THE decision of Christophe Berdos to merely sin-bin Schalk Burger for eye gouging during last weekend's Second Test between South Africa and the British Lions led to a chorus of accusations that the French referee 'bottled it' to red card the flanker.
Burger's offence, against Irish wing Luke Fitzgerald, came to light after just 32 seconds of the match in Pretoria, with Berdos sending him to the sin-bin on the recommendation of the touch judge. That only sidelined Burger for the regulation ten mi
nutes, and he was able to return to the fray and help the Springboks to a 28-25 victory. And while Burger was cited after the game and banned for eight weeks, many observers believe the referee had bowed to the pressure of a hostile home crowd by failing to deal with the South African more severely.
Fitzgerald for one. "It's quite a strange decision," the Irishman said after the game. "It should have been a red. I guess part of it was because it was at the start of the game and he didn't want to spoil it as a spectacle. But you'd want to feel that the referee would deal with something like that quite severely."
Whether Berdos is guilty of over-leniency is a matter of opinion, but sport is littered with examples of apparent 'bottle jobs' by officials, while the flip side has shown other instances where referees have displayed remarkable mental fortitude to stand by their decisions – right or wrong. Here we look at some of the most infamous:
'BOTTLE JOBS'• Schumacher batters Battiston
Germany goalkeeper Harald Schumacher brought global revulsion upon himself when he pole-axed France substitute Patrick Battiston in an outrageous assault at the edge of the box that left the defender with damaged vertebrae and minus several teeth. Dutch referee Charles Corver astonishingly did not even deem the disgraceful challenge worthy of a foul, never mind a red or yellow card, and to rub salt in French wounds Schumacher stayed on the pitch to help his side win on penalties.
• Heavyweight blunder
Judges left the boxing world up in arms when Lennox Lewis's much-hyped world heavyweight unification bout with Evander Holyfield in March 1999 was ridiculously ruled a draw. The unpopular verdict at Madison Square Garden, New York, caused an outcry as the Briton had clearly dominated his opponent throughout the 12 rounds. The result conveniently meant each fighter kept their version of the world title – Holyfield the IBF and WBA belts, and Lewis the WBC version – and also paved the way for the all-important money-spinning rematch, which Lewis naturally won . . . 'again'!
• Monty in the eye of a storm
Colin Montgomerie found himself at the centre of an unseemly row over golf's rules after tournament organisers opted not to penalise him for what appeared to be a clear infringement at the Malaysian Open. After a lightning delay forced play to be suspended, Monty returned the next day to find his ball gone, played from a different position.
The tournament director cleared him of any breach, the chief referee of the European Tour John Paramor determined there would be no penalty, and Monty scrambled enough ranking points to enter the top 50 and bag a place on the US Open.
• McCurry feels heat
Dundee United manager Craig Levein was left in a rage in May last year when referee Mike McCurry denied Dundee United a penalty at Ibrox, with 40,000 Rangers supporters roaring their approval at his leniency. Davie Weir had appeared to clearly foul Noel Hunt, but McCurry – who also disallowed a United goal – let the Rangers defender escape unpunished, with no penalty and no card. "The referee bottled it because he knew if he'd given the penalty Weir had to go," said Levein, booking himself a date with the SFA's disciplinary panel.
• Turning nasty at Nastase
Ile Nastase and John McEnroe collided at the US Open in 1979 in the fourth set when the American served and Nastase said he was not ready. When the umpire awarded the point then game to McEnroe, 10,000 New Yorkers went berserk and threw rubbish on to the court and police were called in. After a 17-minute delay, Nastase refused to serve and the match was awarded to McEnroe. But fearing a full scale riot, the tournament director lamely overruled the umpire and got the players back – for McEnroe to go and win.
REFS THAT STOOD FIRM• Ganson's guts
Great Britain were chasing their first rugby league Test series win over Australia since 1970 and the hype before the game surrounded home hope Adrian Morley. So when Morley aimed a thundering swipe around the throat of Robbie Kearns 12 seconds into the opening match at the JJB Stadium, referee Steve Ganson of St Helens showed guts of steel to send off the star man and effectively kill the series before a ball had been kicked.
• No doubting Thomas
Clive Thomas was demonised in Brazil when he refused to allow them a goal at the 1978 World Cup finals against Sweden, claiming he had blown his whistle for full-time before Zico's effort hit the net.
The more they complained the more Thomas stuck to his guns.
• Hair-raising resilience
After allegations of ball-tampering at the fourth Test between England and Pakistan in 2006, Pakistan refused to take the field, prompting umpires Darrell Hair and Bill Doctrove to rule the tourists had forfeited the match and awarding a win to England. Hair was no stranger to controversy, having no-balled Sri Lanka spinner Muttiah Muralitharan for 'throwing' in 1995.
