Topic: Swiss ref goes into hiding

[Emmy]

Swiss ref goes into hiding

Swiss referee Urs Meier has been given police protection and gone into hiding in his homeland after claiming he'd received death threats from England fans.

But a defiant Meier, speaking on the telephone from where he was being kept in protective custody, said the "whole world" knew his decision was "100% correct" - and added he had no regrets.

Meier became the most hated man in England after his controversial decision not to allow Sol Campbell's headed goal that denied England a last minute quarterfinal win in Euro 2004.

Swiss police are now guarding the 45-year-old ref day and night after advising him to go into hiding where no-one knows him.

He said he has received more than 16,000 emails from England fans after newspapers published his email address.

Speaking to Swiss online service Swissinfo Meier said he was "shocked" at the reaction of the English.

He said: "I had a wonderful tournament with three fantastic games, and I'm feeling good about that. But the English newspapers, especially The Sun, have caused a big problem. It is really a big shock for me here in

Switzerland.

"There have been security problems in my office, I have security problems, and this is not the right way to handle referees' decisions, whether they are right or wrong.

"The police are here with me now as we speak and I'm taking these threats very seriously. I'm not going to leave Switzerland but am somewhere where nobody knows me."

Meier still stands by his decision and says it was right to disallow Campbell's goal. "The decision was 100% correct and the whole world could see that.

And he added: "I like English football and the people in England. I spent my holidays there last year and I know not all the people are the same.

"At the moment I have a sour taste in my mouth because I think it was one of the best games that I have ever took part in. It was a fantastic game - the best in the whole tournament."

Story Filed:  09:45 Wednesday 30th June 2004

[Hinesy]

He's here:

[cornelius]

Swiss ref goes into hiding

He fucking wants a good hiding

[jokka]

 

[Ian-TN]

He said: "I had a wonderful tournament with three fantastic games, and I'm feeling good about that. But the English newspapers, especially The Sun, have caused a big problem. It is really a big shock for me here in Switzerland.

What a fuckin' suprise that is.

It's a disgrace that he has had to take such action cos of these fuckers. Too many wanna have a go at him instead of admitting that the team was shite an not good enough.

[AdamS]

It's almost ironic that someone who clearly has problems seeing goes into hiding!

I think it was a poor decision & I think he had a poor game, but in all seriousness, it should never come to this! The lower end of the written media always seek someone to pin the blame and it's quite pathetic that so many buy it.

[KOTP]

yep he's gone into hiding with every household in portugal offering him a safe house

[John Barnes Testicles]

When visiting Switzerland near said referee's hometown, be sure to remove any sign that looks like this...

[John Barnes Testicles]

Careful - he may have one of these

[Millsee]

Fucking pathetic.

A s*n orchestrated campaign - they publish his email and phone number.  he gets death threats.

Do these c*nts ever learn?

Shame on you all for laughing at it.

[mikeb58]

A  pair of moronic  d j's on juice f.m ( i think, the kids had it on ) gave his mobile number out on air this morning, thick bastards ! I thought he did alright, i've seen plenty of goals disallowed for similar offences, especially in European football when goalkeepers are challenged.

[KOTP]

Fucking pathetic.

A s*n orchestrated campaign - they publish his email and phone number.  he gets death threats.

Do these c*nts ever learn?

Shame on you all for laughing at it.

a sun orchestrated campaign???

surely itv news, bbc news, sky sports news, daily mirror, the telegraph and every other fuckin media company also orchestrated the campaign because the day after the match it was in every fuckin newspaper and news channel in the country

[Rushian]

He made the right decision and had a very good game. About time soem England fans owned up and admitted they were shite all tournament thanks to a manager who pursued incredibly negative tactics.

Sven out!

[nige]

Yep. Guess he won't have seen my e-mail  congratulating him on his good decision, amongst the 16,000
optically challenged ones.

Was most disappointed with Al Hansen for not calling it meself.

[cornelius]

He made the right decision and had a very good game.

