Why even Messi won’t mess with Al Marzouqi

World Cup referee Saleh Al Marzouqi has recommended to the UAE Football Association (UAEFA) that players be educated on the laws of the game before the start of the new season to avoid untoward incidents.

“Before the beginning of World Cup matches, they sent instructors to all the participating teams to explain about the laws of the game. How to respect the referee and why referees should be not giving yellow or red cards for certain fouls. This is a very good thing and I want my association to do like that,” said Al Marzouqi who is only the third UAE referee to officiate at the World Cup.

“It would be good to send for all clubs instructors to explain the interpretation of laws before the season begins. This will take pressure off the referees because players need to understand the actions of referees,” he said.

He was overwhelmed by the respect referees commanded at the World Cup even from superstars like Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. “You get the feeling you are the judge. May be there is some little protest but this is normal. You feel everything is in your hand. As a referee I get the feeling I can control everybody, even spectators,” said Al Marzouqi speaking exclusively to Emirates 24/7 on his first World Cup experience as an Assistant Referee in the South Africa event.

The World Cup was a surreal experience for Al Marzouqi although he has officiated in the Olympics and Asian Games.

“This tournament is different from any other. Everybody is just focused on football. Anywhere you go people are only talking about football, talking about other coaches, about the players or about the referees. The atmosphere is very different from any other," said Al Marzouqi who officiated two matches – Mexico v France and Switzerland v Chile.

It was also a humbling experience for the 39-year-old father of five.

“When I reached there, I feel like I’m just a beginner. This tournament enriched my experience. There were several group discussions on how to handle the pressure, talk to players, about mistakes of referees, etc. Referees were not working alone but supported by more than 150 people on the issues they face such as handling player dissent, psychological trauma, how not to make mistakes,” he said.

For instance, he learnt about the importance of showing mutual respect to players who are professionals.

“Players respect the referees but sometimes get angry in the heat of the moment. We learn how to tackle players and not make them more angry because you are talking with professionals,” he said.

Being assigned to the group where Saudi Arabia’s Khalil Al Ghamdi was the man in the middle with Iran’s Hassan Kamranifar, Al Marzouqi said he raised the flag 11 times for offside. “All my decisions were correct and our group also got 9.5 marks which is excellent,” he said with pride on the job well done. Overall, the standard of Asian referees has improved, he said pointing out the fact that they got 11 matches during the World Cup. Uzbekistan’s Ravshan Irmatov blew for five including the opening match between South Africa and Mexico. Japan’s Yuichi Nishimura handled four including the quarterfinal between Brazil and Holland.

"These were very important games, more difficult games. Asian referees have improved. Earlier Asia had only Ali Bujsaim, now we have three good referees,” said Al Marzouqi.

UAE’s Bujsaim is the most successful Asian referee having officiated in three World Cup tournaments. He was the man in the middle of the 1994 World Cup third-place match between Sweden and Bulgaria. He also officiated in the 1998 World Cup semi-final between Brazil and Holland.

"I have a chance of going for the 2014 World Cup but I don’t want not only Saleh Marzouqi. I want one group from UAE to go. I want Ali Hamad also to be in that group,” he said wishing that the UAE team would qualify for the next World Cup. He expressed his gratitude to the Honorary President of the UAE Football Association Shaikh Hazza bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAEFA President Mohammed Khalfan Al Rumaithi and UAEFA Referees Committee Chairman Nasser Al Yamahi  for their support and encouragement ever since he was selected for the World Cup.

Al Marzouqi said he enjoyed every moment of the World Cup and did not feel any pressure when he was officiating. “If you put pressure on yourself you cannot give your best," he said adding by enjoying the task one can take good decisions. He was also conscious of the fact that he was representing UAE. “I took the responsibility to do an excellent job because if I make a mistake people will not remember the referee’s name. They will say the referee from UAE made a mistake,” he said.

He admits referees do mistakes such as the Carlos Tevez offside goal for Argentina against Mexico but he was against technology being introduced to assist decision making.

One reason he pointed out was some poor countries don’t have proper balls or even green areas to play the game. Al Marzouqi feels the laws of the game have to be changed to allow video replay which is inconclusive despite several replays.

“Even if the fourth official is given a (TV) monitor to communicate to the referee he cannot decide instantly because they need so many angles to decide, whereas the referee in the middle has to make split second decisions. It is difficult to implement,” he said.

But he was in favour of goal-line technology where sensors could determine whether the ball has crossed the line or not. This issue came into focus after England’s Frank Lampard had his goal against Germany disallowed after it bounced in and out after hitting the underside of the bar. His eyes lit up when asked about the vaunted vuvuzelas. “Oh, very noisy. But people enjoyed it, even European spectators. It was fun,” said Al Marzouqi.

He keeps one of the plastic horns he brought back from South Africa in his car to show anyone interested in listening to it.

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.