Yellow cards & kicks in the chest

One of the things the 2010 world cup final between The Netherlands and Spain will be remembered for, except for the Spanish victory and Nigel de Jong kicking Xabi Alonso in the chest, is how referee Howard Webb dished the one yellow card after another.

In total Webb handed out 14 yellow cards and one red card.

According to the referee this was necessary to keep control over both teams. The 2010 world cup final between The Netherlands and Spain in Soccer City, Johannesburg, has been called one of the most aggressive matches of the entire tournament.

In an interview with the Telegraph newspaper, Webb explained his decisions as follows:

“We don’t feel that we had much choice except to manage the game in the way we did. From early on in the match we had to make decisions that were clear yellow cards. We tried to apply some common-sense officiating given the magnitude of the occasion for both sides – advising players early on for some of their tackling, sending players away when they were surrounding the officials, and speaking to their senior colleagues to try and calm them down. We came away feeling satisfied that we’d done a tough job in difficult circumstances.”

Mike Riley, general manager of the Professional Game Match Officials which represents Premier League officials, added that Webb had been let down by the players.

“On far too many occasions during the match the players showed little respect for the laws of the game and scant regard for the spirit of the game,” he said. “In spite of these challenges Howard and his team performed superbly.”

Dutch football fans are nevertheless not amused furious at Webb, and have created a ‘I hate Howard Webb’ Facebook page.

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