Howard Webb, the head of Premier League referees, has said he was “troubled” by Folarin Balogun’s overturned red card during the World Cup as it fuelled perceptions among supporters that decisions are either “correct or corrupt.”
United States forward Balogun triggered an automatic suspension by being sent off for a foul on Bosnia-Herzegovina’s Tarik Muharemovic during a 2-0 round-of-32 win for Mauricio Pochettino‘s team.
But the 25-year-old’s one-game suspension was unexpectedly lifted, enabling him to play in the round of 16 tie against Belgium, after FIFA announced that the ban had been suspended for the period of one year.
U.S. President Donald Trump subsequently admitted to speaking to FIFA president Gianni Infantino to ask for Balogun’s ban to be overturned, prompting widespread anger within the football world, including Belgium coach Rudi Garcia saying he initially thought the decision was an April Fools’ Day joke.
And Webb, who refereed the 2010 Men’s World Cup final between Spain and the Netherlands in South Africa, said that the Balogun saga has damaged trust between the game and supporters.
“I was really troubled by it [decision to overturn Balogun’s suspension],” Webb told reporters. “I don’t know the ins and outs of the process, only what happened in the end.
“Where I was troubled by it was that we live in a world now which is different to the one that I occupied as a ref in that the decisions that are taken were previously viewed as correct or incorrect based on your judgment.
“Far too often now, decisions are viewed as correct or corrupt by people who want to type all over social media.
“They try to draw inferences around decisions, around the scene, but they don’t agree with the motivation behind that decision, which is born out of no facts, no evidence.
“But when you get that type of situation, it opens up space for people to think, ‘Aha, you see this sort of things happening all the time behind the scenes.’
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“It’s really not like that in my experience, in my professional experience.
“But the fact that that sort of [political] influence can be had, is just really not reflective of the game that I know.”
Webb, who worked as VAR manager for MLS between 2017-2022, said that he “understands” why Balogun was shown a red card against Bosnia and was left bemused by FIFA’s decision to lift the Monaco forward’s suspension.
“The facts that we know, what do we know? We know for sure that the red card was shown,” Webb said.
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“You can form an opinion about the validity of the red card and I understand why it was given.
“We know that there was pressure placed by a politician onto FIFA because that was admitted.
“And we know that the suspension was taken away for that particular tournament and suspended through a process which seemingly didn’t exist before the World Cup that started.
“The officials do their job on the field. You referee the game in the 90 minutes to the best of your ability, with your VAR, to the best of your ability. Then what happens happens afterwards.”
