Some Golden Soft Sombrero Moments with Eugene Brazzale Brazzale on blowing the whistle for the last time… Diegos: " Eugene, the whistle will never be blown again. The red card has been nailed next to the Moose's head by the trophy cabinet, the stopwatch will tick no more, and thousands of angry men will never tell you again that they have slept with one a loved one. This week you've announced your retirement from refereeing. How do you feel and what are the chances of multiple Joe Bugner- type comebacks?" Brazzale: " "I think that the Joe Bugner comebacks are definitely not on. The feeling is one of being content with my decision to give up whilst refereeing still at a fairly high level. I guess l feel relieved that l made the decision now before l start finding my performance deteriorating in anyway." Soft Sombrero Moment 2000
Diegos: " The Diegos now grant you free rein. Now that you've retired you have nothing to fear, no one to answer to. Start naming names, who do you want to bag?" Brazzale: "Have you heard of the one about not burning your bridges? I've had some great experiences over the last 20 years. I've met some fantastic people and l wouldn't want to bag any of them. I believe the good people tend to come back into your life anyway, so unfortunately for you Diegos, there will be no bagging." Soft Sombrero Moment 2000
Diegos: " Who are the special people you've met in soccer?" Brazzale: " There are so many of them. Some of the backroom people are the one's that stand out. You always hear about the high profile guys like Mark Bosnich that get all the media attention but it's the people that are involved at club level that mark the ground, arrange the catering and administration etc, who I'll always remember. They are there for the love of the game and in my mind, they are some of the more special people."
Diegos: " What does a referee do when he is retired? The Four Diegos are tipping a job like a lollipop man at a school pedestrian crossing or perhaps a bouncer at an unruly nightclub.
Brazzale: "Well I've been thinking about it and my wife has suggested a few things as well, none of which you have mentioned. Her suggestions are more attuned to the gardening and the house maintenance. Maybe my direction will be guided by someone a bit more close to me." Soft Sombrero Moment 2000
Did you allow yourself the luxury of enjoying the game as a spectator and were you disappointed at all that the Manchester United boys didn't mark the occasion by carrying you off shoulder high after the game?" Brazzale: "There was a nice touch from Simon Colosimo as l was walking off the park. He came over and said congratulations on a great career. The fourth official's job is actually quite a busy one. It starts 90 minutes before the game, in the dressing rooms, doing various administration tasks. During the game l was in fact, fairly busy. So much so that I had to watch the match on tape at home afterwards to get a real sense of the spectacle." Soft Sombrero Moment 2000
Diegos: "You've refereed in World cups at all levels and you've reached the pinnacle of refereeing in this country and stayed there a long time. What is your fondest memory as a referee?" Brazzale: " I'm getting shivers down the spine as l think about it. It was definitely walking out on to Soldier field, Chicago on my 35th birthday with the Germany team walking behind me prior to the World cup opening game between Germany and Bolivia in 1994. There l was with the world watching. You have no idea the amount of pride l felt at that particular moment." Diegos: " What did people say when you pulled out your linesman flag with the Australian flag on it?" Brazzale: " I was a little tempted but unfortunately that was not on." Soft Sombrero Moment 2000
Diegos: " In the other game, Aussie rules footy, recently, all of Australia witnessed one of the most extraordinary sights in the history of sport when umpire, Peter Carey actually took a mark during the game. Have you ever felt like joining in, maybe launching into an overhead scissors kick or slide tackling a player who has given you an ear full all day?" Brazzale: " "Most of us have played the game and I must admit at the times, the instincts are there to get involved. In the Manchester United game I really felt like running on to the pitch and kicking the ball into an empty net. Thankfully my professionalism shone through and l resisted." Soft Sombrero Moment 2000
Diegos: " Over the years we have heard stories of Russian referees being bribed with fur coats, bottles of vodka and the company of disreputable women of the night. Has anyone ever approached you to throw a game and are the fur coats keeping your wife warm this winter?' Brazzale: " The holidays in the Bahamas are a good perk to. Only joking! No, fortunately nothing like that has happened to me. It did happen however to a very good referee from Costa Rica, who l officiated with at the World cup. In 1995 he was invited to referee in one of the Arab states and was offered a bribe but only told the officials after the game. Unfortunately this is not the procedure. The procedure is to tell the appropriate authorities before the game. He was subsequently suspended for four or five months." Soft Sombrero Moment 2000 Brazzale's worst… Diegos: " A quick Diego's Heart Balm question…. What was your worst decision ever on a soccer field? Brazzale: " I don't really reflect on bad situations too much. I just try and learn from them whenever l can. Throughout my career l was given tapes of my performances regularly and l learned a lot about how l should be positioned etc but in terms of bad decisions, if you don't deal with these issues early in your career you tend not to go very far." Soft Sombrero Moment 2000