Bollocks

[AdamS]

Bollocks

Seconded

[cornelius]

Think it's fair to say that for once I called it right here:

http://www.redandwhitekop.com/forum/index.php/topic,33818.0.html

I doubt some of you non-England fans would have been so happy if it had been against the reds in a Champions league final.

Just to reiterate - The keeper collided with Terry not the other way round. Terry merely stood his ground. I admit he had an arm ON the keeper but he was hardly holding him down was he? If an arm on a player is an infringement you'd hardly see a goal scored. Judging by the reaction of the Portuguese they thought they were out, that says it all really. If it had been at the other end the ref would have allowed this goal to stand but fact is he bottled awarding a goal in the last minute to the away team.

I hope Portugal go on to win now so that for the second tournament running England can say they were knocked out by the best team.

[Rushian]

The best team by far has been the Czechs up till now. I really hope they win it, particularly with the Liverpool connection. The Portuguese have improved enormously through the tournament but had little to do against a supine England who were an embarrassment to the nation.

The ref got it right - Terry held down the keeper and impeded him. There's no fuss about it anyewhere else in Europe as most football fans think it was a foul for all the moral outrage here. I fail to see where else the ref had a bad game, certainly wasn't the shout from those at the game.

[AdamS]

I thought the REf gave them most things on the night, especially as the game progressed. It should of course have been a penalty when Rooney got his foot broken, but because he didn't dive it wasn't given, in fact, unbelievably it was given as a foul against Fatboy!

I think it was a penalty. There won't be outrage in Europe because, let's face it, why would there be? Who cares? & who cares especially when it's England that are going out.

There is no outrage similarly that Silvestre wasn't sent off when he fouled Rooney too. That too could have been a different game.

I actually think Portugal were the better team on the night & I agree that Sven was supremely negative considering some of the players at his disposal, but I think by rights we should have qualified. But fuck it - that's old news now!

[Millsee]

The ref got it right - Terry held down the keeper and impeded him.

Indeed. Although this is the only place I have seen where these is such a view. Everywhere else is blaming the referee for England's inept performance.

[Rushian]

Silvestre might have been given a red card but there was cover so the ref could legitimately not give him a red. Again the win should have been England's if Sven had the balls to allow the midfield and defence to advance a few yards up the pitch and show some attacking ability.

The Rooney thing was an accidental collision rather than a foul and should no way have been a penalty - giving a free kick against England was a bizarre decision by the ref but the ball was/had gone out if I remember so it hardly mattered. There weren't many (if any) complaints about the refereeing in the stadium Adam or afterwards when I was sat in various bars/restaurants in the centre of Lisbon with loads of England fans who were sat discussing the game (apart from "I got a text from home saying it was defo a goal").

The one controversial decision was the disallowed goal which we see disallowed in European games week after week after week. It *might* have been given in the English League but this was an international tournament and wasn't, so to call the ref a cheat based on that is incredibly sour grapes.

[Jonathan Hall ☆☆☆☆☆☆]

Can i be the first to remind everyone that Steve is welsh 

And also that he can fucking ban us 

[AdamS]

to call the ref a cheat based on that is incredibly sour grapes.

I agree with that. But I do think it was a poor performance. I am a bit biased watching England play, as I am with Liverpool. But I remember on the night, thinking that many contentious decisons were going against us.

I think it's often the case that people who see penalty incidents on TV have a better view than those at the match, so whilst I'm jealous as fuck that you were there, I don't think that the view of those there is any more pertinent from that of those who watched from home.

I think if you are honest, if that "goal" being disallowed had cost Liverpool a place in the next round in the Champions League, you would be seriously pissed off!

On the Silvestre point, I think he was a blatant a red card as you get. If Rooney had been able to proceed nobody would have stopped him getting a shot off.

But on the point of blame, I think Sven is first in line & then are some England players that just didn't turn up to the tournament. I really didn't think that I'd be saying Campbell & Cole (never rated them) and Rooney (although obviously full of potential) were Englands best players of the tournament!

