Preamble

FIFA World Cup Italy 1990 put the match officials in focus like never before. The referees were instructed to implement strict new guidelines, resulting in previous records for red and yellow card tumbling, and the trial by the new slow-motion television replay, initially resisted by FIFA, meant that the pressure on the refs was ratcheted up significantly any World Cup in the past.

Not on the scale of 1994 or 2014, but FIFA tried implement a 'mini' refereeing revolution in 1990. Without wishing to sound too much like the pseudo-intellectuals from the animated satirical show Monkey Dust, Italy 1990 was to Mexico 1986, what Germany 2006 was to Korea/Japan 2002. The comparisons are quite nuanced in my opinion:

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FIFA paid proper attention to bringing the best possible group of officials to the tournament. While the local support squad was an anachronism that 1990 finally put paid to, one shouldn't criticise too much about that; force of habit and so on. A proper pre-tournament seminar was held in Tirrenia (March/1990), where officials were fitness and theoretically tested, and issued strict guidelines in which to implement on the matches. They tried to make the best possible appointments too - no big long list all of the group stage games before a ball kicked, assignments were released in stages (matches 1-12, and then 13-18, 19-24, 25-30, 31-36, R16, QF, SF, finals), with an eye on all performances. A dramatic shift from 1986; no longer would Snoddy or Wegereef unfairly end up in charge of the games they did. 

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A much, much closer focus on delivering a fiercely competent level of officiating in every-single-game of the competition. Matches like Korea Republic vs. Bulgaria in 1986 felt actually quite distant from the whole tournament narrative in Mexico, with close attention paid to a much smaller number of matches than in 1990. While the scheduling has changed pretty minimally from the previous World Cup, it felt much 'easier' to arouse controversy from a bad performance this time. As a consequence, FIFA took each match very seriously; no Al-Shanar or Traoré types (or Snoddy on the tie that he did, another good example) would arrive in the middle at 1990. 

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While fingers were pointed at an Egyptian-Ugandan-Trinidanian trio in 2002, the games which aroused most controversy in 1986 were Bennaceur, for sure, and then, slightly weirdly, Christopher Bambridge in Spain vs. Brazil (primacy effect in action I guess). That's actually a bit unfair on Bennaceur and Bambridge who were both decent refs, but PR matters; FIFA didn't want to be seen as handing out referee appointments as presents! So, this time, officials from Africa and Asia were basically appointed the minimal amount of times as possible. Though, while they got half the amount of centre referees as in 1986, like in Germany, FIFA sought to compensate them in other areas (as linesmen in 1990). 

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Much changes in the four years between each single World Cup, but the 1986-1990 and 2002-2006 paradigm shifts were larger and more obvious than most. In the weird way that the media, general public's attention on refereeing works, while the 1994 and 2014 revolutions were actually much more radical than 1990 or 2006's, the attention aroused by it was inversely proportional. Whereas 1994 completely blew away the kind of refereeing we saw at Mexico 1986, in this tournament, FIFA only really looked to tweak it a bit. In Italy 1990, most sliding tackle fouls were still assessed as careless, tentative DOGSO (and SPA) concepts were introduced. More important was a change of emphasis - referees had a more important role in making the games exciting than before, and they should act as partners of football by being a) strict, and, b) doing it more so in the background. The result was a loss of their prior discretion and the tools of it, hence the much greater attention aroused as in 2006. 

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The role of the flag men would change greatly, too. While FIFA realised this going through Italy 1990, whereas on the road to Germany 2006 it began at the start of the four-year cycle, Sepp Blatter realised that specialist linesmen were necessary. No official, not even the ultimately archetypal Listkiewicz, was informed before a ball kicked that they would only be used on the line. But by the end, FIFA even preferred to repeat the two specialist linemen of the semifinal in the final, from Europe (Listkiewicz) and South America (Colombian Pérez Hoyos), as that was seen as a preferable option to fresher alternatives. FIFA could have appointed one-ref-one-group-game as in 1986 (again, 36 referees here), but they decided not to. I don't think this was formally determined before a ball kicked, but on sth like day three or four. 

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Actually the most interesting part of the comparison for me is a kind of standardisation of styles which occurred in both Germany 2006 and Italy 1990, and is the chief thesis for this whole comparison. The removal of delicately balancing appointments as 'confederationally neutral' in terms of trios as in 1986 is important, but actually quite trivial compared to the latter point. Both the matches and referees styles apropos them was now considered irrelevant - unobtrusive European Quiniou was sent to Brazil vs. Argentina; the enormity of this actually cannot be understated! Personally, it is something I'd look on with more sadness than fondness (an attempt to streamline and sanitise the World Cup), but, that remains just my own personal view; refereeing's job is to serve football, not the other way around(!), of course. 

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We can judge regarding the refereeing when the project is over, but in terms of the reffing's effect on football, the tournament (refereeing) wasn't really a success; à la, Germany 2006 (at least long term). The tweaking of all the old ways, for all the attention it aroused, was actually not radical enough. To indicate the level of change after this tournament, in briefing his officials squad and the media before USA 1994, FIFA's refereeing director Paolo Casarin stated that Italia 90's refereeing would be "medieval" compared to what we could expect (and did get) Stateside. He was right, too.

If the 'ideology' of 1990 didn't work, then it was a kind of glorious failure - FIFA were proved right in many regards (linesmen, DOGSO, stricter on foul tackles), and the tournament is simply the most iconic and nostalgic ever. A popular view is that football was never the same again; with our close focus on refereeing, we can say that they are completely right :). 

I hope that sets the scene for the FIFA World Cup 1990 refereeing project - any comments or discussion topic would be greatly appreciated by me, but to silent readers and commenters alike, I hope you enjoy a look back at this all-time classic tournament and its refs.

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Below, you can find the members of the referees committee for this tournament, but first, here are profiles of the referees squad made by FIFA. NB: a stand-by referee was nominated, Dušan Krchňák from Czechoslovakia, and despite attending the Tirrenia course, he was not required at the finals.

FIFA Referees Committee: Arriaga (Mexican), Bouzo (Syrian), Campanati (Italian), Cavan (Northern Irish), d’Almeida (Brazilian), Machin (French), Reginato (Chilean), Sey (Gambian), Wharton (Scottish), Zuev (Soviet). Chairman was Cavan, deputy chair was d'Almeida.