(3) Germany-Czech Rep
Highlights
Report
Of the thirty yellow cards issued in the opening weekend of Euro'96 (30/4 = 7.5) that caused such a stir at the time, a third were issued by David Elleray in his handling of Germany against the Czech Republic - ten bookings set a European Championship record at the time, and did so for twenty-eight years. The criticism from pretty much all sides was fierce, but even the UEFA president hit back to defend the approach of the referees in the first four matches: Lennart Johansson said "players should not only content themselves with wearing the fair play logo, but are expected to display fair play in their conduct".
Germany vs. Czech Republic to the casual viewer was a closely fought game, but not an outstandingly rumbustous affair - that Elleray had produced ten cards in this match was to suggest that the referees were setting out to be pedantic and overzealous. In that sense, the number one English official at the time was unfortunate, as the Old Trafford match was actually very challenging to referee. But, UEFA's public support for the refereeing as a whole did not internally extend to Elleray's performance in this game: if overzealousness was the popular cry, then the inside view was rather the contrary. Analysis then of the unassuming, record-breaking game and the referee who made it (or perhaps, allowed it to) happen.
Key Incidents: I made a quickfire compilation of three incidents here.
The next section is a long, prose-style text in the next section to tell the story of the game.
Match: Too long; won't read? This performance was more-or-less a 1990s iteration of the so-called Battle of Nuremburg for Valentin Ivanov - a generally good referee, who found himself in a very tough match and couldn't cultivate an image of strictness, neither in the manner of conducting the game nor in his decisions, and let procedings get quite out of hand. He also underpunished (multiple) red card offences.
1H: The game started with quite a high number of careless fouls, as usual for this era of football, correctly penalised by the referee. The first hint of any trouble came when Poborsky, after having been pushed to the floor with the ball in play, made a small retaliatory move against an opponent (14'). Neither the push nor retaliation was seen by the officials. Poborsky contiued his 'red mist' period by giving Ziege a helping push toward the advertising hoardings (18'). Elleray, to his credit, noticed what the Czech did and gave him a warning - but in hindsight should have made 'more' of it. The opening card was slightly on the softer side, Bejbl's challenge looked more reckless than it was (19'). Certainly not wrong, but I think it is a fair question if this was the best use of munition. Bobic, who had been quite irritated for most of the first half, gave Poborsky a very late charge on a Czech counterattack (25'), not noticed by the referee. Germany score, 1-0. Everyone starts getting quite excited and after a series of challenges going in (and one missed foul by the corner flag), Ziege finally goes in with a ridiculous tackle and should have been sent off (28'). It should be noted that Ziege seconds before had hurdled a deliberate kick by already-booked Bejbl. Germany score, 2-0. Nemec ideally would have been booked for what nowadays is 'lack of respect' holding, but only a warning (35'); this would have been a good moment to clamp down. Latal screamed trying to get Ziege sent off (38'), but Elleray rightly saw no foul. Kuka started getting annoyed and fouled (probably recklessly), quiet warning given by the ref (42'). Bad play on call from tackle where all players expected a foul (43'). Nedved is correctly booked for a late challenge (+47'), but he had been a 'good boy' in the first half compared to some persistent troublemakers. 2H: First booking of the second half was for Kuntz (52') who, in (mostly) trying to block a cross, recklessly took out Hornak. Elleray showed no real alertness here at all, only cautioning on the advice of linesman Bates - reading the game, ref should have been on 'red alert'. Kuntz then commits a (not even LoR) holding from the freekick and is given a somewhat-performative second yellow card warning by Elleray (53'). Correct booking for obvious tactical foul Moller (58'). Correct booking for tackle from behind Babbel but given Kuka put his leg across to win the freekick, there was a get-out (59'). After two bookings in a minute, Germany argue a careless foul by Berger near the benches was reckless (61'), but it wasn't and Elleray was right. Then, a foul of extreme crudeness by Eilts (63') who makes a high kick on Latal, whilst the German was on the ground. Incredibly, Elleray doesn't pick up on the nature of the foul himself and having made a formal conversation with linesman Walton, rules the foul careless. Correct booking for deliberate handball to stop a counterattack Kadlec (68'). Caution for dissenting behaviour Drulak (68'). I think this is the point that Elleray began to lose belief in his refereeing. Incredibly late and dangerous foul by Reuter (70'), but only a yellow card is 'softly' given. This is the most unforgiveable incident of the game. Compare to the 'tackle as an attack' red card in Spain-Bulgaria! Then quite 'sour' end to the game where Elleray ignored some few clear things like fouls and encroachment, rightly gave a lot of freekicks which disturbed any flow to the game. The most relevant incidents were an aggressive play by Kuka towards the ref (79') and the tenth, final yellow of the game to Hassler (77'). A tackle by Ziege on Nedved which looks bad on the replay was acceptably deemed as no foul committed (90').
