Statement of purpose

The purpose of this blog is to cover World Cup Germany 2006 from the referee's perspective. Through our discussion of their application and interpretation by the international referee teams whose skills will be on display for the next month, we hope to help people to better understand FIFA's Laws of the Game.

Television commentators rarely engage in meaningful dialogue about the Laws and their interpretation. Often they create or fuel unnecessary "controversies", due to an apparent misunderstanding of decisions made by the officials or the Laws themselves.

Through this blog, we aim to support the work of all referees and promote an understanding of and respect for the challenges and subtleties of their work.

We plan to cover each of the sixty-four World Cup matches in detail. On days with multiple matches we will likely prioritize by covering matches with interesting referee situations first and then returning to discuss the other matches at a later point.

We spend a good portion of our lives on the field. Over the past year, we have refereed more than three hundred youth and adult matches between us. We also spend a good portion of our lives watching televised professional matches and analyzing the decisions of officials. Sometimes we disagree. When we agree, we will sign our comments jointly. When we have different opinions, we will either publish separately-signed comments or post our commentary as a dialogue.

-Orion & Zazu