“As for the first round,” concluded Inbar, “we made summaries at the level of the judges’ union. Some of the insights will be described here, the round was very positive for us, I gave instructions to the CEO of the union to continue promoting the transparency project we started. Share insights with the public and the groups and allow the judges to express themselves professionally. We will continue with the project and promote this thing.”
Chairman of the Union of Judges Giora Inbar He opened the press conference and said: “I returned yesterday from Qatar and I still can’t digest all the experiences I had there. There was such a good atmosphere, a diverse offer of people who all they wanted was for their team to win, no cursing, pushing, fireworks, flares, objects on the goalie or a lighter on the line. I had the privilege of being on this day with the senior judges in Israel Avraham Klein. They didn’t talk about the refereeing because it was good and efficient, they only talked about football. The referee knew how to be strict when needed, received the proper respect from the benches, the crowd and the players. This is how I would like our judgment to look like. I think that when we have it we will see the team in the World Cup.
“Regarding the first round of the league”, added Inbar. “He was very positive from our point of view, I gave instructions to the CEO of the union to continue promoting the transparency project we started. We share insights with the public and groups and allow the judges to express themselves professionally. We will continue to promote this.”
Liran Wexberger The chairman of the union’s professional committee said: “We conclude a positive half of the season for us. At a winter conference with referees and assistant referees from the two top leagues, which was close to the renewal of the league, we raised the points for improvement and retention. Screen judging did its job almost perfectly. 34 critical errors out of a total of 40 were corrected by the screen. We see progress from last year and strive to minimize the mistakes that remain. Anyone who followed the World Cup, which is the enterprise with the greatest technological means, saw that even there there were mistakes and disputes, there is no football refereeing without mistakes and divisions, but at the same time our goal is to reduce it to a minimum and we have been successful in this so far this season.”
“There is a significant increase in the amount of interventions of the VAR system both in Israel and in the world. It could be that the judges are passive and less brave and are waiting for the screen judges to correct them. We showed the referees sample events that we expect them to handle themselves on the court. Screen judgment should come into play in borderline cases. As for reaching a limit of players or staff members, the judges are instructed to contain it, but up to a certain limit. In Argentina against the Netherlands, everyone enjoyed the goals and the result, but not what happened on the benches. We are not ready for that to happen here either, certainly not in a long league.”
“The instruction to the referee’s assistants is clear, when there is doubt between onside and offside, the game should be allowed to continue. We prefer an onside decision and that the screen referee corrects the difference if necessary and not the other way around, that Kven recklessly raises a flag for the difference and the screen referee will not always be able to intervene because he will not have unequivocal proof. The trend is to allow the game to flow and if necessary the screen referee will intervene. FIFA succeeded in eradicating the phenomenon of wasting time in the World Cup. We didn’t see players lying on the field because they knew the referee would add a few minutes as needed. We will adopt it from the World Cup.”
“Incorporation of young judges is one of our main goals,” added Waxberger. “There have been retirements of veteran judges in recent years. This year Nir Levy, Aviad Shiloh, Nael Odeh and more are getting involved in high profile games, Yoav Mizrahi and Gal Levy are getting good games, and we will continue this trend as long as their professional ability is good. Sapir Berman? She is a referee in the Premier League squad for all intents and purposes but currently she does not meet the physical fitness goal to referee in the Premier League. Currently she is in the physical fitness criterion of the National League and therefore she is placed there. We are in constant contact with her, and as soon as she manages to meet the standards of the Premier League’s physical fitness again, she will return to the Premier League.”
Haim Yaakovcoach of the Premier League referees and personal guide He added: “We will change the subject of time management. Soccer is played for 90 minutes, but at the same time in cases where teams will waste time, or regardless of whether there will be substitutions, injuries and stoppage of play for any reason, our instruction to referees and it has already been implemented in games since soccer returned, to add the necessary time. FIFA’s success in eradicating unsportsmanlike phenomena was great. We are in contact with referee associations around the world and this will be taken into account by them as well. Significant sanctions will be imposed on players and officials who cross the line.”
