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Al-Ahram Weekly 29 June - 5 July 2000 Issue No. 488 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 29 June - 5 July 2000 Issue No. 488
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Europe is easier
By Abeer Anwar
Gamal El-Ghandour, back after refereeing two matches in the European Championship, believes he did well as a good ambassador for Egypt and that adjudicating European matches is a piece of cake compared to the local league.
"Players in Euro 2000 are completely different than Egyptians," said El-Ghandour, chosen by the Confédération de Football Africaine as the first non-European to referee in a European Championship. "They never complain about anything, while Egyptians shout and scream over even a corner kick."
Indeed, few players pestered El-Ghandour in the two matches he officiated. So obedient were they that he was confident enough to be the first, and until now the only, referee to apply FIFA's new six-second rule which stipulates the netminder must release the ball not more than six seconds after gaining possession.
That judgment was passed in El-Ghandour's first game, Spain versus Norway. In the same match, he applied another FIFA first, that of allowing the linesman onto the pitch to ensure 10 yards separated the ball from opposing players forming a human wall during a free kick.
Many European newspapers, El-Ghandour said, praised him for his performance. "The Nile Pharaoh is the game's No 1 star," said the headline of one daily.
Spanish coach Jose Camacho was not as supportive, saying El-Ghandour failed to call a clear-cut penalty when striker Raul was brought down. But Spanish newspapers came to the rescue, writing, "Raul was unable to blackmail the Egyptian referee."
"I told him [Raul] very clearly that it was not a penalty," El-Ghandour, 43, told the Weekly.
El-Ghandour handled Denmark and the Czech Republic his second match which meant next to nothing after both teams failed to qualify for the second round.
"I was selected for the match on 15 June, before, of course, its implications were known," El-Ghandour said. "And anyway, there is nothing called unimportant games. They're are important." In fact, El-Ghandour dished out six yellow cards, three to each team, in the Denmark-Czech match, the encounter keeping him much busier, with regards to infractions, than the first.
El-Ghandour said he was always supervised, even when it came to his diet, adding that three referees on an international committee had nominated him for the 2002 World Cup.
El-Ghandour described Euro 200 as better than the 1998 World Cup and gave the nod to The Netherlands to win it all.
The next major championship for this pioneering referee is the 2002 African Nations Cup.
