Australia women survive referee blunder
Reuters - Sunday 03 July 2011, 18:35
BERLIN - The Women's World Cup
suffered a refereeing blunder on Sunday when an Equatorial
Guinea defender held the ball in her hands in the penalty area
for several seconds, only for the referee to wave play on.
The bizarre incident happened early in the match with the
West Africans already trailing 1-0 to Australia.
Television replays showed that a shot by Australian forward
Leena Kharmis hit the post and rebounded to Equatorial Guinea
defender Bruna, who apparently believed that play had been
stopped.
After holding the ball for at least three seconds, she let
it fall to the ground but Hungarian referee Gyoengyi Gaal waved
play on amid Australian protests and general incredulity.
The West Africans equalised shortly afterwards but Australia
went on to win 3-2.
FIFA mentioned the incident in a report on their website
and German magazine Kicker said a FIFA official had apologised
at the post-match media conference.
"We all know that there was an incident. We have spoken to
the referee. She said that she's very sorry for not seeing such
a clear handball," match official Karen Espelund was quoted as
saying.
FIFA are currently studying the use of technology to be used
when it is not clear whether the ball has crossed the goal-line
but this would not apply to penalty area incidents such as the
one on Sunday.
A number of competitions are now using two additional
linesmen behind the goals to help the referee spot penalty area
incidents but the Women's World Cup is not among them.