Conspiracy theories and accusations of bias cause real damage and lead to abuse for referees. It can be difficult to deal with.
Pierluigi Collina, who oversees all the referees at the World Cup, had to issue a defence of his referees after Argentina’s 3-2 win over Egypt in the last 16. He underlined their integrity and independence.
Egypt had made strong accusations that referee Francois Letexier and his team had deliberately favoured Argentina. That they had in some way been instructed to go against their natural instincts.
Collina was right to say that narrative can lead to threats against a referee’s family, and I’ve seen it before myself.
I’m very lucky that it did not happen to me personally, but I think it’s partly because I’m an assistant referee and not a referee.
We officiated the final between Spain and the Netherlands in 2010. A proud day for us all.
The game, which Spain won 1-0, was extremely challenging to officiate. There were 14 yellow cards and Dutch defender Johnny Heitinga was sent off. Nigel de Jong could have seen red too.
There was a lot of criticism from Netherlands coach Bert van Marwijk. That is what you have to deal with just for making genuine decisions.
Sometimes it is worse than that. Our own English referees at this World Cup, Michael Oliver and Anthony Taylor, have received threats in past years.
It is totally unacceptable and it is heightened by these unfounded whispers which question a referee’s impartiality.
I support England, I love England, and obviously we lost to Argentina.
The referee was, in my opinion, a little bit too lenient in the first 25 minutes. But ultimately, the reason why we’re not in the World Cup final is not down to the referee.
Really, it’s frustrating when you hear about conspiracy theories.
I can’t think of many other professions in the world where there is one person with all that pressure on them.
The referee is making multi-million-pound decisions – and they have got one second to make their mind up.
Mistakes have been made on the pitch, of course they have. But they do not add up to a conspiracy.
In thr group stage, I think Germany’s goal against Ecuador should have been disallowed for a high foot. Ghana could have been awarded a penalty against England for a mistimed challenge by Ezri Konsa. And when they were 1-0 up against Scotland, Brazil scored a goal that should have been allowed to stand, but was ruled out.
There have been 103 matches so far. That’s effectively 10 rounds of Premier League football, isn’t it? So, of course, there are going to be errors made. It’s almost impossible to go through that many games without one.
Slovenian referee Slavko Vincic will take charge of Sunday’s final.
It will be the pinnacle of his career. You only need to look at his emotional reaction when Collina read out his name at the referee briefing the other day.
Having been fortunate enough to officiate a World Cup final myself, I can assure you that that Vincic will not care one jot who wins.
All he’ll be hoping for is what every referee hopes for, and that is to come off the field without any incorrect decisions that impact the result.
That will be all he cares for.
All these conspiracy theories are bogus.
The only thing in your mind, I assure you, is getting the decisions correct.
Darren Cann was speaking to BBC Sport’s Dale Johnson.
