From Steel City to Soccer City to Tring
Pete Hazel, 15 October 2010
AN EVENING WITH HOWARD WEBB
“A brilliant evening”, “inspirational”, “would not have missed it”, “best presentation I have seen in 50 years”, “awe inspiring”, “ pleasure to have been invited”, “motivational in all aspects”.
No, these comments have not come from the first night revue of a new play in the West End, they have emerged from a momentous evening last Monday (11th October) when Tring Athletic opened its doors to over 120 referees and officials of the Spartan South Midland Football League where the key speaker was World Cup Final referee Howard Webb.
Using as his theme “From Steel City (Rotherham his home town) to Soccer City (the Johannesburg venue for the 2010 World Cup Final)”, Howard described his journey from being a fledgling referee in Rotherham some 20 years ago to the pinnacle of refereeing, The World Cup Final.
Throughout his presentation he focused on 5 key points – vision, passion, belief, courage and perseverance – impressing upon the younger refs, those without salt and pepper in their hair, that there is no reason why they cannot make it to the top echelons of refereeing and take charge of a major final in their career.
Just like players who dream of scoring the winning cup final goal for their favourite team, Howard’s dream was to referee the World Cup Final but you can’t referee without a passion for the game. He was keen to emphasise that every game matters to the players playing in it. It is down to you as the referee to ensure they enjoy the experience within the Laws of the Game.
Howard’s passion came through in every aspect of his presentation. Even though he had spent most of the day in Geneva at a FIFA meeting, here he was on stage at Tring imparting his knowledge and experience with the enthusiasm and gusto of a new kid on the block, not as someone who has done it all.
To younger refs, he stressed that belief and perseverance are vitally important to fulfil that dream. Yes, there will knock backs, there will times when you get a decision wrong, there will games where things do not go to plan as in the World Cup Final itself where everyone was expecting a “beautiful “ game, not an “ugly” one. Yes, analyse decisions that you and your team thought were perhaps debatable, learn from them but have the belief that if a similar situation occurs again, you will handle it appropriately. Have the confidence and courage to make these big calls. When asked if there were any decisions that he would change, Howard went straight to the point. He said “yes” and we all know which tackle he was talking about. He was also man enough to refer to another – the penalty for Manchester United at Old Trafford versus Spurs. Say no more, but I am sure he has not yet been forgiven at White Hart Lane but then, that’s the nature of football!!
One of Howard’s inspiring characteristics is that he can relate to any match whether on a public park with one man and his dog watching the game, the cauldron of Old Trafford, the awe of the Bernabeu or the magnitude of Soccer City. Did you know that his first match after the World Cup Final was a Rotherham Sunday League match? That’s the stature of the man … and believe it or not he was nervous!!
It’s often said that you can paint pictures with words and this is an area where Howard excels. No one, who was present in the room, would have left without a vivid picture of the rigorous training and preparation that the World Cup match officials went through, including 3 hours training non-stop to the sound of vuvuzelas.
One other amazing fact that emerged was that Howard’s journey to Soccer City started 3 years earlier at a FIFA Youth Tournament in Canada followed by tournaments in South Africa and Nigeria in 2009. One could only be impressed by the meticulous planning, training and review processes put in place to ensure officials were the best prepared ever.
In his unassuming way, he was magnanimous in his belief that the reason he was awarded the World Cup Final – not to the mention the European Champions League Final – was that he was the leader of the BEST team with Mike Mullarkey and Darren Cann playing such an important part. It was a recurring theme and he certainly portrayed that to succeed in the modern game, working as a team is an essential ingredient. This was aptly demonstrated in the 2010 World Cup where two referees of high esteem did not referee another match due to decisions by their assistants (England’s goal that never was against Germany being one). This was not said in any detrimental manner but just a fact of today’s game. One succeeds and fails as a team in an environment where technology means that decisions are reviewed in minute detail; e.g. was he offside not by a yard by how many inches.
As Howard described his World Cup journey, you could sense the pressure that referees were under and the consequences of getting a match changing decision wrong leaving your dream in tatters but one could also sense that with Darren and Mike here were three guys that were so in tune with each other and confident of their own abilities that the pressures were significantly reduced.
Face to face, you also see a different side to the professional referee and this is no different in Howard’s case, who demonstrated a sense a humour that thousands of footie fans never see. Somehow though, I don’t think he will employing his other half as his PR agent given her quip just before the World Cup Final that “our Howard cannot control his kids never mind 22 grown up footballers”, which became a back page headline across the world.
Maybe that is a good point to wrap up as everyone lucky enough to be present on Monday evening would certainly believe otherwise!!
Pete Hazel
Secretary