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A Swedish referee has launched a Facebook page in order to explain his decisions and increase understanding of officials' roles within the game. Referee Mohammed Al-Hakim has taken to the social networking site to interact with football fans and offer an insight into his profession. "I know there's an interest for the role of the referee and I think the football family can benefit from having an insight into it," he told Reuters ahead of refereeing a Swedish top-flight clash between Kalmar and Sundsvall. "But most of all, I want to increase the accessibility and the dialogue within the football family." Al-Hakim's Facebook page has already gathered 5,500 likes, while the referee admitted he should have awarded a penalty in a clash between Norrkoping and AIK. (function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_GB/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.3"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk')); Jag borde blåst en straff igår. Punkt. Nu har jag i lugn och ro sett det du säkert redan sett. Vevat repriserna några gå... Posted by Mohammed Al-Hakim on Monday, 3 August 2015
"I have enough self-awareness that, if I have made a mistake, I have no problem admitting it," he said. "There has been a lot of positive reaction, but obviously there have been some negative voices. "I have a responsibility to make the page interesting, but readers also have a responsibility to maintain a decent level in the discussion to keep it alive." Fellow Swede Anders Frisk was one of Europe's top referees and had been earmarked for the 2006 World Cup in Germany, but retired in 2005 because of death threats to him and his family after officiating a Champions League game between Barcelona and Chelsea. Frisk described the weeks that followed the match as "the worst of my life," while the chairman of UEFA's referee's committee Volker Roth described Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho as "the enemy of football." Al-Hakim has received some abusive messages, but cannot comment on European games he is involved in due to UEFA rules. "I've had questions about a bit of everything so far -- some rules, how I see things," he added. "It feels like the positive side far outweighs the rest, and that it [the negative side] isn't as visible." Al-Hakin was a promising youth footballer before turning to refereeing, and also serves in the Swedish defence forces as a lieutenant.
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