BERLIN - What do a Uruguayan
parrot breeder, a Mexico lawyer, a stamp collector from France and a Slovakian
vascular surgeon have in common?
Give up? Here's a clue. Dress them in yellow and black, put a whistle in
their hand, and yes, you've got it - they're four of the FIFA referees helping
to keep order on the pitch at the 2006 World Cup.
Referees may have a reputation for being stern, faceless disciplinarians but
scratch beneath the surface and you find an exotic and eclectic cast of
characters.
And they have a pretty hard time of it all things being considered - do a
good job and no one notices, muck up and the flak flies.
A Time To Make Friends is the World Cup motto but the men in the middle may
find that harder to achieve than most.
Still the 40,000 dollars plus 100 dollars daily allowance they pocket must
help ease the pain of any verbal coming their way from irate players.
Russian Valentin Ivanov knows the feeling.
He was the referee who turned down France's appeals for a penalty when Swiss
defender Patrick Muller's hand got in the way of Thierry Henry's 37th minute
shot in Stuttgart on Tuesday.
Henry was perplexed by Ivanov's ruling.
"Somebody better explain to me the handball rule," said the Arsenal attacker.
"If the hand stops the ball from going in the goal, it should be a penalty."
Henry probably wasn't aware though that Ivanov comes from prized footballing
stock as the teacher from Moscow is the son of no less an icon than Russian
great Valentin Kozmich Ivanov, joint top scorer at the 1962 World Cup.
The range of jobs and interests from which this band of brothers are drawn is
mind boggling.
For instance if the report on Germany's pulsating 3-2 win over Costa Rica in
the opening game last Friday was written in iambic pentameter there's a good
reason as the ref that day, Horacio Elizondo, is an Argentine poet.
Australia were on cloud nine after hammering Japan 3-1 in Kaiserlautern on
Monday which is where the referee that day Essam Abd El Fatah spends a lot of
his time as a pilot for Egypt Airways.
And players may regret provoking the ire of assistant referee Jean Marie
Endeng Zogo who when he's not running up and down the sideline serves as a
prison military superintendent in his native Cameroon.
He is also a karate expert and speaks six languages.
