Frankly, my dear, I’ve had enough of your effing „emotions“

Game 23, 2019-20

The home team’s coach has been trying to get my attention to make a substitution, but there’s a lot going on so I haven’t noticed. When I see him waving his arms at me and yelling, I signal for him that it’s okay to make the substitution. „I’ve been standing here for two minutes trying to get your attention,“ he screams. I don’t like his tone, so I walk over to ask him to calm down. He continues to yell, so I show him the yellow card. Then he starts to yell about the yellow card.

I could show him a red now, but instead I fight back. „I couldn’t hear you because there are 22 players out there all yelling at the same time - perhaps you should yell at them to shut the fuck up. I come all the way out here to ref your game for my shite 22 Euros, and you expect me to put up with you screaming at me?“ He claims now that he wasn’t screaming, he just wanted to get my attention. You were screaming, I counter, and you were completely lacking respect. HIs assistant coach chimes in with, „He’s right, you know.“ Which for once is a very welcome intervention...

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.