Diegos: " Eugene, The Four Diegos have a theory. We believe in many instances, a referee's most memorable moment is directly proportional to the size of the crowd that is abusing him. In round two of the Ericsson Cup this season, you officiated the game between Perth Glory and the Northern Spirit in Perth, with nearly 18,000 screaming Sandgropers in attendance abusing you. How memorable was the game for you?" Brazzale: " Fantastic! It's about the fourth time that I've been over to Perth. I think they really need to move to a bigger ground because every time I've been there, they've had a sell out crowd. When they start yelling out stuff like…'I'm blind, I'm deaf, l wanna be a ref'...l know I've made it. l think its all pretty exciting." Diegos: "They say that the build up to a Perth Glory home game rivals the build up to the Mardi Gra in Sydney plus the slabs of the beer but minus the body oil and the 'G' strings. A Glory home game really is an event. Can you describe the spectacle you experienced for us? " Brazzale: " Its amazing the amount of press the club gets during the week. In fact there wasn't much sport on in Perth prior to the game, and to see two to three pages devoted to Perth Glory in the main newspapers was incredible. On match day, l witnessed up to 10,000 people trying to get into Perth Oval an hour and a half before kick off. They were all there to enjoy Glory's renowned pre game entertainment, all-inclusive in the ticket price. It's a great way to sell the game to families and mainstream sports lovers." Soft Sombrero Moment 1999
Diegos: "The game itself involved a Northern Spirit team with some high profile players - namely Robbie Slater and Ian Crook. These guys are hardened professionals who have seen many good and bad refereeing performances. Did they at any stage, give you their opinion on how you were going?" Eugene:" The boys always showed me respect throughout the game. Robbie, Ian and l had a number of chats during and after the game, and l have to say that they always acted professionally and set a great example for the rest of the youthful Northern Spirit squad." Diegos: " Eugene, you've been a student of the game for a long time, as a player when you were younger and of course, as a top line referee for many years. In any of the games that you have officiated, have you ever felt like giving advice to a losing coach on how to get his team playing better?" Brazzale: "l generally keep those types of thoughts mainly to myself, but there was a situation in a game this season when l awarded a penalty for an off the ball clash, and a few of the aggrieved team voiced their disapproval at my decision. I just replied that they should have a word to the young defender who committed the foul, so that he doesn't make the same mistake again." Diegos: " So you 'dobbed' the young bloke in?" Brazzale: "I prefer to call it good sound advice." Soft Sombrero Moment 1999
Diegos: "The Four Diegos have noticed that in recent years referees are becoming more fashion conscious. We've heard that the purple and yellow ensembles are quite popular in the referee nightclubs. What's big this year? Will it be the very versatile, all purpose black look or will the referees go with something that will give the red and yellow cards a little bit more sparkle?" Brazzale: "As a matter of fact, the referee's association approached Calvin Klein this year to design a referee's wardrobe of match day attire but unfortunately they decided to stay with male supermodel, 'Marky' Mark instead. So it looks like its going to be all purpose but mysterious black for this season." Soft Sombrero Moment 1999
Diegos: "Paolo Di Canio, the Italian international playing in England with Sheffield Wednesday was charged recently with pushing a referee during a game against Arsenal. In the last month, Italian player, Dino Baggio nearly scored a knife in the head in UEFA Cup game, and a Romania assistant linesman was hit in the head with a cigarette lighter. Given these incidents, do you ever think twice about officiating overseas?" Brazzale: " I've been placed in some hairy situations when officiating in other countries. When I refereed an international in Egypt, l had a mini bus of soldiers with machine guns escorting me around the city. I've been overseas quite a few times to referee and l must say, that it's pleasing that on all trips, FIFA have viewed the safety of referees as paramount. We are looked after by police and safety officials, so fear for one's safety doesn't enter the mind." Soft Sombrero Moment 1999 |