Martin Hansson, the referee in Liverpool's Champions League game against Atlético Madrid a fortnight ago, has revealed he received death threats over his decision to award a late penalty to Steven Gerrard.
The Swede gave a spot-kick in the final minute of stoppage time for what he perceived to be a push on Liverpool's captain by Mariano Pernía. Gerrard, who scored the penalty to salvage a 1-1 draw, admitted he would have been "livid" had the decision been made against his team.
Hansson told the Swedish newspaper Sport-Expressen that he has given up his mobile telephone number and notified the police after getting a number of threatening calls and text messages.
"I have received death threats. It has been horrible and feels very uncomfortable," he said. "The phone rang all the time and I had a great many text messages. I am pretty used to this but now I've had enough. It has been very threatening. I feel completely fed up. I have always had my mobile phone on and my number has been on the network. Now it no longer works. I'm sad that I can't be as open as I once was. I have notified the police that there have been threats against my life but it is difficult for the police to prove."
Hansson said he would not follow the lead of his compatriot Anders Frisk, who quit as a referee in 2005 after receiving death threats following a Champions League game between Chelsea and Barcelona. "I'll keep on refereeing because I like it," he said. "I want to continue to believe that football can do a lot of good and it would be sad if these dark forces had any influence on me. I thought about quitting, absolutely, but I have made my decision to continue. But I never considered it [quitting] as much as right now."
Meanwhile the referee Andre Marriner is to sit out this weekend's Premier League and Football League programmes after mistakenly sending off Wigan Athletic's Emmerson Boyce last Saturday at Newcastle United. Marriner gave Boyce a second yellow card for a tackle on Shola Ameobi which replays showed to be clean. His temporary withdrawal shows that the error has been viewed as serious.
Howard Webb, acknowledged as England's top referee, is to help Stuart Attwell negotiate his comeback to the Premier League in Portsmouth's game at home to Hull on Saturday by acting as fourth official. This season Attwell has awarded Reading a phantom goal at Watford and his two questionable decisions punished Derby in a draw with Nottingham Forest.
The Swede gave a spot-kick in the final minute of stoppage time for what he perceived to be a push on Liverpool's captain by Mariano Pernía. Gerrard, who scored the penalty to salvage a 1-1 draw, admitted he would have been "livid" had the decision been made against his team.
Hansson told the Swedish newspaper Sport-Expressen that he has given up his mobile telephone number and notified the police after getting a number of threatening calls and text messages.
"I have received death threats. It has been horrible and feels very uncomfortable," he said. "The phone rang all the time and I had a great many text messages. I am pretty used to this but now I've had enough. It has been very threatening. I feel completely fed up. I have always had my mobile phone on and my number has been on the network. Now it no longer works. I'm sad that I can't be as open as I once was. I have notified the police that there have been threats against my life but it is difficult for the police to prove."
Hansson said he would not follow the lead of his compatriot Anders Frisk, who quit as a referee in 2005 after receiving death threats following a Champions League game between Chelsea and Barcelona. "I'll keep on refereeing because I like it," he said. "I want to continue to believe that football can do a lot of good and it would be sad if these dark forces had any influence on me. I thought about quitting, absolutely, but I have made my decision to continue. But I never considered it [quitting] as much as right now."
Meanwhile the referee Andre Marriner is to sit out this weekend's Premier League and Football League programmes after mistakenly sending off Wigan Athletic's Emmerson Boyce last Saturday at Newcastle United. Marriner gave Boyce a second yellow card for a tackle on Shola Ameobi which replays showed to be clean. His temporary withdrawal shows that the error has been viewed as serious.
Howard Webb, acknowledged as England's top referee, is to help Stuart Attwell negotiate his comeback to the Premier League in Portsmouth's game at home to Hull on Saturday by acting as fourth official. This season Attwell has awarded Reading a phantom goal at Watford and his two questionable decisions punished Derby in a draw with Nottingham Forest.
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