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EURO 2008: Respect for soccer refs in short supply week in, week out

The 12 men that will make the big decisions during the European Championship lined up in two rows, wearing new shirts, most of them in bubble gum bright colors of aqua blue, lemon peel and infrared, with every fourth sticking out like a party pooper in dark onix.

Everything appeared so orderly, quite different from the situations they will face on the field during the tournament starting on today. On the referees’ left sleeves was the word “respect,” a commodity often lacking during and after matches.

Just ask Herbert Fandel, who will referee today’s match between Portugal and Turkey. When he officiated a Denmark-Sweden qualifier in Copenhagen last June, he awarded a penalty kick to the visitors after the home team overcame a three-goal deficit to level the score. A fan ran on the field and tried to attack him.

“There was no time to be shocked. It was so quick,” Fandel said on Thursday after a workout in the town of Regensdorf near Zurich. “Sometimes I said it’s better that me, as an old horse in this race, had such an event than a younger one.”

Come today, Fandel will have to deal with Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo, who may be the world’s best player after scoring 42 goals for Manchester United last season. Some also view him as an Olympic-caliber diver — and quite the lobbyist, too.

When Portugal played England during the World Cup two years ago, Ronaldo ran over to [successfully] plead for a red card against Wayne Rooney — his Manchester United team-mate — after Rooney stomped on Ricardo Carvalho’s groin.

“We are all happy that we have fantastic players like Cristiano Ronaldo or many others in this tournament,” Fandel said. “And it’s one of our tasks to protect the good players, if the behavior of the players is OK.’’
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