Referee performance at the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations
Categories: Referee Performance
I’ve only just started to extract statistical data from the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations database, and I am getting more excited about the various analyses that my database schema has enabled. I’m going to start by summarizing the performance of a group that comes in for a lot of commentary, but not necessarily analysis: the referees.
The chart below is a summary of the central referees at the Africa Cup of Nations that includes the number of matches refereed, the total number of yellow cards shown, total number of expulsions (direct reds or yellow/reds), penalty decisions given, and the average length of the match periods (normal time and extra time). The referees are listed in alphabetical order.
| Matches | Cautions | Expulsions | Penalties | 1st Half | 2nd Half | 1st ET | 2nd ET | |
| Khalid Abdel Rahman | 2 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 46.0 | 49.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Lemghaifry Ali | 1 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 45.0 | 49.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Neant Alioum | 2 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 46.5 | 48.5 | 16.0 | 15.0 |
| Daniel Bennett | 3 | 15 | 1 | 0 | 46.3 | 49.7 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Mohamed Benouza | 3 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 47.0 | 49.7 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Koman Coulibaly | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 47.0 | 48.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Badara Diatta | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 45.0 | 49.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Noumandiez Doue | 2 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 46.5 | 51.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Bouchaib El Ahrach | 1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 49.0 | 48.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Gehad Grisha | 1 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 47.0 | 50.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Djamel Haïmoudi | 2 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 47.0 | 49.0 | 15.0 | 15.0 |
| Slim Jedidi | 2 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 46.5 | 49.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Eddy Maillet | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 46.5 | 48.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Hamada Nampiandraza | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 45.0 | 45.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Eric Otogo-Castane | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 47.0 | 52.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Bakary Papa Gassama | 2 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 46.5 | 51.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Rajindraparsad Seechurn | 2 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 46.0 | 48.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Janny Sikazwe | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 45.0 | 47.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Totals and Averages | 30 | 109 | 6 | 5 | 46.4 | 49.0 | 15.5 | 15 |
On average there have been 3.6 cautions and 0.2 expulsions per AFCON match, with penalties occurring once every six matches. (I can breakdown the number of penalties given the group and knockout stages, but I don’t have that information in this post.) I find it interesting that there has been significantly more stoppage time given in the second half than the first. Two-thirds of the matches used the full allotment of substitutes (eight used five subs and two used four), and most of those substitutions occurred in the second half. Even so, four minutes of average stoppage time in the second half is a lot.
It will be interesting to see who the CAF appoint for the final on Sunday. Just from looking at the statistical summaries, my candidates would be Eddy Maillet, who is working his fourth AFCON and has given the fewest cautions among referees who have officiated two matches, and Rajindraprasad Seechurn, whose cautions and time-on averages are below the overall respective averages. (They might want to give special consideration to Neant Alioum, but at 29 he’s a bit young for such a high-profile match.)