1H: The game started with quite a high number of careless fouls, as usual for this era of football, correctly penalised by the referee. The first hint of any trouble came when Poborsky, after having been pushed to the floor with the ball in play, made a small retaliatory move against an opponent (14'). Neither the push nor retaliation was seen by the officials. Poborsky contiued his 'red mist' period by giving Ziege a helping push toward the advertising hoardings (18'). Elleray, to his credit, noticed what the Czech did and gave him a warning - but in hindsight should have made 'more' of it. The opening card was slightly on the softer side, Bejbl's challenge looked more reckless than it was (19'). Certainly not wrong, but I think it is a fair question if this was the best use of munition. Bobic, who had been quite irritated for most of the first half, gave Poborsky a very late charge on a Czech counterattack (25'), not noticed by the referee. Germany score, 1-0. Everyone starts getting quite excited and after a series of challenges going in (and one missed foul by the corner flag), Ziege finally goes in with a ridiculous tackle and should have been sent off (28'). It should be noted that Ziege seconds before had hurdled a deliberate kick by already-booked Bejbl. Germany score, 2-0. Nemec ideally would have been booked for what nowadays is 'lack of respect' holding, but only a warning (35'); this would have been a good moment to clamp down. Latal screamed trying to get Ziege sent off (38'), but Elleray rightly saw no foul. Kuka started getting annoyed and fouled (probably recklessly), quiet warning given by the ref (42'). Bad play on call from tackle where all players expected a foul (43'). Nedved is correctly booked for a late challenge (+47'), but he had been a 'good boy' in the first half compared to some persistent troublemakers. 2H: First booking of the second half was for Kuntz (52') who, in (mostly) trying to block a cross, recklessly took out Hornak. Elleray showed no real alertness here at all, only cautioning on the advice of linesman Bates - reading the game, ref should have been on 'red alert'. Kuntz then commits a (not even LoR) holding from the freekick and is given a somewhat-performative second yellow card warning by Elleray (53'). Correct booking for obvious tactical foul Moller (58'). Correct booking for tackle from behind Babbel but given Kuka put his leg across to win the freekick, there was a get-out (59'). After two bookings in a minute, Germany argue a careless foul by Berger near the benches was reckless (61'), but it wasn't and Elleray was right. Then, a foul of extreme crudeness by Eilts (63') who makes a high kick on Latal, whilst the German was on the ground. Incredibly, Elleray doesn't pick up on the nature of the foul himself and having made a formal conversation with linesman Walton, rules the foul careless. Correct booking for deliberate handball to stop a counterattack Kadlec (68'). Caution for dissenting behaviour Drulak (68'). I think this is the point that Elleray began to lose belief in his refereeing. Incredibly late and dangerous foul by Reuter (70'), but only a yellow card is 'softly' given. This is the most unforgiveable incident of the game. Compare to the 'tackle as an attack' red card in Spain-Bulgaria! Then quite 'sour' end to the game where Elleray ignored some few clear things like fouls and encroachment, rightly gave a lot of freekicks which disturbed any flow to the game. The most relevant incidents were an aggressive play by Kuka towards the ref (79') and the tenth, final yellow of the game to Hassler (77'). A tackle by Ziege on Nedved which looks bad on the replay was acceptably deemed as no foul committed (90').
There was merit in Elleray's refereeing, the best point was his liberal use of the advantage clause, but overall he refereed the match poorly: 'wrong place, wrong time'. He was said to strongly contest the assessment back then but, in my opinion, the referees committee acted quite correctly in taking a critical view of how this game was handled; I would have rated the refereeing with a grade of '7,6'.
David Elleray's performance in this game was rejected by UEFA.
Matchsheet
| David Elleray - 4 Anthony Bates - 7 Peter Walton - 6 Stephen Lodge (assessor: ponnet) | Germany 2-0 Czech Republic Sun 9June 5pm, Manchester Group Stage |
Ger  Ziege (28') - Tackle Kuntz (52') - Tackle Möller (58') - SPA (Holding) Babbel (59') - Tackle Reuter (70') - Tackle Häßler (77') - Tackle | Cze Bejbl (20') - Challenge Nedvěd (+47') - Challenge Kadlec (68') - SPA (Handball) Drulák (68') - Dissent |
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