MANY years ago the annual clash between the English and Scottish League XIs was a dress rehearsal for THE game of the season, the annual meeting of football's oldest international enemies at either Hampden or Wembley.
Tradition demanded that the home team supply the referee. So, one year, at Ibrox, big Tom "Tiny" Wharton had the whistle. With the game at 0-0, Scotland attacked and Davie Wilson of Rangers went down on the edge of the English League box. Wharton immediately went to his default setting when refereeing at Ibrox and awarded the penalty.
He was approached by the English League captain, one Bobby Robson, who informed him: "Referee, you don't give penalties in matches like this".
Wharton's reply was emphatic: "Mr Robson, when I see a penalty - I give it".
It's a pity Howard Webb doesn't have Wharton's gravitas or certainty - or we might have had a better World Cup Final yesterday.
Let me say immediately, after 40-plus years of sports reporting, covering some 50 different sports, I've long since concluded that, no matter the game, English referees are duff. I've covered cross-border meetings at basketball, hockey, ice hockey, cricket, football, rugby, netball and volleyball and the common denominator as far as referees or match officials go is: English officials tend to be nicer people than their Scottish counterparts; keener to help the players enjoy themselves, but, this failing too often means, when the going gets hard, they bottle it.
I think that's what happened to Howard Webb at Soccer City Stadium - he went out with the idea: "This is the World Cup Final, I cannot ruin it by sending someone off". So, when Holland appeared wearing Adidas or Nike clogs rather than boots, he wasn't prepared to use the ultimate sanction until it was too late.
Had he sent off van Bommel or de Jong when he should have, maybe Spain would have won with goals to spare, but football would have been the better for it.
By the way, I disagree with those who say Carles Puyol should have gone after his arm wrestling match with Robben; look at the replay, they were both at it.
That's another thing about modern football - the co-commentator/analyst's get-out when a penalty isn't given: "Anywhere else on the field, that's a foul". Sorry, but a foul is a foul whether in the centre circle or penalty area.
Football, when played by two teams who want to play truly is The Beautiful Game. Unfortunately today it is getting like rugby, where you "play the referee" or perish. It is well known that: "Howard Webb likes to keep his cards in his pocket" - Van Persie, Kuyt and Co, who encounter him regularly in the Premiership probably told their team mates: "You have to be really crude for Webb to send you off, so you can go in hard today".
The scene was then set for what followed.
I feel what football needs today is a "Zero Tolerance" approach to fouls and misdemeanours. I am not advocating making it a non-contact sport, but outlawing things such as tackles from behind. the jersey-pulling, the time-wasting, the mass protests, the over-acting, would go a long way to making a great game even better.
I doubt, however, that the will to make changes exists anywhere in the game - most notably in Herr Blatter's suite of offices in Switzerland.
Then there is the stupidity of the players. The silliest of the 15 cards dished out last night surely went to Iniesta, who was booked for removing his shirt after scoring. OK, it was a World Cup-winning goal; but for how many years now has it been an automatic yellow card for removing your shirt for a goal celebration? And still they do it.
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