The Top Five Most Controversial Referees/Umpires in Various Sports
The athletes are the primary attraction of any sport, attracting all of the spotlights. Indeed, the longer a player remains in the news, the more successful he is considered. After all, no publicity is bad publicity for athletes.
Although both are vital in any sport, referees and umpires frequently have entirely distinct careers. The effectiveness of an umpire is contingent upon his or her ability to keep out of the press, particularly unfavorable news.
If you want to advance in your career as a professional umpire, the last thing you want to be is biased. However, there have been instances throughout sports history when some unreasonable, some could say prejudiced, choices by umpires resulted in controversies that tainted the game’s spirit. Let us have a look at the umpires who are notorious for igniting conflicts.
N0 1. Darrell Hair
Darrel Hair, the Australian Cricket umpire, developed a reputation for making controversial decisions. This is the same umpire who once classified every ball delivered by Sri Lankan legend Muttiah Muralitharan as a no-ball, citing his awkward motion – which he deemed unlawful – as the reason. However, Darrell Hair’s demise was precipitated by his altercation with Pakistani Batting Great, Inzimam ul Haq.
Pakistan visited England in the summer of 2006, led by Inzimam, for a four-match test series. Darrel Hair had been appointed by the ICC as the field umpire for the fourth test of the series. Now that Hair was regarded to be biased towards Asian teams, it’s unsurprising that the Pakistan Cricket Board had previously informally indicated their opposition to appointing Darrel Hair as a match official in any of Pakistan’s games.
Everything was going swimmingly until the fourth day of the Oval Test when events spiraled out of control to the point where the match had to be forfeited.
Darrel Hair accused Pakistan’s crew of employing unfair tactics to prepare the ball and make it favorable to reverse swing just prior to the Tea session.
Infuriated by the charges, the Pakistani team protested Hair’s decision by declining to take the field following the tea session. Hair forfeited the five-day game in favor of England after waiting two minutes.
After 25 minutes, the Pakistani team took the field, and even the English team was willing to continue, but Mr. Hair maintained that the match had already been forfeited. Such an incidence had never occurred previously in cricket’s 1,000-match history.
The ICC launched an investigation that cleared the Pakistani squad of all charges of ball-tampering and barred Mr. Hair from officiating any future ICC events, a decision that was well applauded by the Asian Cricketing nations.
NO 2. Jeff Triplette
“Shameful” and “Unjustified” are two frequent terms used to describe this referee’s rulings. Throughout his career, he has made numerous honest errors and genuine gaffes. From flagging down a player in the eye to evaluating a play that was not even reviewable.
He has accomplished everything. What’s worse, he’s still unaware of the laws of the game he’s officiating. What do you think of it for swag? Mr. Triplette is oblivious of laws that even American Football fans are aware of, which is why he is dubbed the NFL’s worst referee.
NO 3. Craig Joubert
Scottish fans felt cheated out of their aspirations and hopes during last year’s Rugby World Cup when umpire Craig Joubert awarded an erroneous penalty to Australia in the dying moments of the quarter-final.
Australia took full most of the opportunity, winning the game 35-34 and securing a position in the semi-finals. When Mr. Joubert made his judgment, the match was in a critical stage and necessitated extreme caution on the part of the umpires.
Craig Joubert could have sent the decision to the TMO system, but he chose to go with his gut.
NO 4. Mark Clattenburg
This is the point at which we are unable to reach a consensus. Some consider him to be one of the greatest few umpires in the English Premier League, while others are so thoroughly dissatisfied with his performance that they don’t need to think twice before identifying him as one of the most controversial referees in football history.
During a crucial match against Manchester United, Mr. Clattenburg denied Tottenham a vital goal after the United goalkeeper obviously mishandled the ball beyond the goal line in front of him. “How do you work with Craig Bellamy all week?” he inquired when he approached the Manchester City bench, expressing his displeasure with City star Craig Bellamy.
Later, he issued Bellamy with two yellow caution cards. He’s the kind of referee you want to stay away from.
NO 5. Nigel Llong
It seems more likely that a bat umpiring in the middle of the day would perform better than our Dear Kiwi umpire here.
When it comes to cricketing decisions, Mr. Llong is well-known for making them that would make you want to pull your hair out in frustration.
Among the most recent instances, Mr. Llong granted a lifeline to Australian Spinner Nathon Lyon by declaring him not out despite the fact that the batsman himself believed he had been out.
Moreover, guess what? Mr. Llong was not even on the field at the time of the blunder, thus he could not be given the benefit of the doubt. He was the third umpire in the game, and he had access to every piece of technology available to him.
The presence of a mark on the bat that could only have been made by the ball itself was shown by the presence of a hot spot. Lyon had elected to go the long distance back to the pavilion after watching the replay on the television screen, but to his delight and New Zealand’s surprise, Llong declared him not out.
As a result of the incident, Australia gained a 22-run advantage over New Zealand’s pitiful 202 while they were battling at 117-8 at the time of the incident.
Conclusion:
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