Game
10, 2017-18
Two more excitable teams who are poor at
football but extremely talented at fouling and shouting. You get the picture by
now. Things start out calm at 3pm with the score at 0-0, defenders peacefully passing
the ball among themselves to the sound of bird-song. We end the afternoon with
bruised shins, tempers AWOL, faces as hot and purple as a deranged radish, and so
many unhappy players that a better man than I would have summoned them all to
the centre circle for group therapy.
 |
| The captains at kick-off. |
And today I wonder if the problem really
does, in a way, lie with the referees. The sporting culture in this city is so messed
up that many now seem too scared to hand out the necessary punishments. Players
increasingly think they can get away with anything. Here's what I witness before my game:
When I arrive at the sports ground, there
are two games still going on. While warming up behind one of the goals, I watch
as a defender trips an opponent just inside the penalty area. The referee correctly
awards the spot-kick, but a huge number 13 on the defending side begins to
remonstrate. He is a foot taller than the ref, and towers over him, pointing at
the spot where the foul occurred and yelling at him that it was outside the
box...
Want to read more? Click here to order Reffing Hell: Stuck In The Middle Of A Game Gone Wrong by Ian Plenderleith (Halcyon Publishing), published on August 8, 2022.
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