36 referees does seem like a lot, so it will be interesting if everyone gets a game. Of course they have to all pass the fitness tests and so on first. But the tournament is a few days shorter and there's 4 games each day in the group stage so perhaps (pretty much) everyone will get a game. There's 56 games across the group stage and Last 16 knockout stage round, so you could envisage a scenario where 20 refs do 2 games and 16 do 1.
Good that Oliver and Taylor have both been selected, as others have said.
I don't really agree with the premise that only congratulations or positive posts should be made on topics such as this or final appointments. This thread isn't a congratulations card to the 36 referees and I'm not expecting them to read it. We are all interested in discussing refereeing matters and the short list for a World Cup seems a particularly notable subject for discussion and scrutiny - indeed people have been speaking about it on and off on here and other refereeing sites for at least a year or two.
I believe the second post on here was by Babyref and I wouldn't really agree it was a negative post. It noted Oliver and Taylor's achievements, as many other posts have done, and noted the landmark of six female officials being appointed. It also made the quite reasonable observation that UEFA refereeing has lost quite a lot of depth and experience over the past year or two. Equally, I think the fact England don't have a VAR going is worthy of note and could have wider implications for how VAR is used in the Premier League going forwards.
Babyref, I understand your comparison with 2014 but I do wonder how much of that is influenced by hindsight. Off the top of my head, I think only Howard Webb from that list had been at the 2010 World Cup and at the time believe the likes of Brych and Mazic were refereeing at their first senior World Cup/Euros. This time, Turpin, Lahoz and Marciniak all refereed at the last World Cup and I think all selected referees from UEFA have been to at least one major tournament before. Perhaps in 5 years time when the likes of Makelle/Oliver/Siburt/Kovacs have reached their full potential, we'll be saying what a good group this was. I would agree though that it feels we might be in something of a transition for UEFA refereeing at the moment.
As for Frappart, I don't think it's unreasonable to say that it feels like either FIFA have over-appointed her or UEFA have under-appointed her. I can't say which one it is. But I think you would reasonably expect someone chosen as a UEFA referee for the World Cup to have strong knockout stage CL experience.
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