UEFA president Michel Platini is continuing to campaign for more referees on the field in football. Interviewed on Italian entertainment show Chiambretti Night, Platini was asked about Thierry Henry's hand ball that helped France qualify for the World Cup at the expense of Ireland. Platini responded that the problem is that “referees today unfortunately don't see everything on the field.” He said to resolve the problem “either we add referees or we use (replay). I'm for the human option.” Platini noted that there are 10 linesman on the court for a tennis match and three referees for basketball, adding that “we should try to add a referee so they can see the entire field. Whether they make mistakes or not is another discussion.” It was Platini's initiative to experiment with five officials in the Europa League this season. Initial trials were in UEFA youth tournaments last season. Football's rule-making body will review progress when it meets in Zurich in May, but FIFA has said no changes will be introduced before the World Cup. 3 refs arrested in China Chinese police have arrested three football referees on suspicion of match-fixing, including one official who worked at the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan, local media reported Wednesday. The reports listed Lu Jun, who had officiated in two World Cup matches, several Asian Football Confederation games and more than 200 Chinese league matches before retiring in 2005, as being among those detained for taking bribes. The others reportedly detained were Huang Junjie, a nominee last year for the China Super League's best referee award, and Zhou Weixin, who retired in 2004 after being given an eight-game suspension by the national association for a bad call. The official China Daily newspaper quoted the head of the Chinese football association, Wei Di, as confirming the arrests, but gave no other details.
