Ref Webb defends display in final
Ref Webb defends display in final
No regrets for Howard Webb after final
(
De Jong sees yellow for 'Kung-Fu' tackle)
English referee Howard Webb says he has no regrets over his handling of Sunday's World Cup final between Spain and the Netherlands.
Webb was criticised in some quarters after booking 13 players including the sending off John Heitinga in a match marred by frequent foul play.
"We felt satisfied that we'd done a tough job in difficult circumstances to the best of our abilities," he said.
"It was an extremely challenging match to handle."
Dutch coach Bert van Marwijk, who saw eight of his players pick up bookings, was unhappy with Webb's performance at Soccer City in Johannesburg.
But the highly physical approach of the Netherlands players has also been criticised and many within the English game have been quick to jump to the Yorkshireman's defence, while Fifa boss Sepp Blatter acknowledged that the players had made life difficult for the officials.
Webb and his assistants Darren Cann and Michael Mullarkey arrived home from South Africa on Tuesday to a barrage of media interest in their performance in the final.
"Whatever the match, you always hope that the officials won't need to be heavily involved. However, we had to raise our profile in order to keep control," Webb added in a statement released through the Premier League.
"We don't feel that we had much choice except to manage the game in the way we did.
"From early on in the match we had to make decisions that were clear yellow cards.
"We tried to apply some common sense officiating given the magnitude of the occasion for both sides - advising players early on for some of their tackling, sending players away when they were surrounding the officials, and speaking to their senior colleagues to try to calm them down.
"It is one of the toughest games we will ever be involved in and we feel that we worked hard to keep the focus on the football as much as possible."
Webb has also been praised by the Football Association for his performance in the game.
Jonathan Hall, the FA's director on the Professional Game Match Officials Board, said; "Firstly, we would like to congratulate Howard Webb, Mike Mullarkey and Darren Cann for a wonderful tournament and a very well-handled final in very difficult circumstances.
"Nothing should take away from Howard's achievement and it is hard to imagine many other officials being able to match his performance or handle such a fixture so well.
"I think what this does do is strengthen our resolve to support our excellent network of referees in England and it also shows the real value of the work being undertaken by the Respect programme domestically.
"We are all thoroughly proud of the fact Fifa chose to recognise Howard at the very peak of his profession."
Webb became the fourth Englishman to take charge of the crowning game in world football following Jack Taylor (1974), Bill Ling (1954) and George Reader (1950).
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