New Zealand’s Mike Hester has become one of Oceania’s most experienced referees in recent years and is in the running for an appointment at the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™.

Most recently, Hester officiated at the FIFA Confederations Cup South Africa 2009 with fellow Kiwis Jan Hintz and Mark Rule as his assistants.

The trio were appointed the Group B fixture between Egypt and USA and acquitted themselves well in what turned out to be one of the tournament’s most pivotal matches.

The eight-team tournament was part of the screening process for the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ with 10 refereeing trios taking part.

On Hester’s return from South Africa, NZFootball.co.nz caught up with the referee to hear how he got on.

How was the overall experience?

Overall, we had fantastic experience, and I think we had a pretty good tournament. You go to these events and hope to get a positive experience in terms of being in the tournament environment or having a successful match or successful batch of appointments. With the All Whites playing in the tournament it meant that our opportunities were probably quite limited but in the end we got a key match and were really pleased with how it went.

The USA v Egypt match you were appointed to turned out to be crucial for the semi final hopes of three teams, which would’ve probably been unexpected at the outset. Given the importance of the match and the pressure, how did you feel you performed?

I felt we added to a really open and entertaining match. Obviously both teams had a lot to play for and the way the result was going on in the other match [Italy losing to Brazil] it brought USA back into the fold. So at times the football was a bit on the frantic side but we kept our composure and control and contributed to an entertaining and ultimately key match.

There were a couple of potentially match-turning moments in that game – a handball shout in the box which you turned down, and a contentious goal which you awarded. Replays have subsequently proved you got both decisions right, but at the time did you know you had made the right call or was it a case of just making a call and then reviewing later?

One of the mental processes you go through as a refereeing is observing what happened, interpreting it and making a decision. In both of those instances I observed what I thought had happened, instinct told me how I should interpret it and make the decision and move on to the next decision, which followed quickly after that. To see the decision again on TV later that day reconfirmed that we had got those key decisions right.

That must bode well for you and your assistants Mark Rule and Jan Hintz as you work towards an appointment to the FIFA World Cup South Africa 2010. What’s the next step for you and the other kiwi ref on FIFA’s shortlist, Peter O’Leary, in terms of pressing your claim for that tournament, before the final list is announced in February 2010?

There’s another three FIFA tournaments this year that all the World Cup candidates will be viewed at, and we’re hopeful that we’ll be appointed to either  Egypt [FIFA U-20 World Cup], Nigeria [FIFA U-17 World Cup], or Abu Dhabi [FIFA Club World Cup]. That’ll present a more realistic opportunity to press our claim but ultimately you’ve got to take it one match at a time so that’ll be our approach. If we get an opportunity we’ll be taking advantage of it.

Story courtesy of NZF Media

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