The Lille team are saying that in French football the referee always blows the whistle to show that the kick can be taken (in a situation when one team is forming a wall).FIFA should be ensuring that referring is standard in all countries.
What do FIFA and international games have to do with it? This was a club level game in a competition run by UEFA. And UEFA can appoint whoever they like for European internationals.
Besides, if they sidelined every referee who made controversial decisions or non-decisions (although i don’t see what the controversy is in this case), they’d soon run out of referees. Eric Braamhaar handled a diificult situation well, I thought.
As said above, it’s their fault for not knowing the rules.
And more thanks for the referees’ contributions.
You’re still a fucking wanker, you’re still a fucking wanker… 
That sucks for Lille if it is true, but I still dont’ see how they can argue. Basically they are saying they are mad that the official enforced the actual FIFA Laws rather than their own domestic tradition (while playing against an English team in a European wide competition!)?
And I don’t even know if I believe this excuse now - the manager of Lille was quoted after the game of saying that if they (Lille) did the same thing to MU, the ref would have disallowed the goal. Sounds like Lille is accusing the official of favortism, not making an error in rule or judgement.
OK, let’s get something straight.
The referee is NOT required to whistle the restart. I’m a referee, so I know this.
IF the referee tells the players not to restart unless and until he blows his whistle, THEN they may not restart until he does so. This is often done on free kicks within striking range, but not universally done. Lille should have paid attention to the situation.
I, personally, dislike the “formal” restart in such situations. I tell teams that I won’t insist upon it unless the team taking the kick asks for it, usually so that I can take charge of moving the defenders further away from the ball to the required 10 yards. In my opinion, the more often a restart is taken quickly, the better for the flow of the game. Just my 2 cents.
I agree. IMO, if a free kick takes longer to organise than a corner, somebody’s time-wasting.
<— transplanted Yeovil Town fan
Exactly! Referees are often guilty in these situations, by automatically stopping and demanding a whistled restart.
As above, I wish ALL referees would view it this way - only stop the flow and indicate a whistled restart when the attacking team asks the ref to move a wall, or there is a clear need to delay a restart, etc. Otherwise, the ref should just step back and let the attacking team do what they want, when they want, no matter what the defense is up to.
I partially blame a history of refs automatically stopping the flow and stepping in the middle of the play to set up a free kick with many players/teams having come to expect this in all cases. As a ref, I have, at many times, stood in my position while the attacking team and the defense looks at me, and motioning/telling them to “go ahead, kick, play!” you don’t have to wait for me!
Keep your Hair on, mate! 
Yep - absolutely agree again. And I recognise the situation you describe, though I’d argue you should expect less of a Saturday local league team than a French national one!
Oh, and if what Lille say is true, then some referees in France are not doing their job properly. I very much doubt that’s the case mind you - as there are many (some would say too many) ways of ensuring that referees at all levels are following the rules and directives as laid out from time to time.
I would be incredibly surprised if the referee was sanctioned in any way, as he clearly did nothing wrong. Lille, on the other hand…!?