Howard Webb Invited To Referee Polish Cup Final

By: chris | March 18th, 2009

No hard feelings, right?

Howard Webb spent the tail end of last summer in a dark, damp cave trying to hide from much of Poland. After his controversial penalty call against Poland – though not nearly as controversial as Poland’s opening goal which was well offside (many seem to have conveniently forgotten) – you could hardly blame Howard for not wanting to step within 100 miles of a Polish border – and that may just be the case. But that hasn’t stopped the Polish FA from extending an olive branch by listing him as a potential referee for the Polish Cup final.

And by “olive branch” we, of course, mean “part olive branch, part free PR”, as nobody really cares about the Polish Cup. It’s the unloved sibling to an older brother which is marred by corruption, corruption and more corruption. Last year’s final only ushered 5,000 fans into the stands.

Which means it’s certainly not the flashing bulbs and overwhelming glamour of the event that will draw Mr. Webb. For that it would have to be the chance to put the past behind.

Remes insist they have merely submitted a list of possible referees of whom Webb, as a senior Fifa official is one, but they must have known the probable reaction. “It would show that the Cup had gained in importance in Poland,” said Bartosz Remplewicz, the head of Remes. “Which of us does not make mistakes? We all do. But time heals wounds and this is a good time for reconciliation.”

I’m not sure this will have the repercussions they’re hoping on a grand scale – not sure about the rest of you, but I for one will not be booking my airline ticket to the PC final at any point this evening – but it may remind some within the walls of the country, “hey, we do have a domestic Cup”.

But, should it get to that point, would Howard accept? Can he put it all behind him? Are the Transformers available to do security that weekend?

Poland seem pretty ready to move on – maybe they’ve had ample chances to review a tape of their goal from an offside position and decided, “oh, our bad” – but moving on from a (correct) penalty call isn’t quite the same as having thousands of people threaten your life.