The referees' union held a press conference today (Wednesday) on the occasion of the opening of the second round of the Premier League in soccer this coming weekend.
Among other things, there was talk of new guidelines that came out recently, as well as professional highlights and insights following the 2022 World Cup - including the fact that the issue of long overtimes will also be adopted in Israel.
Liran Weksberger, the chairman of the professional committee of the union, explained the matter of time additions: "There is a significant change in attitude, certainly in games where we see an unusual waste of time.
We saw in the World Cup how FIFA was able to eradicate this phenomenon, it worked very well. Players saw that the referee had no problem adding 10 and 12 minutes. That's what we strive for, not just going wild with the times. The referees will receive full support to implement the guidelines on the subject."
The chairman of the union Giora Inbar: "In the World Cup we saw football as a unifying factor, there was no unpleasantness.
I was with the senior international judge in Israel, Avraham Klein, and everyone around him didn't talk about the judges.
No one talked about the refereeing, only about football.
I would like it to be like that for us as well."
The chairman of the judges' union, Giora Inbar, photo: Koko
Regarding differences, Waxberger added: "When there is doubt, we prefer to let the game continue and only check afterwards. Don't be reckless with the swing, we saw it work perfectly in the World Cup. We allow the game to flow and goals to be scored, and if necessary the screen referee intervenes."
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