Bermuda’s Football Referees got the opportunity of a lifetime as they would share a call with Howard Webb during the Excellence in Action Part 4.
Webb now the General Manager of the Professional Referee Organization (PRO) which oversees the VAR Operations for the MLS.
Webb became the first man to referee the Champions League final and World Cup final in the same year.
Webb shared how his father was a referee and it was he who made his son aware of a referee's course. Webb passed the course when he was 19 years old and started refereeing locally. He became a referee in the Northern Counties East League in 1996. In the year 2000, he was included on the National List of Football League referees. By then he was only 29 years old. Three years later he was selected as a Premiership referee. In 2005 at the age of 34, he received his FIFA badge.
Webb shared what he considered one of the worst decision he'd ever made.
"Nigel de Jong's kick was probably the thing that's most notable in my career in that World Cup final," Webb said.
"It's notable for several reasons. If that had happened in just a regular league game, people would have long since forgotten about it but because it was the World Cup final and because it was quite an unusual situation (it is remembered).
"It was de Jong going with a high foot for a bouncing ball which Xabi Alonso of Spain headed just before he got there and the foot of de Jong went into the chest of Xabi Alonso.
"At the time I was looking through the back of Xabi Alonso and didn't have the certainty to see that the contact was significant. I decided that it was a reckless foul and only a yellow card.”
"Having seen it on TV, of course I now see it's a red card. That's one that lives with me more than any decision I've ever made."
Today Webb takes us through his life as an official, tomorrow will see Webb address questions from the guest.
