With the current controversy surrounding referee, David Coote, we decided to look into the biggest controversies from officials throughout the history of football.
Top 10 Biggest Referee Controversies In Football
David Coote
Coming in at the top of this list is English referee, David Coote, who has made huge headlines after a video of him slating Liverpool and Jurgen Klopp was leaked.
The video appears to be filmed during the COVID-19 lockdown and Coote gave an X-rated rant on the German manager.
Further videos have surfaced of Coote which are even more damming and the Premier League official is set to quit from his role.
Andre Marriner
Referee Andre Marriner made one of the most famous mistakes in Premier League history during Arsenal’s 6-0 defeat by Chelsea in 2014.
The English official sent off Kieran Gibbs for a obvious handball that stopped Chelsea scoring, as the offence occured on the Arsenal goal-line.
However, the controversy comes as it was not Gibbs that committed the red card offence but instead it was Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
Marriner confused the two Arsenal players and sent off the wrong player, despite Oxlade-Chamberlain telling the official that he had made an error.
Mark Halsey
Another controversial decision in the Premier League came from former referee, Mark Halsey, who claimed that he was pressurised by the PGMOL to lie about seeing an incident in 2016.
During Stoke vs Blackburn in 2011, Steven Nzonzi hit Ryan Shawcross with an elbow but Halsey believed that it was not enough to warrant a red card.
Following this decision, Halsey said that the higher ranked members of the PGMOL wanted him to deny any sight of the elbow and say that he did not get a clear view of the incident.
Halsey said (Via The Sun): “My bosses weren’t happy. I was under pressure to say I hadn’t seen it. I was furious but no matter what industry you are in, you do what your bosses say.
“So [Nzonzi] was charged and got three matches [banned]. I know it goes on because other referees have told me. Nothing can happen because nobody can say anything publicly as a referee. But I suspect it does go on. There are outside influences on different situations.”
The PGMOL went on to deny these claims.
Robert Hoyzer
In 2005, Robert Hoyzer was sent to a German prison for around two and half years for one of the biggest referee controversies in football, after being charged with rigging matches for financial gain.
These payments came from Ante Sapina, who owned a sports bar and constructed a betting scam that earned a staggering €2 million.
In total, the 26-year-old official was invovled in the match fixing or attempt to match fix on nine sepearate occasions – receiving €67,000 and a TV set.
The standout match came in the first round of the German Cup, as Hoyzer awarded Paderborn two penalties against Hamburg to win 4-2 and comeback from 2-0 down.
During his trial, it was revealed that Hoyzer would ring Sapina up at half-time and also send text messages – with Sapina offering €50,000 on one occasion.
Stuart Attwell
During the 2008/2009 campaign, Stuart Attwell made history as the youngest official in Premier League history – but this season also brought one of the biggest errors in his career.
This mistake did not come in the Premier League, but was made in the Championship instead during a clash between Watford and Reading.
A corner was hit towards the near post of Watford’s goal and the ball struck John Eustace to then go off the pitch for a goal kick.
What followed next confused everyone on the pitch, each member on the sideline and every person in attendance – as Attwell awarded a goal after discussing with his linesman for a period of time.
Reading went on to pick up a 2-2 draw thanks to this mystery goal and Attwell also sent off the Watford manager for his protests.
Emilio Guruceta Muro
After earning a 2-0 lead in the opening leg at home to Anderlecht, Nottingham Forest travelled to Belgium with high hopes in the 1984 UEFA Cup.
However, concerns were raised after the Belgian side were given an extremely dubious penalty and Forest were robbed of a legitimate goal.
Forest were left furious and in 1997, their anger was justified as Anderlecht’s president, Constant Vanden Stock, confirmed that he contacted a local gangster to pay the ref £18,000.
The referee, Emilio Guruceta Muro, unfortunately died in a car crash in 1987 and was unable to confirm or deny these allegations.
Garry Birtles, who was on the bench for Forest that day said: “Brian Clough twigged it. Those were his exact words. Before the match our dressing room door was open. The referee’s door was open and we could see Anderlecht officials going in and out.”
Anderlecht were banned from all UEFA tournaments for a year due to this offence.
Mike Dean
This is more of a light-hearted one, as Mike Dean comes in next in this list, with the former Premier League official being one of the most entertaining in history.
In 2015, Dean took control of Tottenham Hotspur vs Aston Villa and he appeared to celebrate Spurs scoring in the opening goal.
However, the former Premier League ref has spoke on this event since and put that idea to rest.
He said: “I was celebrating my wonderful decision of playing an advantage; I got sucked in. I just love the football. It got taken out of context.
“If something that I work on pays off, like playing an advantage, everyone’s happy. The celebration was a bit over the top, though. What an idiot I made of myself, right in front of the TV cameras.”
Clive Thomas
The 1978 World Cup brought a host of controversy and none more so than the third group game between Brazil and Sweden.
Clive Thomas, who was the leading official of this match, decided to blow the whistle for full-time while a corner was being sent into the box.
To make matters worse, Zico went on to head the ball into the back of the net and the match was only eight second into added time.
Graham Poll
In a vital group stage match between Australia and Croatia at the 2006 World Cup, Graham Poll made a huge error which caused major controversy at the tournament.
The British official did not have the best of games, failing to give Australia a penalty despite an obvious handball by Croatia.
This was not the biggest mistake however, as Poll handed Josip Simunic three yellow cards before finally sending the defender off.
Tom Henning Ovrebo
Finally we have one of the most infamous matches of all-time, a clash between Chelsea and Barcelona in the 2009 Champions League semi final at Stamford Bridge.
The Blues had four penalty appeals denied by Tom Henning Ovrebo, with Michael Ballack chasing the ref down the pitch and Drogba dropping the iconic ‘It’s a disgrace’ line to the camera after the match.
Ovrebo would receive death threats in the mail and was under scrutiny in all of the matches he officiated in England after – making it one of the biggest referee controversies in football.
