Rate The Ref - Rate Referee’s Performance in South Africa 2010, Premier League, Champions League, UEFA Cup and World Cup campaigns

12 Jun 2008 - 18:34 BSTArnIIe

Referee: Tom Henning Øvrebø (NOR) Assistants: Geir Åge Holen (NOR) and Jan Petter Randen (NOR) 4th Official: Ivan Bebek (CRO)

13 Jun 2008 - 04:05 BSTkasedase

Its the italians (watch the diving)

13 Jun 2008 - 18:09 BSTandyshan

Not bad not bad! :-)

13 Jun 2008 - 18:25 BSTArnIIe

Can't surely be as bad as Webb! For RTR's sake!!!!!

13 Jun 2008 - 20:37 BSTwojtek340

offside and penalty from magical hat, bad, very bad but not so bad as Howard Webb

13 Jun 2008 - 23:13 BSTcliquer

he's just very poor referee, doesn't see when offside occures, but if it doesn't he tends to make it up, as he did today or in POL-GER game. Italians played poorly but he even helped romanians to finish 1-1. But he's of course much better then wEBB

14 Jun 2008 - 10:00 BSTtatus_ogonek

This championship shown, how unfair referee "judge" a situation on the field. Most of them take more subjective then objective decissions. It`s absurdum!! SHAME! Match ITA-ROM and AUS-POL it`s a hillarious example. One man can destroy dreams whole nation ...

14 Jun 2008 - 10:06 BSTTe Mana

My comments cover the Referee’s performance from the 27th minute on (I missed the game live and the first 30 minutes of the first half on the re-run). This was my first time watching Tom Henning Ovrebo officiate in the tournament (I missed the first game he officiated). I thought he did a decent job. Not great but decent. Difficult match to officiate. Italy trying to survive in the tournament, Romania pushing for a better spot before the game against The Netherlands. And, of course, the Italians’ notorious diving antics. I think the Referee expected that and he made lots of efforts to stay very close to the action, in my opinion, closer to the action than most of the Referees I have seen so far in the tournament. I thought that Luca Toni was on-side when he scored. The Referee was not in good position to judge that himself so he followed the Assistant Referee’s call. I think that the AR made a mistake. It looks like not even the players for sure knew if there was an off-side or not as Luca Toni, himself, did not protest the decision. Thankfully, the other AR was right at the goal line to make the appropriate call when the Romanian Goalkeeper caught the ball on the goal line 25 minutes in the second half. Good Penalty Kick call for Romania. Similar situation as in the game between Austria and Poland officiated by Howard Webb. No need to watch the replay to see that Italian defender has his arm across the Romanian player’s chest and neck and pulling him away so that he cannot play the ball. I did not see a yellow card given to the Italian player though?!? Did I miss it? Ovrebo could have given a yellow card to Toni for simulation (diving) in the penalty box three times in the second half but chose not to. I think that if he had given one on the first dive, that would have sent a message to Toni (and the rest of the Italian team) to stop doing it. Good yellow cards on Mutu, Chivu and Pirlo. I regret the card on Goian, though. Ovebro got him for delaying the restart of play but I think he could have been more lenient. The yellow card on De Rossi just before the final whistle was a tough one to call. To me, it looked as though De Rossi’s slide tackle was correct even if he seemed to fail to actually touch the ball. The Romanian player seemed to just stumble over De Rossi in the heat of the action. From the comfort of my sofa, I would not have whistled a foul. But Ovebro was right there and actually waited to see if there was an advantage to be played before he blew the whistle. He did not see a hand ball by Panucci in the 77th minute (he was behind Panucci) but, unfortunately, the AR did not raise the flag. I give Tom Ovrebo three stars.