[cornelius]

certainly wasn't the shout from those at the game.

Probably too pissed and didn't have the benefit of the replay.

I realise there is a lot of England bating on here which I AM gonna rise to.

I'd hardly call our efforts an embarrasment. Whilst we may not have played well against Portugal we were still unlucky to lose in the quarter-finals, something the other home nations can only dream about doing. It was a shame Rooney went off so early as we seemed to lose our impotus after that.

As for the czechs, yeah they've done very well but do they have a better team than England? I'm not sure if Koller or Smicer would get anywhere near the England team, mind you Heskey did I suppose. They were quite shaky against Latvia, excellent against the dutch and beat an average German team who shot themselves in the foot. 3-0 against the danes was pretty impressive but I seem to recall England being 3-0 up in half an hour against them at the world cup.

The day Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland put 3 past Switzerland and 4 past Croatia is the day I show my arse on the Kop.

Luck, chance and opportunity plays a big part in these tournaments. I simply won't have it that the world cup finalists Germany were therefore a better team than the England team who had routed Germany 5-1 a few months earlier.

The ref may not be a cheat but he did get it wrong. It seems you lot want football to be a non-contact sport if you think Terry HELD the keeper down. I realise we've moved on from the days of Nat Lofthouse putting the keeper and ball into the net but FFS there really is minimal contact. I don't recall the keeper kicking up much of a fuss, mind you Ars Meier didn't give him much chance.

Anyway it's done now so onto the easy task of qualifying for Germany. Just wish they'd thrown the Scots in there aswell to rubber stamp the formality.

[Hinesy]

thought the ref had blown for an earlier foul before when the free kick was taken, not the Terry on Goalie action.

Also you take and give. Owen's penalty v Argentina ? A beef rearing nation mourned whilst a beef eating nation cheered the softest of touches for his fall.
all evens out in the end.

[filopastry]

Just pathetic, personally I thought the ref got it right, if it had been a Portuguese goal disallowed no doubt everyone would have praised him for spotting the infringement.

Just an easy way out to blame the ref rather than the performance.

And the behaviour of the media and an element of fans since then has been pretty much what you'd expect

[cornelius]

thought the ref had blown for an earlier foul before when the free kick was taken, not the Terry on Goalie action.

Also you take and give. Owen's penalty v Argentina ? A beef rearing nation mourned whilst a beef eating nation cheered the softest of touches for his fall.
all evens out in the end.

I would never condone cheating......................................................unless it's against the argies. In fact I'd go as far as to say I'd encourage it.

Maradona gave every England team carte blanche to cheat, foul and dive against them for the next hundred years.

[nige]

thought the ref had blown for an earlier foul before when the free kick was taken, not the Terry on Goalie action.

Also you take and give. Owen's penalty v Argentina ? A beef rearing nation mourned whilst a beef eating nation cheered the softest of touches for his fall.
all evens out in the end.

Yep he blew for Campbell's push. Then there was Terry offside and Terry's foul, which is what got replayed & denied so often. Yes you do need  to raise your hands to jump.  No Terry's stupid left arm actions didn't make any difference to campbell putting it in.  But Terry did do enough to make it a deliberate foul. Can't see how anyone who'd ever played the game could disagree unless they were wilfully blind in order  to curry favour with the public .....which is what disapointed me so much bout Jocky's verdict.
If that panel hadn't started using language like "robbed", and had called it like it was - 2 fouls and an offside - the whole embarrassing tabloid drivel campaign wouldn't have got started and half of Europe might still think our public know a bit about the game.

[Maggie May]

I don't care what he got right or wrong, what he did or didn't do - blah blah blah.  NOBODY deserves to be persecuted like this.  It is a disgrace and the media should be ashamed (if such a thing is remotely possible).   

[AdamS]

Agree with Maggie May. There are two arguments here. I think we are all in agreement that the persecution of the referee is wrong. And all of us that are correct agree that his refereeing was poor and that the "goal" should have been given!

