English Fans Show Their Teeth

The referee who disallowed Sol Campbell's game-winning score in the Portugal-England game in the Euro 2004 tournament has gone into hiding.

The morning after England were knocked out of Euro 2004, many newspapers led attacks on Mr Meier. The Sun asked readers to "let rip" and send him emails.

The paper claimed the nation was "robbed" by a "half-wit" referee who made a "heartbreaking decision".

This was followed over the weekend by reports in the Daily Mail and the Sun, revealing that Mr Meier had left his wife, Franziska, with whom he has two children, for referee Nicole Petignat. The papers published details of where he lived and worked.

The Sun followed this up early this week by sticking a huge St George flag outside his home in northern Switzerland. By then Mr Meier had already closed his office and left his home.

The media were not the only ones to take umbrage with his decision to disallow Campbell's goal, however.

Last Friday supermarket chain Asda offered Swiss nationals a special free eye test in any one of its 68 optical stores.

"Lets face it, we were robbed," David Rutley, the director of financial services at Asda, was quoted as saying in the British media.

"Sol obviously scored. Well, it was obvious to everyone apart from the Swiss referee, who clearly needs his eyes tested."