Other accessories
2. Other referee accessories
The yellow and red warning cards were introduced at the 1970 World Cup in Mexico as a consequence of the controversial match between Argentina and England at the 1966 World Cup, when an Argentine player (allegedly) did not understand the German referee's spoken order to leave the pitch and the referee's further orders went unheard in the following general commotion.
Today's red or yellow cards are conveniently made of weatherproof plastics, mixed or coated with luminescent or light-reflecting particles for enhanced visibility at floodlit matches in big stadiums. Patent literature relating to football does not specifically mention such measures, as they involve other technological fields.
Likewise, other typical referee accessories, the stopwatch and the notepad, are articles of daily use whose technical development was hardly related to the football game. Furthermore, contrary to many sports, and in particular sports popular in the US, it is not necessary to precisely monitor the time played of a football game. Extra time for stoppages is only roughly estimated, based on standard values (eg.
30 seconds per goal or substitution, one minute for interruption due to an injury, etc.). Whereas specific referee time pieces have been developed for other sports, football referees just need a conventional stopwatch. Nevertheless, patent literature contains ideas on how to determine extra times more precisely and equitably, eg.
by connecting whistle signal and time recording (DE 26 30 902, US 6,369,697).
Recent patent literature contains some proposals for the use of pocket PCs as referee notepads with added functionalities. For example, a pocket PC can be equipped with a voice recorder so that the referee does not need to take written notes (DE 197 18 877 A1), with a small screen for viewing video recordings of the game (DE 198 22 668 A1), or it can be used for managing signals transmitted by assistant referees.
DE 299 07 988 describes an electronic warning card with data administration unit for managing game data. When the referee types in the number of a player to be cautioned, he will get, where applicable, an information that this is the second warning issued to that player, which means that the player must be sent off.
In addition, the warning card is radio connected to external devices for displaying and saving match data, such as the scoreboard.
Modern communication technology allows to completely network the match officials and a control centre, ie. a central computer that immediately captures, saves and processes all match data (FR 2 695 042 B1).
Figure 3: Integral system for radio communication between match officials and for processing, displaying and saving match data (FR 2 695 042 B1)
| Publication number | Year | Title | Brief description |
|---|---|---|---|
| US 6,369,697 B1 | 1999 | Timing Method and Apparatus for Sports Events | see title |
| DE 299 07 988 U1 | 1999 | Verwarnungskarte | Electronic warning card with data processing component |
| DE 198 22 668 A1 | 1998 | Spielschreiber und Schiedsrichter-Beistand | Central unit for receiving signals from several assistant referees |
| DE 197 18 877 A1 | 1997 | Refereeorganizer | Pocket PC for managing match data |
| FR 2 695 042 B1 | 1992 | Dispositif d'aide à l'arbitrage pour jeux de balles ou de ballons | Electronic communications and data processing system to network match officials with a control centre |
| DE 26 30 902 A1 | 1976 | Anordnung zum Erfassen der Spielzeit | System for registering the actual time played, directly activated by the referee's whistle blow |