Dir: Yves Hinant/Eric Cardot/ Delphine Lehericey, Belgium 2009, 81 mins, English/Italian/French/German
Cast: Howard Webb, Roberto Rosetti, Manuel Mejuto González, Pierluigi Collina,
Review by Mark Byrnes
As people the length and breadth of the UK steel themselves for the start of the new Premier League season (and a few collectively groan), this new football documentary portrays the game and its unsung protagonists in a surprisingly different light.
Given unprecedented behind the scenes access during the Euro 2008 Championships in Austria and Switzerland, Yves Hinant and co-directors, Eric Cardot and Delphine Lehericey follow three of the referees, Howard Webb, Roberto Rosetti and Manuel Mejuto González, chosen to officiate during the tournament. Their every decision scrutinised by their superiors in UEFA, each of the officials seeks the prestige of being appointed to referee the final of the Championships. Matters take an unexpected turn when Webb receives death threats after awarding a contentious penalty in the last minute of a match between Poland and Austria. As the tournament progresses anticipation gives way to disappointment as the referees find out who will stay and who will fly home early from the tournament.
At present football occupies an almost unique position in professional sports. Its officials are frequently on the receiving end of criticism in the media or in some cases much worse from football fans, and that is even when they do their job correctly. While the filmmakers may not have expressly sought to address this anomaly, their matter-of-fact approach to capturing a hitherto closed-off world goes some way to addressing this imbalance and humanising these much maligned figures. Thrown immediately into the lion’s den of a packed, noisy stadium, the audience eavesdrops on the frantic microphone conversations of Rosetti and his fellow officials as they try to maintain order on the pitch. At such close range, a real sense of the adrenaline rush and incredible pressure these men face is strikingly conveyed.
Hinant adopts the show and tell approach of documentary film making, which is free of the usual explanatory voice over or the unseen interviewer, who shoots questions at his subjects from behind the camera. Instead the viewer is allowed to gain their own sense of who these people are beyond their extra-ordinary day jobs. To the film’s credit moments of real emotional insight are captured, notably when Howard Webb’s glowing father, sat outside a cafe, talks with a stranger about how proud he feels of his son.
While the film’s initial excitement does eventually subside, the film generates some fascinating moments. The pre-match rituals in locker rooms, the agonising by the officials over misjudged decisions long after the whistle has blown, former footballer turned UEFA president Michel Platini holding court with an admiring audience of referees. It is surprising that a film of this kind has not surfaced sooner.
While The Referees may not inspire a generation to choose football officialdom as a career path, it will hopefully at least give many fans pause for thought, particularly the next time a referee gets a decision wrong.
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