Referee Frisk to retire

[therockbox]

Swedish referee Anders Frisk will retire from football with immediate effect after threats aimed at him and his family, according to reports.

Chairman of Sweden's football referees' association, Bo Karlsson, confirmed the news to Swedish agency TT on Friday.

"I won't go into details. Anders will have to talk about that. But the threats were serious," said Karlsson.

The 42-year-old refereed Barcelona's controversial 2-1 first-leg Champions League win over Chelsea in February.

Blues boss Jose Mourinho said his Barcelona counterpart Frank Rijkaard talked with Frisk in the referee's changing room at halftime.

The London club was also unhappy when Frisk sent off striker Didier Drogba in the second half.

"None of the decisions Anders made during that match were wrong," Karlsson said.

Frisk was also involved in an ugly incident in September when he was struck on the head by an object thrown from the crowd at Roma's Olympic Stadium during a Champions League match against Dynamo Kiev.

The Swedish referee abandoned the game, saying Roma could not guarantee the safety of the officials.

Frisk had been scheduled to referee the World Cup qualifying match between Estonia and Slovakia in Tallinn on 26 March.

Edited March 12, 2005 by The Rock Box

[public enemy]

I never liked him but threats against his family etc are all way out of hand. The guy was doing his job, allbeit badly, but that doesn't give anyone the right to do such a thing. Honestly, football seems to be getting more and more out of hand these days.

[apsham]

For someone who doesn't follow football, and lives way over here in Canada, this just seems nuts. The most that happens over here on a controversial call is a few smartass remarks on a sports show, and some heckling of said referee but it's usually forgotten.

[therockbox]

It reminds me of the death threats the referee for the England/Portugal game got after Euro 2004.

I just don't see how anyone can take football that seriously. Sure, I get angry if a decision goes against my team when it shouldn't have done, but why anyone would go that far is beyond me.

[FLiam]

UEFA have now told Mourinho to stop criticising referees. Which he should.

This has made me hate Mourinho even more, how people like him is beyond me, arrogant fucking bastard.

[The Slickman]

Honestly This a very sad day in football . Refs retiring because of death threats .Pathetic. Theres supporting your club and then there is threating to end someones life .

[Turbo Yannis]

UEFA have now told Mourinho to stop criticising referees. Which he should.

This has made me hate Mourinho even more, how people like him is beyond me, arrogant fucking bastard.

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Edited March 14, 2005 by Turbonegro

[Liam]

UEFA have now told Mourinho to stop criticising referees. Which he should.

This has made me hate Mourinho even more, how people like him is beyond me, arrogant fucking bastard.

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Do you find it possible to post something that doesn't contain the words "Chelsea", "Cunts", "Mourinho" and "Bastard"?

Anyway, it's unfair that people are blaming Mourinho. Manager should be allowed to cirticize referees if they aren't happy about something. Would everyone be calling Martin Jol a cunt if Rob Styles were to retire?

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Yeah, Gooner4Life, honestly, the Chelsea hate needs to be curbed just a little.

And I agree, managers should be allowed to criticize, but its the fans that take it too far, usually egged on by the media (after England/Portugal, The Sun gave out the blokes address and phone number).

[Guest Pirate Chasin' Booty]

I do believe you should be able to give your actual opinions on a game, the referee, the players, etc without being fined or punished. But losing and then fabricating a story about the referee and opponent is taking it too far and makes you look like a sore loser.

[Liam]

I do believe you should be able to give your actual opinions on a game, the referee, the players, etc without being fined or punished. But losing and then fabricating a story about the referee and opponent is taking it too far and makes you look like a sore loser.

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But then we can say fabricating a story about someone calling you a racist name is being a sore loser (as Eto'o apparently did).

It's always hard to work out who is telling the truth in these situations, because without being there, no-one really knows what happened.

[Asuka's Gonna Kill You]

Shame to see him go, I liked him actually. He always seemed to be on the wrong side of the fans though. The Chelsea stuff and the Roma stuff when he got that huge cut from a coin, crazy stuff.

[Farmer Reil]

He always seemed to be on the wrong side of the fans though.

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[pigeon]

Frisk is a useless posing prick anyway. At least now he can spend more time on the sunbed. He was deffo the worst regular champs league ref.

[TAFKA Castroneves]

There are worse, like Neale Barry

[TMM]

Anders Frisk was a fucking poser. He didn't seem to give a shit about the games he refereed, as long as he did something to warrant a few paragraphs in the morning papers.

He had that stupid over-the-top way of showing a red/yellow card. To me, he seemed to think the game he was refereeing should be all about him, and if it wasn't going that way, he'd turn it around to make it about him (Barcelona vs. Chelsea for example, the Drogba sending off).

All in all, I'm thankfull the waste of space has gone from refeering, although death threats are fucking ridiculous.

[FLiam]

He wasn't the worst.

The guy who refereed the Arsenal/Bayern game was terrible, he stopped play so many times and a few pointless bookings.

I have seen him before and he is a terrible ref.

I have to say, lots of refs I see in Europe are worse than our refs and I thought our refs were bad.

They are usually incredibly harsh.

[Liam]

He wasn't the worst.

The guy who refereed the Arsenal/Bayern game was terrible, he stopped play so many times and a few pointless bookings.

I have seen him before and he is a terrible ref.

I have to say, lots of refs I see in Europe are worse than our refs and I thought our refs were bad.

They are usually incredibly harsh.

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The problem in translation with the English game into European competition is that the refs in the Premiership allow a little argy bargy. In Europe, the refs don't, so you can't go in with any sort of malice. It's pretty annoying really, as the grown men should be able to take a little bit of the physical side of the game.

[FLiam]

Yeh, it annoys me when you see the players from foreign sides go flying and rolling on the floor when they were slightly fouled, if it happened to 90% of players from English sides, they get up and get on with it.

That is why I really believe that there are so many players in Europe who wouldn't be able to cope with English football.

[Malenko]

Yeh, it annoys me when you see the players from foreign sides go flying and rolling on the floor when they were slightly fouled, if it happened to 90% of players from English sides, they get up and get on with it.

That is why I really believe that there are so many players in Europe who wouldn't be able to cope with English football.

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[therockbox]

Um, what?