Scrap extra officials, urges ex-referees boss

FIFA\'s former director of referees has urged football\'s rule-making body to scrap experiments with extra officials when it holds its annual meeting tomorrow.



George Cumming, now helping to oversee refereeing in Asia, believes referees in Europe have been undermined by the use of an extra official behind each goal in the Europa League this season.



The International Football Association Board will be updated on the UEFA trials at its annual meeting in Zurich today, but Cumming has deemed the system too impractical to be expanded.



The call for the extra officials at South Africa 2010 grew when Thierry Henry\'s handball helped France qualify at the expense of Ireland. In their sudden-death World Cup playoff, millions of TV viewers saw Henry deliberately control the ball with his left arm and hand to keep the ball in play, setting up the goal that put France through 2-1 on aggregate.



FIFA has also put on the agenda the question of whether players who concede penalties should also be sent off. The current triple-punishment means that a player who denies the opposing team a goal-scoring opportunity is often red-carded, handed a suspension and the opposition is awarded a penalty.