see how they pan out.

Darren and Mike have also been appointed as fifth official to a game each.

Darren is going with the Spanish referees to Zurich for Romania v France on Monday 9th June whilst Mike is accompanying the Swedish referees to Basle for the match Holland v Italy on the same day.

We will keep you updated with how things go over here in the next few days.

Here we go...!

Regards and best wishes,

Howard, Darren and Mike

[Fox You Forest]

Should make it even more interesting after the late penalty, Thats if they choose to write about it.

Also what does a 5th Official do.

[Asha]

Should make it even more interesting after the late penalty, Thats if they choose to write about it.

Also what does a 5th Official do.

Becomes the 4th official is there is an injury to either of the 3 officials, in which case the original 4th official would take their place.

I believe.

[Samilktray]

Riveting.

[Fox You Forest]

Becomes the 4th official is there is an injury to either of the 3 officials, in which case the original 4th official would take their place.

I believe.

So basically 99% of the time he does nothing.

[DB11]

PART TWO

At last, after six days of thick cloud and lots of rain, the sun has come out!!

It's also warmer than before as we found out in training this morning!

Training

The training has been good - everyday we train at a local sports field. Where we are in terms of match build-up dictates what we do training-wise.

For example, today we are match day -3 so we did a speed endurance session on the pitch this morning.

Tomorrow (match day -2) we will be out on the mountain bikes for 40 minutes (all the officials have been given a mountain bike for the duration of their stay at the tournament including helmet etc - we can also use these to explore the local area which is a nice touch from UEFA).

Then, on Wednesday (match day -1) we will do match preparation, comprising of a non-fatiguing speed session.

Our First Match

We then fly out to Vienna on Wednesday afternoon. I have an Hungarian fourth official, Viktor Kassai (who fortunately speaks excellent English as my Hungarian is a little rusty!!) and a Swiss fifth official who is also comfortable speaking English.

Our match observer is Jaap Uilenberg from Holland who has assessed me three times previously and is a nice guy.

We all receive two tickets for the matches we are assigned to and I'm really happy that my mum and dad are able to make it over to the match in Vienna.

UEFA have also made it possible for our guests to join us for a meal in a local restaurant after the match.

Darren's parents are also coming over but unfortunately MIke's dad is away on holiday at the moment so can't make it. Hopefully he will be able to get across for a second match.

Opening Matches

We were luckily enough to be invited to the opening match in Basel, Switzerland v Czech Republic and it was a memorable occasion.

The opening ceremony was short but enjoyable and although the match wasn't great, I really enjoyed the experience.

Last night we watched both matches in a TV/common room area together with many of the other referee teams, whilst this evening I am going to Zurich to watch Romania v France, where Darren is fifth official for the Spanish lads.

Mike has already left for Bern to be fifth official for the Swedish boys on Holland v Italy. I think these should be two cracking matches.

Both the teams that we are officiating on Thursday lost their opening match so neither can afford to lose their next match, otherwise their tournament is over. Could be quite a tense affair.

Pre match prep

Prior to leaving for Vienna, like every other team of referees, we will have a meeting with UEFA's sports psychologist Mattia Pifaretta to discuss our approach to the match from a mental preparation point of view.

When we arrive in Vienna, we will be given massage facilities etc which is also something made available to us everyday here at our Regensdorf base. We are taking full advantage!!

Post Match Debrief

When we arrive back here on Friday after the match, we will be involved in a de-brief with the match observer and also three TV observers from the committee, Volker Roth, Vlado Sjan and Hugh Dallas (who also stay in touch with the match observer by phone during the game). All five officials will be present and also the sports psychologist.

This may seem daunting but it's no surprise that every decision is going to be scrutinised. This de-brief is not open to other referee teams which is different to the de-briefs we had at the Under-20 World Cup in Canada last year when everybody was present - now that could make you feel uncomfortable!

Big Brother

We also have a Belgian film crew following our every move at the tournament as UEFA have commissioned a documentary to be made to try to show the human side of refereeing. Should make interesting viewing when it comes out later this year.

It's a bit like Big Brother because the film crew follow us everywhere and film everything. They will even be at the stadium, in the dressing room at half-time and at the end of the match and also in the de-brief.

The referee has the right to exclude the team from the dressing room if he wants but the camera is there so often that we are starting to forget about it.

Well that's all for now. Hope everybody is well and enjoying the warm sunny weather at home that everybody keeps telling us about!

Regards and best wishes,

Howard, Darren and Mike

[Manwell Pablo]

PART THREE

SENT HOME

Been sent home after a string of bad descions in last nights game, the 5 meters offside goal was my fave. I have also topped a "most hated man in Poland" pole. Imagine that, topping a Poles Pole, I'm very proud. Looking forward to getting back to doing exactly what Mr Ferguson says in August.

Best Wishes

Howard.

[DB11]

PART THREE

SENT HOME

Been sent home after a string of bad descions in last nights game, the 5 meters offside goal was my fave. I have also topped a "most hated man in Poland" pole. Imagine that, topping a Poles Pole, I'm very proud. Looking forward to getting back to doing exactly what Mr Ferguson says in August.

