Fletcher: From the U-20 Final to the World Cup

Joe Fletcher was fortunate enough to be selected for a FIFA tournament in his first year on the international AR list. In 2007 he participated in the FIFA U-20 World Cup on home soil. “At that time, it came as a surprise, since I was asked a few weeks prior to the tournament to replace a colleague, as FIFA wanted a trio from the host nation. It was a very huge break very early in my FIFA career and was just happy to be there. I was very inexperienced and did not have an idea of what was involved and what the month would be like. We were quite anonymous, could walk in and out of the hotel freely, with FIFA gear or not. The tournament was known about, but only thrived within the Canadian soccer community”, said Fletcher about his very first FIFA tournament. He replaced the AR Simon Fearn, who failed a fitness test, and was supposed to work along with referee Mauricio Navarro. Unfortunately, Navarro got injured and was replaced with Steven DePiero, but the Canadian trio (DePiero – Vergara, Fletcher) only got one match, Czech Republic – Panama, played in Montreal. At this tournament, Joe experienced his first FIFA debrief sessions. “There were quite a few errors and the instructors were clear to let us know what they were not happy about. Amongst other aspects, I learned the importance of things which happen off the field and how one action can impact so many outcomes, as there isn’t much to choose between officials at this level”.

In 2011, based on his performances internationally (FIFA WC Qualifiers/CONCACAF Champions League) and domestically (MLS), Fletcher was selected again for a FIFA U-20 World Cup, but this time in a trio with a referee (Mark Geiger) and the other AR (Sean Hurd) from the USA. He was one of about 5 officials who had ever worked at a FIFA tournament before. “In comparison with Canada 2007, we were extremely well taken care of in Colombia, as we had our own line for customs and boarding passes waiting for us upon arrival at the airports. Bogota is 2650 meters above sea level. The first few days of training were hard for everyone. The fitness test was done prior to the tournament, within the confederations, to avoid “problems” similar to what happened at the U-17 World Cup in Mexico. We were extremely popular (especially with any FIFA gear on) and would be asked for autographs and pictures. Throughout the country this was the main event going on”. Fletcher and his colleagues from the North American trio displayed excellent performances in their first three matches and, as a consequence, they were selected to stay until the end. “The tournament was held in a Spanish-speaking country and quite a few officials/instructors spoke French, but I was able to interact with everyone far better than before. The instructors were more than happy with our collective performance, constantly telling us that, as a group, this was some of the best work they had seen (they alluded to issues in Mexico). Refereeing was seldom (if at all) mentioned in the news, which meant that we were doing our job. As an assistant referee, I worked 3 matches through the round of 16, was selected to stay till the end (first surprise) and then selected to work the final (a dream come true). It was a very strong refereeing field, our performances on the field were matched, if not surpassed, by some of our colleagues, but the work in training, the classroom and other off field conduct may have just given us that extra bit to be selected to the latter rounds and the subsequent final. I hope that I have not damaged the reputations others like Hector Vergara and Carol Anne Chenard have built in recent times and am hopeful to represent Canada at another FIFA event”, concluded Joe Fletcher. He is the only hope of the Canadian refereeing for the next World Cup and the fact that Mark Geiger is on the list of candidate referees is a good sign.