When I go to the theatre, I wouldn’t expect to see a soccer match break out on stage.
 
And so when I’m watching a soccer match I don’t want to see theatrics.

But watching the diving, feigned injuries and other nefarious attempts to fool the referee when Spain played against Italy in the quarter-finals made me wish both teams could somehow be eliminated.
 
It’s a beautiful game, but it was bad theatre and worse soccer. It was the first match of the tournament that I stopped watching after a while because the acting was putting me off.
 
Italy’s Luca Toni might be tall and intimidating when he runs towards the goal — and a likeable player at Bayern Munich — but several times it looked like it only took a gentle breeze to topple him in Vienna.

Spain’s David Villa later got a yellow card for diving in the penalty area but he was by no means the only player to hit the ground hard after the slightest contact.

German referee Herbert Fandel deserves credit for seeing through it all. Sure, he might have failed to award a penalty in the first half for Spain but really it’s like the little boy who cried wolf. After a while you assume everything is an act.

My favourite moment of the tournament? Ruud van Nistelrooy staying on his feet against Italy despite being tripped by Italy’s goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon in the 18th minute. The score was still 0-0 and he could have fallen and got the penalty as the ball rolled away from him. But he didn’t.
 
Similarly Eren Derdiyok of Switzerland stayed on his feet a few nights later despite a clumsy challenge by Turkey’s goalkeeper Volkan Demirel in the heavy rain in Basel. He rounded the keeper and crossed to Hakan Yakin, who tapped the ball in.

I’m glad we’ve seen more of  the Van Nistelrooys and Derdiyoks in this tournament so far and less of the Spain-Italy theatrics.

PHOTO: Herbert Fandel shows Spain’s David Villa a yellow card during the Euro 2008 quarter-final against Italy in Vienna, June 22, 2008. REUTERS/Christian Charisius

Football fans all love to hate referees … but getting close up and personal with them would change a lot of people’s opinions.

Meeting the refs and other match officials for Euro 2008 at their media open day at Regensdorf just north of Zurich was an illuminating experience.

UEFA first opened the doors to the men they dub “the 17th team” at Euro 2004 and while you go along expecting to be yellow-carded if you so much as trip over a paving stone, you quickly realise that referees are often unfairly maligned by managers, media and public alike.

The first thing you notice is how young and fit they are. The retirement age for elite referees is now 45 and most of them look a lot younger than that. In fact, many look like they could actually be playing.

What also comes across in talking to them is that they seem to be genuine football fans who love the game as much as anyone.

Roberto Rosetti of Italy, the ref for the opening match between Switzerland and the Czech Republic, is widely regarded not just as the natural successor to Pierluigi Collina as the best Italian referee, but probably the best referee in Europe and possibly the world.

“Lets not talk about that,” he joked, “I won’t be regarded as anything if I have a bad match.”

Howard Webb of England has taken five years out from his job as a police officer to concentrate on his refereeing duties.

“I know its a cliche, but really, I just take each match as it comes,” he smiled. “You’re only as good as your last match.”

Konrad Plautz of Austria said, “Of course we make mistakes. We’re only human. All I hope is that none of the hundreds of cameras in the stadium catches it. Some hope!”

Lubos Michel, who has just refereed the Champions League final between Manchester United and Chelsea, said: “We know we are in a lose-lose situation. If we have a good game no-one notices us, but everyone notices us if we have a bad one. You can’t win.”

The one thing they do have going for them is an incredible sense of unity and teamwork. They reminded me of the contestants on a reality TV show — all mates together, but some will go home early after the group stage and only one can ref the final.

With England not here, is Webb a contender for the big honour?

“I hardly think so, but not having your national team here does open up your options,” he said. “Also this is my first major tournament, there are a lot more experienced guys here who deserve it more.”

What a neutral answer. Typical of a referee.

Mike Collett

PHOTO: Referees (1st row L to R) Konrad Plautz from Austria, Frank de Bleeckere from Belgium, Howard Webb from England, Manuel Enrique Mejuto Gonzalez from Spain, Herbert Fandel from Germany, Kyros Vassaras from Greece

(2nd row L to R) Roberto Rosetti from Italy, Pieter Vink from the Netherlands, Tom Henning Ovrebo from Norway, Lubos Michel from Slovakia, Peter Frojdfeldt from Sweden and Massimo Busacca from Switzerland

REUTERS/Christian Hartmann

For full coverage of Euro 2008 click here

Flying elbows, mass punch-ups, mouthy players, shirt-tuggers and divers will be the main focus for referees when Euro 2008 kicks off in June.

UEFA handed a six-point list of instructions on Thursday to the 12 referees officiating at the tournament in Switzerland and Austria.

Referees will crack down on players who hold or push opponents during free kicks or corners. Mass confrontations between players will be dealt with by issuing a yellow card to at least one player from each team. When it comes to dissent, officials have been told they can accept “a spontaneous expression of frustration from players” but anything more than that will warrant a sanction.

UEFA will also use video evidence to punish divers and cheats who succeed in fooling the referee at Euro 2008, having trialled the idea in the Champions League.

The emphasis on shirt-tugging and the use of elbows also follows a crackdown in the Champions League, so UEFA argues the players have been warned.

At Thursday’s get-together in Zurich the match officials said they were ready to strictly apply the guidelines. Asked if he was prepared to award a penalty for a shirt tug in the first five minutes of the tournament’s opening match, one referee said he would be quite happy to award five penalties if necessary.

Is UEFA right in calling for greater respect for and stricter adherence to the rules or will a flurry of red cards and penalties ruin the tournament? Would you rather see a crackdown in other areas such as time-wasting?

Javier Mascherano is in a long tradition of strong-charactered Argentine central midfielders going back to Antonio Rattin, and further.

Sadly, his petulance at Old Trafford in Liverpool’s 3-0 defeat by Manchester United on Sunday recalls Rattin’s dismissal against England in the 1966 World Cup quarter-final at Wembley.

Both dismissals were for dissent rather than foul play, although Mascherano had already been booked and so might not have been shown the red card if he had not seen an earlier yellow for a late tackle.

Rattin’s sending-off was the incident that sparked the introduction of yellow and red cards.

He was sent off for repeatedly protesting to referee Rudolf Kreitlein over the German’s decisions for team mates’ misdemeanours, not unlike what happened to Mascherano.

Rattin was not seen in England again and it was, in fact, the only sending-off in the career of an influential and clean player.

Mascherano now risks being a marked man in the eyes of English referees and will need to be doubly careful about his behaviour if he is not to leave Liverpool a man short again.

As a player, he most closely resembles Americo Gallego, the thicker-built number 5 in Argentina’s 1978 World Cup-winning side, absorbing attacks and distributing play.

Sergio Batista, the tall, bearded incumbent in the 1986 World Cup team, was more like Rattin in his quiet, middle-of-the-park dominance, providing the steady holding role and launchpad for the actions of Diego Maradona and his fellow forwards.

Fernando Redondo was the elegant linchpin of the 1993 Copa America-winning side and 1994 World Cup team, a player not out of place making skilled incursions up front.

They all descend from a centre half tradition embodied by Nestor Rossi, a member of the great Argentina side that won the Copa America in 1957 but was badly weakened for the World Cup in Sweden the following year by the loss to Italy’s Serie A of a gifted inside-forward trio that included Omar Sivori, later a European Footballer of the Year.

PHOTO: Javier Mascherano is sent off by referee Steve Bennett during Liverpool’s Premier League defeat by Manchester United at Old Trafford, March 23, 2008. REUTERS/Phil Noble