Best Wishes

Howard.

Explain

[DB11]

Euro 2008 Diary - Howard Webb - Part Three

IN THIS latest diary entry referee Howard Webb - addresses the controversial decisions made in the Austria v Poland match which led to death threats made on websites by Polish supporters furious with the late penalty call.

First of all, can I say a massive thank you to everybody who has been in touch with us pre and post our first match in Vienna on Thursday night.

The support has been overwhelming. Every single message of good luck or well done has been appreciated. We know how much everybody is behind us and it makes us feel very privileged to have such lovely friends, family and colleagues.

And what an evening it turned out to be in Vienna! We really did enjoy making our debut in the tournament after having to wait a week and being the last refereeing team out. And the feeling as we walked out into the full Ernst Happel Stadium was fantastic, and will live with us for a long time.

During the line-up, a really special moment was when we saw our families in the main stand whilst the national anthems were being sung. We had also been able to meet up with my parents, Darren's parents, and my eldest sister Joanne in the city centre earlier in the day.

The match was a good one we felt and we were really happy with our performances. Obviously, Mike was disappointed that the Polish goal was, on the replay, shown to be offside and this clearly took the shine off the occasion for him but he is a professional and having analysed the goal, he can see that his positioning was at fault rather than his judgement.

We were happy with the control of the game and the players were very co-operative throughout with hardly any dissent being shown, which has been true of nearly all of the matches here.

Obviously, the big decision came at the end of the match with the penalty which was very clear to me. It also came on the back of a warning for holding.

It really was something that couldn't be ignored and is something which all the teams were told not to engage in pre-tournament.

I know that the decision created massive disappointment in the Polish camp. I hope that, on reflection, they will also appreciate that the decision had to be given due to the clear nature of the offence.

After the match, we returned to our hotel where we had a small de-briefing with the match observer, we then had dinner with our relatives which again was special.

Early the next day, we flew back to our base in Switzerland where we had a full de-brief using video clips of the game.

Also present were the TV observers. Their views were that we had done well and they were certainly supportive of the penalty decision.

Obviously they raised the issue of the offside goal which was to be expected. All cautions were agreed upon, there were some more positive points highlighted and a couple of development points re positioning etc but all in all, a solid debut we feel.

After the de-brief, we had a recovery session followed by a trip to Zurich to see the Italy v Romania match.

Today is match day +2 for us which means a day-off!

We are just about to set off for Zurich on the train to go to the fan zone to watch Spain v Sweden. Should be a great atmosphere and good to watch the match with the fans (and maybe a beer, maybe!!)

We think we will find out about our next appointment tomorrow (Sunday).

Appointment has since been made:

Webb & Co. have been confirmed as the team of officials taking charge on Thursday, when reigning champions Greece take on Spain in Salzburg.

We will, of course, let you know which match we get as soon as we know so you can look out for us.

Again, thanks so much for all your support.

Regards and best wishes,

Howard, Darren and Mike

[DB11]

Euro 2008 Diary - Howard Webb - Part Four

Howard Webb adds another entry to his diary from Euro 2008 including the positive news that he will referee Wednesday's final Group D clash between Greece and Spain as well as experiencing UEFA's Fan Zones in the host cities. You can read all Webb's diary updates here at Official Sports:

This morning we were informed about the final set of six appointments in the group stages of the tournament. I am delighted to have been appointed to referee the holders Greece v Spain, who have emerged as one of the tournament favourites. It will hopefully turn out to be a good match, with Greece keen not to lose all their three matches whilst Spain will want to go into the quarter finals on the back of a good performance. The match is to be played in Salzburg, Austria, on Wednesday evening, 18th June kicking-off at 7.45pm back home. We fly out to Salzburg on Tuesday afternoon and will return to Zurich on the Friday.

We had a fantastic day yesterday at the Fan Zone in Zurich - we watched Spain v Sweden on a massive screen which was located in Zurich Lake. The atmosphere was great and we met up with a cousin of Mike who has come over for the tournament with his son. He was wearing an England shirt - the only one we have seen whilst we have been here! Was good to see the Three Lions on show - it's a big pity that England didn't qualify as the atmosphere around the place is excellent and there is a lot of excitement with the fans.

This afternoon I did a press conference which all the referees are expected to do. It was quite a nerve-wracking experience. Sky Sports were there so you may get to see it back home on their news channel. Obviously some questions were asked about our match in Vienna and the reaction to the penalty from some of the Polish people.

Just about to go to Basel to watch Portugal v Switzerland. We are very lucky and enjoying this experience.

Hope everybody is well. We will be in touch again in the next few days.

Regards and best wishes,

Howard, Darren and Mike

[dandannieldanok]

Hope everybody is well. We will be in touch again in the next few days.

Regards and best wishes,

Howard, Darren and Mike

Sounds like the end of a letter you'd write to your parents