Referees are rarely out of the sports news.
They certainly garnered plenty of attention during the football World Cup. With the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system making its competitive debut, there was even more opportunity to scrutinise officials’ decisions.
Red card?
For example, England fans felt Colombia’s Wilmar Barrios should have been red-carded for his headbutt on Jordan Henderson in their second-round match. But referee Mark Geiger opted for just a yellow card and chose not to watch the footage at pitchside himself. Throughout the match, Geiger was repeatedly surrounded by Colombian, and often England, players protesting the decisions he made. Such scenes are sadly all too common in modern football.