[Hinesy]

Agree with Maggie May. There are two arguments here. I think we are all in agreement that the persecution of the referee is wrong.
YES


And all of us that are correct agree that his refereeing was poor and that the "goal" should have been given!


NO IT SHOULDN'T

[MichaelA]

Just pathetic, personally I thought the ref got it right, if it had been a Portuguese goal disallowed no doubt everyone would have praised him for spotting the infringement.

Just an easy way out to blame the ref rather than the performance.

And the behaviour of the media and an element of fans since then has been pretty much what you'd expect

Agree entirely!

[cornelius]

Who gives a fuck anyway, everybody's favourite team and proclaimed best team in the world ever in the history of the game have been knocked out by those giants of world football Greece.

Good

[MichaelA]

It was your sixth response to this thread, so it looks like you give a fuck? 

[Hinesy]

 

my thoughts

[cornelius]

Just sick of all the England bashing. Don't care if it's fashionable to support England or not, I've never seen so much tripe written about them. People come on here and accuse the media of ridiculous hype and sucking the cock of the national team then go on and do the exact opposite by ridiculing England with petty put downs. No balance whatsoever.

No surprise to see a load of scots/welsh/irish on here either. To us england fans you sound like bitter blues towards us reds.

[AdamS]

Just sick of all the England bashing.   

No surprise to see a load of scots/welsh/irish on here either. To us england fans you sound like bitter blues towards us reds.

Agreed

[Ian-TN]

People come on here and accuse the media of ridiculous hype and sucking the cock of the national team then go on and do the exact opposite by ridiculing England with petty put downs. No balance whatsoever.

They do build them upto be somethin they ain't.

I think there is a fair guide to what England actually are on here. Not too many care either way about them so its more of an unbiased opinion.

[cornelius]

I think there is a fair guide to what England actually are on here. Not too many care either way about them so its more of an unbiased opinion.

I'm not so sure. I would go as far as to say some of the folk on here who claim to be indifferent to England are in fact anti-england.

And what bugs me most is the belittling of England by several welsh/scottish/irish folk on here, it smacks of bitterness. Then you get this argument that England should be better because of the size of our population/strength of our league. Tell that to the dutch/greeks/czechs/Koreans/portuguese etc. Ok England haven't won anything for quite some time but if you want to know what real under achievement is look at the other home nations. Post-war Englands record looks ok alongside France, Italy and a few others. Compare Scotland's to say Greece, Holland, Portugal, Mexico, Cameroon, Costa rica, Iraq, Kazakhztan, Greenland, Fiji, san marino, andorra, solomon islands...........................................it's laughable really.

[Hinesy]

I'm not so sure. I would go as far as to say some of the folk on here who claim to be indifferent to England are in fact anti-england.

And what bugs me most is the belittling of England by several welsh/scottish/irish folk on here, it smacks of bitterness. Then you get this argument that England should be better because of the size of our population/strength of our league. Tell that to the dutch/greeks/czechs/Koreans/portuguese etc. Ok England haven't won anything for quite some time but if you want to know what real under achievement is look at the other home nations. Post-war Englands record looks ok alongside France, Italy and a few others. Compare Scotland's to say Greece, Holland, Portugal, Mexico, Cameroon, Costa rica, Iraq, Kazakhztan, Greenland, Fiji, san marino, andorra, solomon islands...........................................it's laughable really.

your wee dig at the Scots belittles your houlier than thou argument.
Secondly, I think you'll find many Liverpool fans are just that. Liverpool. Not country.
Now I hope England do well but tome, there are another team. Not Liverpool. So they don't arouse my passions.
Now this year I wanted them to lose so the Stevie nonsense could be sorted. And I'm glad they went out when they did.
But it was also a foul. And England's insistence on defending a 1-0 lead had already cost them dear in their first game.
If you don't learn by your mistakes you'll make them again.