Reversing referees’ decisions: UEFA may pay penalty of setting this precedent

Referees make mistakes. They’re only human, after all.

When German ref Marija Kurtes rightly disallowed Leah Williamson’s last-gasp penalty for England women’s Under-19s against Norway last week for encroachment, she should have ordered a retake. Instead, she gave the Norwegians an indirect free-kick.

It was a mistake refs make them all the time and, normally, that’s where the story ends.

This time, however, the FA appealed to UEFA on behalf of the heartbroken English girls. The blunder had cost them a place at the European Championships, after all, and the FA had to be seen to mount some sort of protest. Nobody expected UEFA to listen they never have before.

But, in an astonishing decision, the governing body decided the game should be restaged, starting with the 96th-minute penalty. You can guess the rest England scored, qualified for the Championships, and justice was done.

In reality, however, it’s just not that simple. In setting this precedent, UEFA have opened an ENORMOUS can of worms. They’ve effectively said that, if referees make game-defining errors, the subsequent portion of the affected game can be replayed!

Yes this decision was made with regard to a women’s Under-19 game. But as a governing body, UEFA are duty-bound to apply their own rules across the board.

The next time a ref makes a howler at the top of the men’s game and it’s only a matter of time the pressure on Michel Platini to act is going to be HUGE. Can you imagine the scrutiny? Cast your mind back to 2008 if not.

Think about the outcry when Thierry Henry robbed the Republic of Ireland of a place at the 2010 World Cup with the aid of the most blatant handball football had seen since Diego Maradona’s touchy-feely heyday.

Swedish referee Martin Hansson missed it completely and awarded a goal and that was that. France went to the World Cup, Ireland went home, cheated, robbed and powerless to do anything about it.

The next time anything like that happens under UEFA’s jurisdiction, the country on the receiving end would be well advised to get their appeal in, and make it snappy. It seems that from now on, referee mistakes will have to be rectified.

Only time will tell whether that, in itself, proves to be a mistake.