Webb: This game can kick you in the backside (News Feature)

By Barry Whelan Jun 29, 2010, 16:19 GMT

Pretoria - Howard Webb could have plenty to celebrate when he turns 39 next month. Just three days before his birthday, the English referee is hoping for the biggest present of all.

Webb appears to be one of the refs in the running to take charge of the World Cup final on July 11, the pinnacle of every referee's career, after three good performances in the tournament.

However, the man who was in charge of this year's Champions League final realizes he will need to steer clear of the controversies that have led to renewed calls for goal-line technology and other aids - and believes it often comes down to luck.

'Sometimes you can be really unlucky in this game,' he says.

'It has a habit of kicking you in the backside when you take your eye off the ball. (You can only) hope you can get that good fortune, hope the ball runs kindly for you and if it does, who knows what falls into place?'

With England out of the competition the former police officer from South Yorkshire knows he could be a candidate to referee the World Cup final. It would, he says, be a great honour.

'It is the ultimate goal for everyone in world refereeing,' he said the day after officiating Brazil's 3-0 victory over Chile in the last 16.

'But I accept and understand that I am surrounded by a lot of quality, experienced match officials who have been to previous World Cups.

'Because of that we don't set out sight on that ultimate goal, we set our sights on approaching each game. It's a cliche, but we take each game as it comes, try to secure a solid performance on that game, hope that the ball runs kindly.'

Webb saw how the ball ran less kindly for Uruguayan Jorge Larrionda and Italian Roberto Rosetti who were involved in the two biggest controversies in the last 16.

Larrionda missed England's would-be second goal against Germany after neither he nor his assistant saw the ball had crossed the line. As an Englishman, Webb could not have been happy with that wrong call. As a referee he has every sympathy with his colleague.

'Without talking about a specific incident, any time a mistake is made in the game we feel for this group of match officials,' he said.

'We have been here for four weeks as a team, we are all rooting for each other. We all want to progress to the later rounds of this tournament but not at the expense of other people's mistake, 100 per cent.'

Webb, who had spoken to Larrionda about the game, says the Uruguayan official will be 'desperately disappointed' having seen the TV replays.

'I don't want to speak on his behalf but any thing that is viewed as a mistake afterwards is a disappointing moment for a match official, it really is. We really strive to be accurate as much as we can.'

Webb himself hates making mistakes.

'If I get one wrong I am devastated, I really am, (for) several days really, if it's a match changing one.'

Polish fans vilified him after he awarded a penalty to Austria in stoppage time at Euro 2008, but Webb maintained afterwards it was the right call.

At this tournament the closest he has come to controversy was with a shot cleared off the line by Slovakia against Italy. Television replays on whether the ball had crossed the line were inconclusive. A lucky break perhaps?

'One of the breaks for me is that I have wonderful assistants (in Darren Cann and Mike Mullarkey) on my side. Our teamwork has been a strong point and that was the only decision that could have been made,' he said.

'Because we worked together in the Premier League, Champions League all the time we gain that understanding, and there is almost a telepathy about the way we work, and that's been a real positive.'

The introduction of radio communication and teams of officials from the same nation has also been a tremendous help.

'Refereeing in the stadium, even if there are 70,000 people there, could be quite a lonely place for the referee in the middle surrounded by all these people,' Webb said.

'But now I've got my two mates in my ear assisting me making decisions, making me aware of what's happening behind my back ... just encouraging each other, you know. There is a lot of motivation goes off on that radio between each other ...'

Other technological aids such as a microchip system in the ball or the Hawk-Eye system as used in tennis or cricket is something Webb feels is up to world governing body officials to decide, although he appears open to having additional refs behind the goals.

'We need to be careful we don't change the nature of the game ... here we are in 2010 and we don't have any technical help which would =suggest to me it is a difficult thing to introduce, particularly things like video replays,' he said.

It's all a long way from Webb's humble beginnings when he still recalls refereeing his first game, an under-11 match on the site of the Battle of Orgreave, just a few years after the clash there in 1984 between police and striking miners.

But the journey to Johannesburg's Soccer City Stadium on July 11 does not seem an unlikely or impossible one for the Yorkshireman.