Ref tells of death threats after denying England

THE Swiss referee who disallowed a last-minute goal to send England crashing out of Euro 2004 has spoken about death threats he received from English fans.

Urs Meier has become a hate-figure for some England fans and has faced a barrage of criticism from some newspapers since he ruled out Sol Campbell's header against the tournament's hosts Portugal in last week's quarter-final.

Interviewed on BBC Radio 4's PM programme, Mr Meier was asked whether he had received death threats.

He said: "Fans have made mail and the phone calls and so on ..."

He added: "I feel very sad about this reaction of the tabloid press, especially after a right decision.

"A reaction like this after a football game is never the right way."

He defended his decision on Campbell's 'goal', scored during a goalmouth scramble with Portugal's goalkeeper Ricardo and England defender John Terry.

England went on to lose the game following a penalty shoot-out.

Mr Meier, who was speaking from Switzerland, said: "The whole world was seeing that this decision was correct.

"It was foul play from Campbell. It was foul play from Terry ... It was clearly foul play."

He also said that many British journalists had been in his home town trying to find details about his private life.

Asked to comment on the suggestion that some of the English press would see their criticism as a harmless joke, he replied: "To me it's not a joke. A lot of English supporters and fans they are heated over and it's really dangerous."

However, Mr Meier added that he hoped things would return to normal after the tournament.