Twitter your Refs: ENG vs. GER World Cup Reactions

In the first half of theÂ England vs. Germany world cup game, Frank Lampard appeared to have put England back in the match, evening the game at 2-2. However, the linesman and referee failed to credit the goal despite the ball clearly crossing the line. Fans around the world reacted to yet another error from another subpar world cup refereeing squad. We’ve tracked Twitter conversations containing “goal” during the world cup, but this time was a bit different, as much of the conversation focused on the refs rather than celebrations of the score. In the 20 minutes following the missed goal, over 20% of tweets containing “goal” also contained “ref.” The progression of Twitter activity for “goal” during the game clearly shows the fan conversations turning to the refs following the missed call.

Another graphic circulating online attempts to explain the ref’s view of the play…

Related Posts:
Similar analysis of a Seattle Sounders game in which the refs missed a critical call.
How to do this kind of analysis using a spreadsheet, the search function and RowFeeder.

Posted on June 28, 2010 by Adam Schoenfeld
Categories: Sports