A historical look at referee errors in football

Every human being is prone to error, referees are not exempted. That is the story of Janny Sikazwe who pulled one of the worst refereeing performances in recent memory with his show in the match between Mali and Tunisia. But he is not alone.

Janny Sikazwe of Zambia blows to end a match prematurely.

He blew the final whistle in the 85th minute of the game but later restarted and then blew again to end the match in the 89th minutes and 43 seconds.

This anomaly didn't go down well with the Tunisian bench with the Head Coach Mondhar Kebaier grabbing the referees arm to show him his watch. 

The entire Tunisian bench then joined the head coach in protesting to the lines man about how the match was ended prematurely with their team on the losing end.

Tunisia Head Coach Mondhar Kebaier protesting to Janny Sikazwe the centre referee.

Their was speculations that the error occured when the referee stopped the match for water break and did not stop his watch. The African football body CAF had come out to say that he suffered from heat stroke and had to be rushed to the hospital after the match. Only he definitely can explain how an experienced referee like him could commit such errors.

But like I said, he is not alone. Let's take a look at other referees that made blunders while on duty.

Tom Ovrebo, Chelsea vrs Barcelona

Tom Henning Ovrebo was the centre referee in a champions league match between Chelsea and Barcelona in 2009. He had previously sent Eric Abidal off in the match, but that was it for Barcelona. Subsequently, Chelsea had to be on the receiving end with four clear penalties denied them by the Norwegian in a space of 90 minutes.

The first was when Florent Malouda was brought down in the eighteen yard box but he blew that it's a free kick outside the box.

Then came Didier Drogba. He protested of being tugged back by Abidal in the box but was ignored. Then came 10 minutes to the end of the game, Gerard Pique handled the ball under pressure from Nicholas Anelka but still, the referee over-looked it.

After Andres Iniesta had cancelled out Michael Esien's goal, and Barcelona was on their way to a champions league final in Rome, Michael Ballack's volley was handled by Samuel Eto'o at the eighteen yard box and Ballack protested vigorously but it also fell on deaf ears.

Chaotic scenes emerged at the end of the game as Drogba and Ballack ran after the referee shouting on top of their voices.

Andre Mariner was the referee in a match between Chelsea and Arsenal in 2014. 

Andre Mariner. Chelsea vrs Arsenal

The Gunners were a goal down already, it was Arsene Wengers one thousand game as Arsenal Coach. 

The blues were on rampage and was penetrating the Arsenal defense line when Eden Hazard sent a coiling shot towards the Arsenal eighteen yard box which was diverted by Alex Oxlade Chamberlain with his finger tips. But the great surprise came when the referee showed Kieran Gibbs red card instead of the culprit who admitted to him that he was the one. But he stood by his decision.

Mourad Daami, Afcon Final 2000

Mourad Daami was the referee that officiated the final match between Nigeria and Cameroon at the African cup of nations final in the year 2000 which the Cameroonians eventually won because of refereeing error.

The referee was unable to figure out that Victor Ikpeba's penalty which hit the bar before falling behind the goal line and then popping out was a goal. It became the decider of the game after Kanu Nwankwo missed from the spot.

Graham Poll was the referee that officiated in the match between Australia and Croatia in June 2006. 

Graham Poll. Croatia vrs Australia, 2006.

The drama started when he had to send off Dario Simic of Croatia because of two yellow cards as well as Brett Emerson of Australia for similar reason. The drama came to a head when Josip Simunic was booked for fouling Harry Kewell in the 61st minute outside the box. Then, when he committed another bookable offence, everybody expected that he would now receive a red card, but the referee brandished another yellow card. As if that was not enough, in the 93rd minute, Simunic was handed a third yellow card and then the long awaited red card. 

The third yellow and red card.